JavaScript SDK

This page describes the Form.io JavaScript SDK

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Last updated 10 months ago

The JavaScript API is a minimalistic API library that allows you to work with the Form.io API's within your web application.

Installation

The Form.io SDK is part of our Open Source formio.js library which is found @ https://github.com/formio/formio.js. There are two ways to include the JavaScript SDK into your application.

Include using script tag

You can include it in a script tag within your application like the following shows.

<script src="https://cdn.form.io/js/formio.full.min.js"></script>

Which would would then be able to do the following within your application.

<script type="text/javascript">
    // Load a form.
    var formio = new Formio('https://myproject.form.io/myform');
    formio.loadForm().then(function(form) {
        console.log(form);
    });
</script>

Import into application

You can also import the SDK into your application as follows.

First perform an npm install using the terminal application.

npm install --save formiojs

Then, you can import it into your application as follows.

import Formio from 'formiojs/Formio';

// Load a form
const formio = new Formio('https://myproject.form.io/myform');
formio.loadForm().then(function(formio) {
  console.log(formio);
});

Usage

Creating an instance of Formio is simple, and takes only a path (URL String). The path can be different, depending on the desired output. The Formio instance can also access higher level operations, depending on how granular of a path you start with.

const formio = new Formio(<endpoint>, [options]);

Where endpoint is any valid API endpoint within Form.io. These URL's can provide a number of different methods depending on the granularity of the endpoint. This allows you to use the same interface but have access to different methods depending on how granular the endpoint url is.

The options (optional) is used to configure certain behaviors of the JavaScript API. The following options are available.

API Scopes

When using the JavaScript SDK, it is important to understand the different kinds of API scopes that are being queried via the API. The Form.io API is hierarchical which is also congruent with the JavaScript SDK when making API calls with the SDK. The following scopes are provided via the Form.io API / SDK (we will use "formio.com" as the hypothetical domain name you have deployed the Form.io platform against.

Project and Form Aliases

The Form.io API also uses aliases to make the use of the hierarchical API's easier to use. Currently, we provide alias support for both Projects and Forms, so that a typical Form URL would look like the following.

https://formio.com/myproject/myform

Where "formio.com" would be replaced with the URL of your deployment, "myproject" would be replaced with the alias name of your project, and "myform" would be replaced with the name of your form. All API endpoints within the examples below will use this URL format to demonstrate the different kinds of SDK methods.

Examples

If you wish to load the project JSON, or search for forms, you will instantiate as follows.

const formio = new Formio('https://formio.com/myproject');
formio.loadForms().then((forms) => {
  console.log(forms);
});

If you wish to load a specific submission.

const formio = new Formio('https://formio.com/myproject/myform/submission/23234234234234');
formio.loadSubmission().then((submission) => {
  console.log(submission);
});

Now that we understand how the SDK works, we can see all of the different API's available to the different API scopes as follows.

Static Methods

There are a few methods that are used statically, meaning that they do not require the new Formio as the other methods require. These methods can be used as globals that are able to define the behavior of the JavaScript SDK and all instances created afterward. These methods are as follows.

`Formio.setBaseUrl(baseUrl)`

Sets the Base URL of the renderer and SDK. This is a very important method that allows you to provide to the JavaScript SDK the Base Deployment URL of your API platform. This is always going to be the root URL of your deployment, which is also the same as the URL for the deployed developer portal application (if you have that enabled). The best way to know if you have this correct is that you should see the "status" of your deployment by going to :baseUrl/status If this shows the version of the server, then you know this is the value of the base URL.

Example:

Formio.setBaseUrl('https://forms.yoursite.com');

`Formio.setProjectUrl(projectUrl)`

This is the Project URL that will be used to reference any Project endpoints within the SDK and renderer. This is also important to establish within your application to ensure that all relative urls are referencing the correct Project endpoints.

