Introduction to Secondary Fields

Overview

In the Module Builder, you'll see a Secondary Fields drop-down below the Primary Fields drop-down. The Secondary Fields group contains some of Unqork's more specialized components.

The Secondary Fields components include:

  • Protected Field component
  • Button component
  • Email component
  • Phone Number component
  • Intl Phone Number component
  • Address Search component
  • Hidden component
  • Signature component

You'll find the Secondary Fields components at the left of the Module Builder in the Secondary Fields group.

What You'll learn

In this article, you'll learn:

Data Validation

Some of the Secondary Fields may seem redundant next to the Primary Fields. For example, you could capture a phone number, email, or address in a Text Field component. Unqork offers Secondary Fields to address something called data validation. Data validation means making sure the information you collect is valid. If you ask for an email address, you want your end-user to input something formatted like an email address. Secondary components, like the Email component, have built-in data validation settings. These settings make sure the data entered by your end-user is what you intended to collect. This minimizes human error and helps you get the data you want.

What Are the Secondary Fields?

Let's take a look at each secondary field component:

Protected Field Component

The Protected Field component is an input component that masks what's entered into it. This masking is useful when your end-user needs to enter potentially sensitive information. For example, a Social Security number or account number. It makes sense to use a Protected Field component when you:

  • Protect the field from being viewed in real-time by someone other than your end-user. Using a Protected Field helps prevent "shoulder surfing". Shoulder surfing is when someone watches the end-user's screen to collect information.

  • Don't want or need to store sensitive data in the database. The Protected Field component doesn't have a Store Data in Database setting.

A Protected Field component works much like a Text Field or Number component would. The main difference is that values entered in a Protected Field don't display in the field. Instead, the field shows a substitute character, such as asterisks or dots. The Protected Field component doesn't offer built-in encryption or other security features. It only masks the end-user's input in Express View. Therefore, the Protected Field component isn't a good option for storing passwords.

Button Component

The Button component adds an interactive, clickable element to your module. Buttons let your end-users perform actions and make choices with a single button-click. You can use Buttons to set custom actions or process flows based on your end-user's choices.

Some ways you might use the Button component include:

  • Saving, submitting, validating, or resetting a module.

  • Triggering another component, such as an Initializer, Decisions, or Data Workflow component.

  • Navigating between Panels.

  • Downloading a Managed Asset, such as a PDF or CSV file.

  • Labeling the Button-click event by giving it an Event ID. After setup, you can then reference that Event ID in different components, allowing you to create more complex logic-based configurations. For example, triggering several different components with a single button-click Event ID.

  • Using the Workflow Element Type, adding custom navigation buttons to a workflow.

Email Component

The Email component is part of our specialized range of input components. This component looks and acts like a Text Field, except that it has built-in data validation. This means that the component requires a valid email address format. All email addresses entered into your email field must include: username, @ symbol, domain name, and top-level domain name (.com, .org).

Phone Number Component

The Phone Number component is a specialized input used for entering phone numbers. By default, this component includes an Input Mask of (999) 999-9999. As an end-user enters their phone number, the Input Mask formats the value.

Unqork offers a Phone number and an Intl (International) Phone Number component. The first component works best with United States phone numbers. The second component lets you set an international, country-specific Input Mask.

An Input Mask is a string of characters that indicates the format of a valid input. Use an Input Mask when the format of the input value must be consistent. Use 9 to require a number, a to require a letter, and * to require an alphanumeric character.

Intl Phone Number Component

The Intl (International) Phone Number component is a specialized input component for international phone numbers.

You'll see many similarities when comparing this component and the Phone Number component. A few key features set the Intl Phone Number component apart. These include:

  • There's built-in validation of phone numbers from all around the world, including the United States.

  • The end-user selects their phone number's country of origin. This flexibility is ideal when you expect submissions from a variety of countries.

Address Search Component

The Address Search component lets you collect physical addresses. Using a Google Maps API (application programming interface), the field suggests matches as your end-user enters their address. The address can fit in a single field, or you can configure the component to show more fields (Street Address 2, City, State, Zip, and Country).

The additional fields will autofill when your end-user selects an address from the drop-down.

Hidden Component

The Hidden component is unique in that it holds any data structure. Another nicety is that you can only see Hidden components in the Module Builder. They're completely invisible in Express View. This invisibility makes Hidden components great for storing or passing in information. Your information's useable elsewhere, but not directly visible to your end-user.

This component stores data that other components will reference, such as Calculators, Decisions, and Initializers.

Signature Component

The Signature component creates a signature field for your module. In Express View Express View is how your end-user views your application. Express View also lets you preview your applications to test your configuration and view the styling. This is also the view your end-users will see when interacting with your application. After configuring a module, click Preview in the Module Builder to interact with the module in Express View., the signature field displays as a box where end-users End-users, also known as Express Users, are the individuals accessing an application through Express View. In most cases, end-users are the customers using the product. can use their mouse to draw their signature. In the submission data, the drawn signature stores as a Base64 Base64 is an encoding and decoding technique used to convert binary data to an ASCII (American Standard for Information Interchange) text format. string.

Do not use the Signature component for legally-binding signatures. Instead, we suggest you use third-party software like DocuSign and SignNow.

In the configuration window, you can customize the size and color of your signature box.