of the
If we use ClickDimensions and Dynamics Portals, we have a wealth of options when it comes to creating a form for an external party to fill out. We have:
- Dynamics Portals Web Forms (and Entity Forms but these are in my ways a simplified version of Web Forms)
- ClickDimensions Surveys
- ClickDimensions Web Forms
The question we may need to ask ourselves is which one to use for a given situation. At this stage I could use an illustrated guide to pave the way. After all, TOTD does occasionally feature flow diagrams. However, I am feeling nostalgic so my tip today will be in the form of a Commodore 64 BASIC program.
EDIT: Not everyone turned out to be a BASIC fan. Heck, some probably were not even born when BASIC was the language du jour. Scroll down to see a handcrafted diagram, if reading code is not your thing.
1 REM *****DYNAMICS FORMS DECISION TREE***** 10 AUTH = AD_AUTHENTICATION_REQUIRED 11 CONTACTS_ONLY = ONLY_CAPTURING_INFO_ON_CONTACTS 12 SURVEYS = CAPTURING_SURVEYS_ON_EXISTING_CONTACTS 13 HTML_FORM = IT_IS_AN_EXISTING_HTML_FORM 14 SKIP_QUESTIONS = THE_FORM_SKIP_QUESTIONS_SOMETIMES 15 REM *****I DONT DO COLONS***** 20 IF AUTH = YES THEN GOTO 100 ELSE GOTO 30 30 IF CONTACTS_ONLY = YES THEN GOTO 40 ELSE GOTO 50 40 IF COMPLEX_FORM = YES THEN GOTO 60 ELSE GOTO 200 50 IF SURVEYS = YES THEN GOTO 70 ELSE GOTO 100 60 IF HTML_FORM = YES THEN GOTO 200 ELSE GOTO 100 70 IF SKIP_QUESTIONS = YES THEN GOTO 300 ELSE GOTO 100 100 LOAD "DYNAMICS PORTAL FORMS", 8 200 LOAD "CLICKDIMENSIONS WEB FORMS", 8 300 LOAD "CLICKDIMENSIONS SURVEYS", 8
1,000 words equivalent
Honestly, don’t have time to figure out 64 BASIC code structure as I have never used it. Will appreciate that you NEVER use this for future tips. Not helpful!
Also what about newly released Microsoft forms? https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/create-a-form-with-microsoft-forms-4ffb64cc-7d5d-402f-b82e-b1d49418fd9d
https://flow.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/shared_microsoftforms/microsoft-forms/
Barry,
post has been updated to include the visual version.
Cheers
George
Hi Barry,
It was a bit cheeky of me to put it in this format. The tl;dc (too long; didn’t compile) version is if you need AD authentication, Dynamics Portals is the way to go.
If it is a simple contact form or a complex one for which you have the html, use ClickDimensions web forms.
If you need a survey for, say, a Case closure, and the complexity of the form is not much more than conditionally hiding questions then ClickDimensions Surveys are worth considering.
In all other situations, Dynamics Portals wins. The other option would be something like a PHP form running on Apache. For these it is a cost-benefit consideration comparing the cost of tweaking a Dynamics Portal Form vs putting together the scripted form and linking it to Dynamics through the web service layer.
As for Microsoft Forms, you will need to use Flow to connect them to Dynamics but they are not that sophisticated yet (or, at least, they weren’t the last time I looked). I think this will be the future of forms in the Microsoft ecosystem but they’re not there yet.
Leon
Hey, I just wanted to let you know that I immediately stopped reading your tip when the actual useful content was in a format that was not intuitive to consume. I appreciate being nerdy but unfortunately in this case it was at the expense of the usefulness of your content.
Hi Kevin,
See my previous comment and you’ll get the summary.
Leon
Pfft…having owned a Commodore 64 (I adore my 64..my Commodore 64!), I found this tip quite easy to follow…I mean come on people..it’s BASIC which means it’s verbose and pretty BASIC to follow…practically English