Example:

Formio.setProjectUrl('https://forms.yoursite.com/yourproject');

`Formio.fetch(...)`

This method is a simple shim around the HTTP Fetch polyfill.

`Formio.request(url, [method], [data], [header], [opts])`

A static method to perform an API request to any REST API endpoint. This method is a simple wrapper around the JavaScript fetch method with the added handling of JWT tokens as well as implements a Caching mechanism for GET requests to ensure that multiple requests of the same nature do not constantly spam the API server. It's parameters are defined as follows.

Example: Send a request to fetch submissions.

Formio.request(
  'https://examples.form.io/customers/submission?data.number=1',
  'GET',
  null,
  null,
  {
    headers: {
      'content-type': 'application/json'
    },
    mode: 'cors',
  }).then(function(result) {
    console.log(result);
  });

`Formio.makeStaticRequest(url, [method], [data], [opts])`

This static method performs an API call to the Form.io API platform. This method is very similar to other request method but will also send the request through the Form.io fetch plugin to allow any fetch plugin to intercept the request being made. Its parameters are defined as follows.

`Formio.setToken(token)`

Sets or removes the JWT token within localStorage.

`Formio.getToken()`

Retrieve the JWT token from localStorage.

`Formio.setUser(user)`

Sets the User JSON object of the currently logged in user. This is the same JSON object that you would get if you sent an API request to /current with your current JWT token. This user object is then stored within localStorage as formioUser unless a different namespace option is being used.

`Formio.getUser()`

Fetch the user JSON object from the localStorage.

`Formio.currentUser([formio], [opts])`

Fetch the current user via the /current API endpoint.

`Formio.accessInfo([formio])`

Retrieves the access information for a specific project. You must ensure you set the project url using Formio.setProjectUrl() before calling this method.

`Formio.projectRoles([formio])`

Retrieves the roles for a specific project. You must ensure you set the project url using Formio.setProjectUrl() before calling this method.

`Formio.clearCache()`

Clears all the fetch caches to ensure that any future requests will retrieve fresh data from the API's.

`Formio.logout([formio], [opts])`

Perform a logout against the Form.io API server.

`Formio.pageQuery()`

Helper function to retrieve all of the URL query parameters in a javascript key-value pair mapped object.

Example: Given the following url

https://yourapp.formio.com/#/home?data.firstName=Travis&sort=-created

If you run this method on that page, it will return the following.

const pageQuery = Formio.pageQuery();
console.log(pageQuery['data.firstName']); // Prints "Travis"
console.log(pageQuery.sort); // Prints "-created"

`Formio.ssoInit([type], [options])`

Initializes an SSO processes. This is used during SAML authentication processes to instantiate and continue a SAML SSO process.

Instantiate a SAML SSO process

Assuming that your project is configured for SAML, you can instantiate an SSO process by executing the following.

Formio.ssoInit('saml')

Process a SAML response

Once the SAML authentication returns to the application, you can process that response using the following.

if (Formio.pageQuery().saml) {
    const sso = Formio.ssoInit('saml');
    if (sso) {
        sso.then((user) => {
          window.location.href = '/';
        });
    }
}

The following parameters can be used.

`Formio.requireLibrary(name, property, src, [polling])`

Require an external JavaScript library for lazy-loading purposes.

Formio.requireLibrary(
    'lodash',
    '_',
    'https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/lodash.js/4.17.21/lodash.min.js',
    true
).then(function() {
    console.log(_.version); // Lodash is now part of the dom.
});

`Formio.libraryReady(name)`

Returns a promise that will resolve once the library of the provided name is ready to be used.

Formio.libraryReady('lodash').then((_) => {
    // Lodash is now ready!
    console.log(_);
});

`Formio.loadProjects([query], [opts])`

A static method to load all projects within the configured baseUrl of the SDK.

`Formio.serialize(obj, [interpolate])`

A method that will serialize a data map key-value pair object into a URL query string.

