Text Box Form Element

Type: String

The text that appears initially in the text box.

Type: String

A description of the element. The description appears below the element's title.

You can use the Description property to describe what the element represents or to provide instructions to the user about how to use the element.

You can format the description using Markdown.

Type: String

The element's ID, which is used in other form elements and activities to access the element's properties, including the user's input. The ID must be unique across all elements in the form.

You cannot get or set the value of the Element ID property in an expression—you can only use the value that you configured for it. To use the Element ID property in an expression:

${Display Form ID}.state.{Element ID}.{property name}

For example:

$form1.state.textBox1.visible

Type: Boolean

Name in Properties Panel: Enabled

Name to Use in Expressions: enabled

Indicates whether the text box is enabled in the running workflow. When a text box is enabled, the user can enter text. When a text box is disabled, the user can see the text box but cannot interact with it. Disabled elements appear dimmed or shaded in the running workflow.

By default, text boxes are enabled. To disable a text box initially, clear the Enabled checkbox. You may want to change the property's value at run time depending on the user's input in a previous form element.

To access the enabled property in an expression:

${Display Form ID}.state.{Element ID}.enabled

For example:

$form1.state.textBox1.enabled

Type: String | MarkdownRef

Indicates whether an error occurred in the element.

MarkdownRef objects have a markdown property of type String that represents the Markdown text.

We recommend using the Set Form Element Error and Clear Form Element Error activities to work with errors in form elements.

Type: Boolean

Name in Properties Panel: Read Only

Name to Use in Expressions: readOnly

Indicates whether the user can edit the text in the text box or not. The user can select and copy read-only text, provided the element is enabled.

Use the Read Only property to prevent the user from changing the text in the text box.

By default, the user can change the text in a text box. If you want the text to be read only initially, select the Read Only checkbox.

To access the readOnly property in an expression:

${Display Form ID}.state.{Element ID}.readOnly

For example:

$form1.state.textBox1.readOnly

Type: Boolean

Name in Properties Panel: Required

Name to Use in Expressions: require

Indicates whether the user must enter some text in the text box. When the text box is required, the user cannot submit the form until some text is entered.

By default, text boxes are not required. To require a text box, select the Required checkbox.

The Required checkbox is intended as a quick way to do simple validation without having to add a validate event. If you add a validate event to a form element, selecting the Required checkbox will not have any effect. In this case, you must make the validate event check whether the user entered a value.

To access the require property in an expression:

${Display Form ID}.state.{Element ID}.require

For example:

$form1.state.textBox1.require

Type: String

The element's title, which appears at the top of the element.

You may want to change the title to describe what the element represents in your workflow. Descriptive titles make forms easier to understand.

You can format the title using Markdown.

Type: String

A message that displays when the user hovers the mouse pointer over the text box. You may want to use the tooltip to provide help to the user.

Type: String

The variety of form element. Text boxes are type "TextBox".

Use the type property to find out the variety of a form element in a form with many elements: loop through ${Display Form ID}.state, comparing each element to the known form types and performing some action on the elements that meet your type criteria.

To access the type property in an expression:

${Display Form ID}.state.{Element ID}.type

For example:

$form1.state.textBox1.type

Type: String

The text that the user entered in the text box.

To access the value property in an expression:

${Display Form ID}.state.{Element ID}.value

For example:

$form1.state.textBox1.value

The load event fires when the element finishes loading.

You can use the load event to set one or more of the element's properties at run time. For example, you could set the text box's initial value.

The change event fires when the user clicks away from the text box after entering or changing the input.

You can use the change event to create dependencies between form elements. For example, you could configure a change subworkflow that enables or disables other form elements depending on the user's input.

The change event fires every time the user's input changes. This means that the text box's change subworkflow can run multiple times. Because of this, you should make sure that the change subworkflow is not computationally intensive or long running.