Smart Objects are items on the canvas whose value is dynamically linked to a Form or a Datasource.

Forms are automatically displayed in the Editor to your customers if you have one or more Smart Texts enabled.

How to create a Smart Text

  • Create a Text Object and edit the text value to what you want. eg hello@company.com
  • Select the Text and go to the Object tabs. Enable the Smart Text switch. Your Text has become a Smart Object and will appear in a Form on the left panel when your customers are editing the Design.
  • To provide additional details, you can give the Text a title Email. You do this on the Object panel as well.

Create a Smart Text using multiple variables

The simple Smart text you created earlier allowed you to create only one editable variable, which is an email.

Using curly braces {variable}, you can combine one or more variables into a single multi line Text field. Think of an Address or user details. It has the a name, email, phone number with extension and address. These can be combined in a single text field but editable individually in the form.

{Name:Jane Doe}
{Email}
{!*Phone:: 081444 2822}  {*Ext:: 02}
{Address:Address line
Address Line 2,
City, Zip Code}

Consider the above as the full text you typed into a mutlti line textbox.
This is how it will appear in the form:

Let us dissect the values by following each sets of curly braces (opening and closing).

  • {Name:Jane Doe}: The first item before a colon : is teated as the title while the text that follows is treated as the default value. Here, the title is Name, and the default value is Jane Doe.

  • {Email}: This is treated as the Title with no default text value.

  • {!*Phone:: 081444 2822} {*Ext:: 02}:

    • The ! means that line is required and must be supplied by the customer.
    • The * before a Title implies that though the Phone and Ext are titles, they should be included in the final text content, so they have dual use. A title, and as part of the final text on canvas.
    • The double colon :: implies that the first colon is a separator while the second one should be included in the final text value. So you have Phone: 081444 2822 Ext: 02 as the final text; replacing the numbers with whatever your customer provides.
  • The Address line spans 3 rows and should be treated as a single Title, Value pair. With this, a multi line textbox is provided for the user to type into. If they omit line 2 of the address, the text shifts up.

Smart Text Summary

{title}-Opening and closing braces is used to create a smart text title
{title:Default}-A default text value can be provided with a separation colon after the title
!-Exclamation means this line is requried
*-Asteriks means the title following should be included in the final text as well
::-Double colon means a colon should be added to the final text