Project API Scope

The following API's are defined at the Project Scope. To instantiate the SDK at the project scope, you simply need to provide a Project API to the constructor as follows.

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject')

where "myproject" would be the alias name of your project. Once you have instantiated the SDK with the following URL, the following methods are now available to you at the Project Scope.

`formio.loadProject([query], [opts])`

Loads the project using the following Project Load API

formio.loadProject().then((project) => {
    // Prints the project JSON
    console.log(project);
});

`formio.saveProject(project, [opts])`

Creates or Updates a project depending on if the _id of the project is provided (upsert).

Example: Create a new project

const formio = new Formio('https://api.form.io');
formio.saveProject({
    "title": "New Project",
    "name": "proj980",
    "description": "An example application",
    "settings": {
        "cors": "*"
    }
}).then((project) => {
    // Prints the project that was saved via API.
    console.log(project);
});

Example: Update an existing project.

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject');
formio.loadProject().then((project) => {
    project.title = 'Updated Title';
    formio.saveProject(project).then((updated) => {
        // Prints the updated project json.
        console.log(updated);
    });
});

`formio.deleteProject([opts])`

Deletes a project.

var formio = new Formio('https://myproject.form.io');
formio.deleteProject().then(() => {
    console.log('The project has been deleted!');
});

`formio.loadForms([query], [opts])`

Loads all the forms within a project. This implements the List Forms API.

Example: List all Resources within a project, sort them based on created date, and only return the "title" and "path" of those forms

formio.loadForms({
  params: {
    type: 'resource',
    select: 'title,path',
    sort: '-created'
  }
}).then((resources) => {
  console.log(resources);
});

Example: List all Forms within a project, limit them to 20, and only return the "title" of those forms.

formio.loadForms({
  params: {
    type: 'form',
    select: 'title',
    limit: 20
  }
}).then((forms) => {
  console.log(forms);
});

`formio.getTempToken(expire, allowed, [options])`

Retrieves a temporary auth token which can be used in conjunction with the PDF API's to download a PDF output of a submission.

formio.getTempToken(
    3600, 
    'GET:/project/234234234234234/form/234234234234234/submission/234234234234234/download'
).then((tokens) => {
    console.log(tokens);
});

`formio.loadRoles([opts])`

Loads a list of roles for the provided project. Implements the List Roles API

`formio.getProjectId()`

Returns the Project ID of the project in context, even if the URL provided to the constructor uses the project alias.

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject');
formio.getProjectId().then((projectId) => {
    // Prints the project id for the "myproject" project.
    console.log(projectId);
});

`formio.accessInfo()`

Retrieve the access information for a project. This method implements the Project Access Info API

formio.accessInfo().then((accessInfo) => {
    // Output the role information for this project.
    console.log(accessInfo.roles);
});

`formio.currentUser()`

Based on the JWT token stored within the localStorage, this method will retrieve the current user metadata and information.

formio.currentUser().then((user) => {
    // The current user.
    console.log(user);
});

Form API Scope

The following API's are available when the Form.io SDK is instantiated with the form scope like the following illustrates

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform');

`formio.loadForm([query], [opts])`

Loads a form json

`formio.saveForm(form, [opts])`

Creates or Updates a form depending on if an "_id" property is provided within the form json.

Example: Create a new form

// Project scope is only required for creating new forms.
const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject');

formio.saveForm({
  title: 'Registration',
  path: 'registration',
  name: 'registration',
  components: [
    {type: 'textfield', key: 'firstName', label: 'First Name'}
    {type: 'textfield', key: 'lastName', label: 'Last Name'}
  ]
}).then((form) => {
  // Prints out the saved form object.
  console.log(form);
});

Example: Update an existing form

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform');
formio.loadForm().then((form) => {
  form.title = 'Updated title';
  formio.saveForm(form).then((updated) => {
    console.log(updated);
  });
});

`formio.deleteForm([opts])`

Deletes a form

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform');
formio.deleteForm().then(() => {
    console.log('Form was deleted!');
});

`formio.getFormId()`

Returns the form Id of the form in context even if the form alias was provided for this form.

