Knowledge base
Forms, fields and formulas
Visibility, dropdowns, lookups, formulas, validations, dates and number formats.
18 answers· 6 tips
Answers
- FixHow do I show, hide, lock or conditionally require fields on a form?Put visibility rules on the target field, set edit rights per step in Permissions, and make a field required only when it's visible.
- How-toHow do I auto-fill fields from a lookup, or fill a lookup automatically without the user picking?Read lookup columns into other fields with LookupField.Column, and add a filter with Automatically select the first value to fill the lookup on its own.
- How-toHow do I calculate the days or hours between two dates, with or without weekends and holidays?Use dateDiff for the gap between dates (weekends excluded by default, false() to include them) and calendarDays to count both ends and skip account holidays.
- FixWhy does my lookup show "No matching results found" or load slowly?Check the source data and the lookup filters, and grant lookup access to the flow when global lookup permissions are off.
- How-toHow do I show the assignee, approver or other user details as text in a form field?Use an integration to write the current assignee or approver into a text field, and use dot-operator formulas for requester and lookup user details.
- How-toHow do I make a dropdown or lookup show options based on another field?Source the dropdown from a dataset or dataform and filter it on the controlling field, or filter a lookup the same way.
- How-toHow do I write else-if, several OR values, or a "contains" check in a formula?Nest IF for else-if, chain || for more than two OR conditions, use find() for contains, and add brackets to control order.
- FixWhy can't I change a field's data type ("exceeded the allowed limit of 5000" or "Data field version conflict")?Don't retype a field that holds live data. Hide the old field and add a new one with the type you need.
- How-toHow do I calculate VAT or GST percentages and totals on a purchase order form?Store each rate in a Number field, compute the tax and line total with a formula, and round with roundup or ceil.
- How-toHow do I show a date/time in a specific time zone, or get only the time part?Rebuild the value with datetime() and a time zone name, shift it with offset(), and pull the time into a text field with toText() or hour().
- How-toHow do I configure a Remote Lookup field (response type, POST body, external databases)?Test the endpoint, set the response format to JSON, use text or number fields in a POST body, and use external data objects for SQL databases.
- How-toHow do I convert text such as DD/MM/YYYY, or an epoch number, into a date?Rearrange the text into year-first order with substring, then use dateFromText; for an epoch number, add the days to 1 January 1970.
- How-toHow do I prevent duplicate submissions, such as the same invoice number twice?Add a lookup to the same process filtered on the unique value, and block submission when it finds a match.
- How-toHow do I translate a form, and why are some texts or options still in English?Turn on multilingual settings for the process or board, add each language, and set each user's profile language; some system text and options stay untranslated.
- FixWhy does a lookup with auto-select show nothing or the wrong item?Drafts keep the lookup settings from before your change. Discard old drafts after going live, and report it if auto-select returns a deleted record.
- How-toHow do I validate the format of a phone number, postal code or special characters?Add a Regex validation to the text field, use the built-in No special characters rule, or flag characters with find() in a formula.
- How-toHow do I check that the gap between two date-time fields is more than 1 hour?Validate the end field against a helper field set to the start plus one hour, or use dateDiff in a step condition.
- How-toHow do I count how many checkbox options a user selected?Add a Number field computed with Checkbox_Field.length().
Tips
- TipAvoid common errors in form field formulasTell functions from field IDs, match text exactly, and make the formula's result type match the field type.
- TipBuild department-based employee codes with substring()Put a substring() formula in the Sequence number field's prefix so each code starts with the first letters of the department.
- TipConvert number values to text and text to numbersUse number(Text_Field) to get a number and Number_Field.toText() to get text.
- TipFix locale-specific number and currency formats in emails and integrationsAdd a computed text field that formats the amount with the separators your readers expect, and use it in emails and integrations.
- TipShow a Rating field's value in a Number fieldCompute a Number field with the Rating field's ID to get its value as a number.
- TipShow an expiry status on a form with an IF formulaAdd a computed text field with a nested IF that compares a date with today() and shows Expired, expiring soon, or Valid.