Hidden field

The Hidden field is a form element that is not displayed in the form itself. The field is therefore invisible to form users.

You can use hidden fields to access additional information about your users. If you add the variable ${serverDate} to a hidden field, for example, then you can find out when your users completed the form.

When your user submits a form, this information is shown to you in the Submissions area along with the data from all of the other form fields completed.

Adding Hidden field

In the Structure area, click the green plus sign.
Navigate to General → Advanced and click Hidden field.
You can now see the form element you’ve just added in the form tree.
On the right, under Edit Hidden field, you can now adjust the settings for your new form element as required.

Please note

The new form element is added to the tree directly underneath the currently selected form element in the Structure area. If you want to change the order, you can drag and drop your form element to a new position.

Property Description
Label Enter a piece of descriptive text here that will be submitted along with the field data itself, i.e. the value from the hidden field. This helps you to identify the data sent when checking your submissions.
Technical name Each form element that is added to a form is automatically assigned a unique name – known as the ‘technical name’ – by Formcentric. This name is based on the designator for the form element.

Alternatively, you can generate the technical name from the label. To do this, click New from label. Find out more about the technical name.

A yellow bell as an icon.

Please note

The technical name is a required field. The technical name must start with a letter and may not contain any special characters. A technical name can be used only once within a form.

Value
Enter a value for the information that you want to receive from your hidden field – such as the ${serverDate} variable, for example. You can add one or more variables, depending on the information that you need. Find out more about variables.
Data source Use this setting to select a data source that you would like to link to and use for this hidden field in your form. The information provided by this data source will be accessed dynamically, i.e. at the exact moment that your users access the form.

A yellow bell as an icon.

Please note

You cannot create user-defined data sources in this application. If you need other data sources, then these can be implemented. Following this, you can then select the new data sources in the application. Please contact Support if you have any questions.

Autofill The Autofill option is active by default. This involves form data stored by the browser being suggested as autocomplete options for the form field.
To improve the quality of these suggestions, you can tell the browser about the information that is expected for this form field.

Shipping or invoice address
Select Shipping or Invoice if this form field is part of a shipping address or an invoice address.

Contact type
Select an appropriate contact type here if users are expected to input a fixed-line or mobile phone number, fax or pager number, or an email address into this form field. Specifying a contact type will affect the selection offered to you for ‘Usage’ (see below). This field is optional and can be left empty.

Usage
Specify the kinds of information entered into this form field.

Deactivate autofill
Select Deactivate autofill to prevent the field from using autofill. This will also stop web browsers from saving the form field data. To do so, move the slider to the left, which deactivates autofill for this form field.

Property	Description
Label	Enter a piece of descriptive text here that will be submitted along with the field data itself, i.e. the value from the hidden field. This helps you to identify the data sent when checking your submissions.
Technical name	Each form element that is added to a form is automatically assigned a unique name – known as the ‘technical name’ – by Formcentric. This name is based on the designator for the form element. Alternatively, you can generate the technical name from the label. To do this, click New from label. Find out more about the technical name. Please note The technical name is a required field. The technical name must start with a letter and may not contain any special characters. A technical name can be used only once within a form.
Value	Enter a value for the information that you want to receive from your hidden field – such as the ${serverDate} variable, for example. You can add one or more variables, depending on the information that you need. Find out more about variables.
Data source	Use this setting to select a data source that you would like to link to and use for this hidden field in your form. The information provided by this data source will be accessed dynamically, i.e. at the exact moment that your users access the form. Please note You cannot create user-defined data sources in this application. If you need other data sources, then these can be implemented. Following this, you can then select the new data sources in the application. Please contact Support if you have any questions.
Autofill	The Autofill option is active by default. This involves form data stored by the browser being suggested as autocomplete options for the form field. To improve the quality of these suggestions, you can tell the browser about the information that is expected for this form field. Shipping or invoice address Select Shipping or Invoice if this form field is part of a shipping address or an invoice address. Contact type Select an appropriate contact type here if users are expected to input a fixed-line or mobile phone number, fax or pager number, or an email address into this form field. Specifying a contact type will affect the selection offered to you for ‘Usage’ (see below). This field is optional and can be left empty. Usage Specify the kinds of information entered into this form field. Deactivate autofill Select Deactivate autofill to prevent the field from using autofill. This will also stop web browsers from saving the form field data. To do so, move the slider to the left, which deactivates autofill for this form field.