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform');
formio.getFormId().then((formId) => {
    // Prints the form id for "myform"
    console.log(formId);
});

`formio.loadSubmissions([query], [opts])`

Loads a view of submissions for a form. This implements the Get Submissions API

Example: Load first 10 submissions, sort by descending created date

formio.loadSubmissions({
  params: {
    sort: '-created'
  }
}).then((submissions) => {
  console.log(submissions);
});

Example 2: Load first 20 submissions where the form field age is greater than 18, and sort by modified.

formio.loadSubmissions({
    params: {
        sorted: 'modified',
        'data.age__gt': 18,
        limit: 20
    }
}).then((submissions) => {
    console.log(submissions);
});

`formio.loadActions([query], [opts])`

Loads the Actions for a given form. This implements the List Actions API

Examples will be very similar to the loadSubmissions API, but will query against the action json objects instead.

`formio.availableActions()`

Returns a list of available actions that can be added to this form. Implements the Available Actions API.

`formio.actionInfo(name)`

Returns the action information for a specific action including the settings form. This implements the Action Info API

Submission API Scope

The following API's are available when the Form.io SDK is instantiated with the submission scope like the following illustrates

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform/submission/234234234234234');

`formio.loadSubmission([query], [opts])`

Loads a submission for a given form.

Example: Load the submission

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform/submission/234234234234234');
formio.loadSubmission().then((submission) => {
    console.log(submission);
});

`formio.saveSubmission(submission, [opts])`

Creates or Updates a submission depending on if an "_id" property is provided within the submission json.

Example: Create a new submission

// Form scope is only required for creating new submissions.
const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform');

formio.saveSubmission({
  data: {
    firstName: 'Joe',
    lastName: 'Smith'
  }
}).then((submission) => {
  // Prints out the saved submission object.
  console.log(submission);
});

Example: Update an existing submission

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform/submission/234234234234234');
formio.loadSubmission().then((submission) => {
  submission.data.firstName = 'Updated Name';
  formio.saveSubmission(submission).then((updated) => {
    console.log(updated);
  });
});

`formio.deleteSubmission([opts])`

Deletes a submission

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform/submission/234234234234234');
formio.deleteSubmission().then(() => {
    console.log('Submission was deleted!');
});

`formio.getDownloadUrl([form])`

Retrieves a PDF download url for a specific form.

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform/submission/234234234234234');
formio.getDownloadUrl().then((url) => {
    // This will print the PDF download url, which also includes the temp token.
    console.log(url);
});

`formio.uploadFile(storage, file, fileName, dir, progressCallback, url, options, fileKey, groupPermissions, groupId, uploadStartCallback, abortCallback)`

Uploads a file to the provided storage system. See File Component for specific usage and implementation details.

`formio.downloadFile(file, [options])`

Downloads a file from the provided storage system. See File Component for specific usage and implementation details.

`formio.deleteFile(file, [options])`

Deletes a file from the provided storage system. See File Component for specific usage and implementation details

Action API Scope

The following API's are available when the Form.io SDK is instantiated with the action scope like the following illustrates

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform/action/234234234234234');

`formio.loadAction([query], [opts])`

Loads an action for a given form.

Example: Load the action

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform/action/234234234234234');
formio.loadAction().then((action) => {
    console.log(action);
});

`formio.saveAction(action, [opts])`

Creates or Updates an action depending on if an "_id" property is provided within the action json.

