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Choose a Design Approach
There are three ways of connecting your form to your database. recommends frevvo recommends that you understand read and understand each approach carefully before moving forward with form design in order to determine the most efficient approach, and prevent the need to redesign later. This table can help you decide which design approach to use based on your business requirements.
| The Doc URI Approach* | Post via Web Hook | The Business Rules Approach | Dynamic Options | |
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| Overview | Automatically create the controls in your form based on your database table, and use the Document Action user interface to set up Doc URIs that can perform CRUD Operations. | Automatically post data from your form/workflow to your database mid-workflow using the Web Hook feature. | Write JavaScript business rules to perform CRUD operations. | Dynamically retrieve options at runtime from the Database Connector (or any RESTful web service) using the Options Src control property, no code needed. |
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| Form Design |
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| Use Checkbox, Dropdown, Radio or ComboBox control with the from palette design method. |
| Performance | Call the DB Connector once for all operations (using the autocreate feature) → fast, reliable performance | Call the DB Connector once after the prior step unloads (Continue is clicked). | Call the DB Connector query for every add/update operation (this can impact performance) | Calls the DB connector for each instance of the selection control. Fast, reliable performance for non-repeating controls. Performance issues may be seen for repeating controls. |
| Technical Skills | No code needed Create/Modify xsd schema document | No code needed Create/Modify xsd schema document | JavaScript code required | No code needed |
| Documentation | Generating XML Schema | Data Sources | CRUD Operations Example | 10-Minute Doc URI Video | Post via Web Hook | Forms Designer | Palette Controls | Integrations | Business Rules HTTP Methods | Rule Examples | Control Property Settings - Dynamic Options |
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- Create a form from an XML schema. In this case, the controls will be automatically created for you based on the XML schema definitions, and you can use the Doc URI approach.
- Drag and drop controls from the designer palette. You will have all control properties available in the designer, but you will only be able to use the Business Rule approach for database integration.
- You may also use a combination of the two methods and create some controls from schema and others from palette.
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Our Client Services team can help you determine which approach is right your for business requirements. Contact us to get started. |
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This is the recommended approach because it involves automatically generating controls in your form based on the database table you will be integrating with, and using the no-code Document Action: Manually Set Doc URIs to perform CRUD Operations on your database. The Doc URI Approach must be used with the "from an XML schema" design method. Follow these steps.
- Generate the XML Schema based on your SQL Statements that allows you to add form controls that match your database table columns.
- Add Form Controls from Schema in the form/workflow designer.
- Set Doc URIs to automatically read from and write to the database.
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You can use the database connector to generate the schemas you will need to use in your formyour frevvo form. To fetch the schema, type a URI in the browser that looks like the example below. This is almost identical to the query we used to test the connector, but it tells the connector to GET the schema instead.
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The word "schema" is a reserved word for query names. If you have a query in your configuration.xml with a name that includes the word "schema" will frevvo will show an error. |
Add Form Controls from Schema
To use your schema, first upload the schema in the Schemas tab of your Projectyour frevvo Project. Visit the Using Your Schema documentation for detailed steps.
Next, open your form or workflow and add one or more elements from schema in the Data Sources panel. This allows you to generate controls from the schema elements that map to your database tables. See the Data Sources chapter for detailed steps.
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After you have generated controls from the elements in your database schema, set your form’s Document URI to the database connector query URL. Follow these steps:
The first section in the wizard is for the form's default document. This is indicated by the Document Name of "default" displayed in the wizard. The default document maps to all of the controls you added to this form by dragging and dropping from the palette. This is typically not the document you want to configure.
The next screen has two sections: Read URI and Write URI. Typically, when the form loads, customers frevvo customers read form data from their database to initialize the form and send the updated XML document to the same database upon form submission. Enter the same URI in the Read URI and the Write URI fields, as shown in the image, with the appropriate SQL statement to run if you are reading from and writing to the same database using the database connector. It is possible to read the form initialization data from one database and then update a different database. Enter different URIs in the Read URI and the Write URI fields if this is your situation.
You also must specify which of the four SQL statements to run—you do this by choosing the appropriate values in the Document URI Read Method and Document URI Write Method dropdowns according to the table below. (You may notice in the Forms Designer that the Document URI Read Method drop down box includes a POST option, but it is not shown below because it is not used by the database connector.)
You’ll see one set of Document URI properties for each schema in your form. Type the Document URI next to the schema name—make sure not to type it next to the Default schema. To specify which of the four SQL statements to run, choose the appropriate values in the Read Method and Write Method dropdowns, based on the information below.
Note that you may choose only one Write Method in the Forms Designer. |
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The schema you retrieve from your database will be relatively generic. As a result, the controls you generate from this database schema might need some tweaking to suit the specific needs of your form. You can modify a control’s behavior by making changes to the schema after you have retrieved it. Please visit the Data Sources chapter for more details on modifying the controls generated from schema..
If you have already uploaded the schema to frevvo, you can still make the changes and update the schema.
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In a workflow, the Doc URI writes to the database at the end of the workflow, after the final step is submitted. Perhaps you want to post to the database mid-workflow. You could use the Business Rule Approach, or for a no-code approach, you can simply use the same URL you would use for the Doc URI POST in a Web Hook.
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You will see the Web Hook displayed in your workflow diagram, and you can edit it at any time. The Database Connector will run the create statement to post data after the user clicks Continue on Step 1.
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View the Web Hook Documentation chapter for more information. |
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It is also possible to write business rules to perform CRUD operations. Business rules tend to be more complex and time-intensive to implement. The Business Rule Approach can be used with either the "from palette" or the "from an XML schema" design method. This approach is discussed in further detail with several examples in the following documentation:
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