Deferred Mode
The 3.50 Helium engine checks whether anything in the form is dependent on a field. If there is, then that field will have deferred mode turned off. As a user leaves the field after entering a value, the engine will trigger a trip to the server to fire the dependent logic changes. The indicator a trip is happening is the spinner that pops up on the page. If there is nothing dependent on that field, the field will have deferred mode turned on. As a user leaves the field after entering a value, there will be no trip or spinner. This drastically improves usability and rapid data entry in an eForm.
All fields have deferred mode set to “Calculated” initially, meaning the framework will determine if the field has dependencies to determine if deferred mode should be on or off. However, a form builder can choose to override the calculated deferred behavior by setting deferred to “On” or “Off” manually. You can see deferred mode for a field on the Deferred Mode page for all fields in a form type, or you can review each field individually in the segment field configuration page. We will review both options in this document.
Deferred Mode Example
For example, let’s say your form has a date field, nothing is dependent on it, and you want it to always reformat to “04/01/2022” after a user enters “4/1/22” and leaves the field. A form builder would set Deferred to “Off” on that field so that end-users benefit from seeing the formatting change happen right after leaving the field instead of putting it off until another action triggers a trip. This matches the behavior of a deferred date field on a standard PeopleSoft page.
On a standard PeopleSoft page, a developer would have to use App Designer to mark a field as deferred or not deferred. GT eForms calculates whether the field should be deferred and allows form builders to override the calculated behavior using configuration instead of App Designer.
Deferred Mode Page
We envision Deferred Mode to be a powerful feature that a form builder can use to meticulously craft the end-user flow of filling out an eForm. We knew it would be tedious to drill into Field Details for each field, so we created a new setup table that lists all the fields on a form and allows users to quickly make changes to each field’s Deferred Mode. This page updates Field Details on the Form Setup and is a more SEEFul way to see and update all the fields at once.
The Deferred Mode page can be accessed by navigating to it from the General tab on Form Setup, or by navigating directly to the page.
Navigation: Manager GT eForms 3.X > Form Setup > General Tab
The “List of Deferred Mode Fields” link will appear in the Helium section on the General tab when the “Use Helium Performance” field is checked. Clicking this link will open the Deferred Mode page in a new window.
Navigation: Manager GT eForms 3.X > GT Functional Setup > eForm Parts Gallery > Deferred Mode
Deferred Mode Search Page
Search will return all form types that exist in the environment. This tool should only be used on forms with the “Use Helium Performance” button checked on the General tab in Form Setup.
Deferred Mode Page
| FIELD | FUNCTIONALITY |
|---|---|
| Form Type | Form Type selected from Search |
| Select All | Checks all boxes in Selected field |
| Clear Selections | Unchecks all boxes in the Selected field |
| Set Selected to On (Button) | Sets the *Deferred field to “On” for all rows with the Selected field checked |
| Set Selected to Calculated (Button) | Sets the *Deferred field to “Calculated” for all rows with the Selected field checked |
| Set Selected to Off (Button) | Sets the *Deferred field to “Off” for all rows with the Selected field checked |
| Segment | All configured segments with fields will display for the Form Type selected |
| Record Tag | The Record Tag for the Segment |
| Field Name | Field Name from the Configuration Segment |
| Label | Field Label from the Configuration Segment |
| Field Display Type | Display Type from the Configuration Segment |
| Field Type | Field Type from the Configuration Segment |
| Calculated Deferred | How the framework determined if the field has dependencies to determine if deferred mode should be on or off |
| *Deferred | There are 3 options: Calculated (default value) - The framework will determine if the field has dependencies to determine if a field should be deferred. Off – Forces a field to be deferred even if it thinks the framework determines it can be. One reason to do this is to force a trip on fields that are formatted as a result of the trip like dates and number fields. On – Forces a field to be deferred even if the framework determines there is something dependent on it. The dependencies will get resolved for deferred fields during the next trip that is triggered. |
| Selected | Check this box if you want to use the following: Clear Selections (Link) Set Selected to On (Button) Set Selected to Calculated (Button) Set Selected to Off (Button) |
| Run Form Build | Once changes are made to the page you need to click this link to go to the Form Build page to update the form. Clicking the link opens the Form Type Build in a new modal window. Refer to Form Type Build document for additional information. |
Segment Field Configuration Page
Navigation: Manager GT eForms 3.X > Form Setup
The Deferred for an individual field can also be set on the Segment Field Configuration page. A form builder can manually override the calculated deferred behavior by setting Deferred to “On” or “Off.”