Example: Create a new action

// Form scope is only required for creating new actions.
const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform');

formio.saveAction({
	"data": {
		"name": "email",
		"title": "Email",
		"method": ["create"],
		"handler": ["after"],
		"priority": 0,
		"settings": {
			"emails": ["test@example.com"],
			"from": "np-reply@form.io",
			"message": "{{ submission(data, form.components) }}",
			"subject": "New submission for {{ form.title }}.",
			"transport": "default"
		}
	}
}).then((action) => {
  // Prints out the saved action object.
  console.log(action);
});

Example: Update an existing submission

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform/action/234234234234234');
formio.loadAction().then((action) => {
  action.title = 'Updated Action Title';
  formio.saveAction(action).then((updated) => {
    console.log(updated);
  });
});

`formio.deleteAction([opts])`

Deletes an action

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform/action/234234234234234');
formio.deleteAction().then(() => {
    console.log('Action was deleted!');
});

Role API Scope

The following API's are available when the Form.io SDK is instantiated with the role scope like the following illustrates

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/role/234234234234234');

`formio.loadRole([opts])`

Loads a role json.

Example: Load the role

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/role/234234234234234');
formio.loadRole().then((role) => {
    console.log(role);
});

`formio.saveRole(role, [opts])`

Creates or Updates a role depending on if an "_id" property is provided within the role json.

Example: Create a new role

// Project scope is only required for creating new roles.
const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject');

formio.saveRole({
	title: 'Employee',
  description: 'A person who belongs to a company.'
}).then((role) => {
  // Prints out the saved role object.
  console.log(role);
});

Example: Update an existing role

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/role/234234234234234');
formio.loadRole().then((role) => {
  role.title = 'Manager';
  formio.saveRole(role).then((updated) => {
    console.log(updated);
  });
});

`formio.deleteRole([opts])`

Deletes a role

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/role/234234234234234');
formio.deleteRole().then(() => {
    console.log('Role was deleted!');
});

Utility Methods

`formio.isObjectId(id)`

Determines if the provided "id" is a valid MongoDB ObjectId

`formio.userPermissions([user], [form], [submission])`

Fetches an object that describes the users permissions as it pertains to the provided user, form, and submission. If any of these are not provided, then the current object in context is used.

`formio.canSubmit()`

Returns a promise if the user can submit the form in scope.

const formio = new Formio('https://forms.formio.com/myproject/myform');
formio.canSubmit().then((canSubmit) => {
    if (canSubmit) {
        console.log('The user can submit the form!');
    }
    else {
        console.log('The user cannot submit the form!');
    }
});

Fetch Plugin API

Formio.js can register plugins that can hook into request calls in several ways. Every fetch plugin is defined using the following JSON structure.

const FetchPlugin = {
    /**
     * The priority of the plugin relative to other plugins that determines call 
     * order. Higher numbers have higher priority. If not specified it will 
     * default to a priority of 0.
     */
    priority: 0,
    
    /**
     * An initialization function called when registered with Formio.
     *
     * @param Formio - The static class of the Form.io SDK
     */
    init: (Formio) => {
    
    },
    
    /**
     * A deregistration function called when deregistering with Formio
     *
     * @param Formio - The static class of the Form.io SDK
     */
    deregister: (Formio) => {
    
    }
};

Formio.registerPlugin(FetchPlugin, 'customfetch');

`Formio.registerPlugin(plugin, [name])`

Registers a fetch plugin with the Form.io SDK.

`Formio.getPlugin(name)`

Returns the plugin registered with the given name.

const plugin = Formio.getPlugin('customplugin');

`Formio.deregisterPlugin(plugin)`

Deregisters a plugin with Form.io SDK. It will call the deregister function on the plugin before deregistering. The plugin argument can be the instance of the plugin or the optional name given when registered. Returns true if the plugin was successfully deregistered, false if the plugin does not exist.

Plugin hooks

Plugins can provide hooks that are invoked at different points in the library. To use a particular hook below, add a function to your plugin with the same name as the hook.

The following are the currently available hooks.

`preRequest(requestArgs)`

Called before a request. If you return a promise, Formio.js will wait for it to resolve before starting the request.