Creating your first SmartIQ project

Getting Started

Welcome to SmartIQ! This document guides you through the process of creating a simple SmartIQ project.

Find detailed information on all features mentioned in this document in the other sections of the Knowledge Hub. For easy access use the search functionality.

In order to complete this project, you need these prerequisites:

• Any supported browser. We recommend the latest version of Microsoft® Edge (Chromium Edition) for best results.
• Microsoft Word

The goal of this guide is to created a form where you fill in data that are used to produce a Word document. To achieve this you have to complete the following steps:

1. Creating a Template
2. Creating a Project and Question Set in Design
3. Connecting your Form and your Template
4. Publishing the Sample in Manage
5. Completing the Form and Generating the Document in Produce

Creating a Template

A template is like a blueprint of the document you want to produce. You have to prepare it so it can handle the data from the form you will create later in this guide.

1. Create a Word document which looks similar to the following:

Pay attention to the red words. They define the location within the template document where SmartIQ inserts data from the form. You need to mark them as placeholders.

2. Create placeholders in your document by surrounding the red words with two sets of curly brackets. Leave any punctuation or spaces around the placeholder. Make sure that your template contains the placeholders {{Date}}, {{Name}} and {{Days}}.
3. Save the Word document to your computer, for instance as New Print Run Letter.

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Note

If your placeholder contains multiple words, use underscores instead of spaces, for instance: Customer_Name_2.

Name your placeholders in accordance with the data being inserted, removed or repeated. This will help you easily recall which placeholder refers to a specific location.

Creating a Project and Question Set in Design

Now you can create the form that will deliver the information to replace the placeholders.

1. In a web browser, login to SmartIQ and navigate to Manage. Click the menu item labeled Design on the top-right navigation panel to open the web design tool start-up screen.

2. Click Create new project. The New SmartIQ Project dialog displays.

3. Give your project a name and leave the Project Type as Form.
4. Click OK to start your new project.

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Note

You can choose different types for a project. All project types creating a form or a form fragment contain a set of questions that are later displayed as input fields and controls.

The following text refers to this configuration as Question Set. It uses:

• Layout types
• Question types
• Answers
• Placeholders

The new project is opened in the Design main screen depicted below. Here you create your question set.

The top-center area of the screen shows the following tabs: Common, Layout, Questions, Templates, and All. They group the available elements that can be used in the question set.

The left-hand side panel shows a tree representation of the project.

You can access a number of tabs on the right-hand side panel. For your project you need the following tabs:

• Properties
• Placeholders
• Fragment

The center panel shows a preview of the form you are creating by configuring the question set. Elements in the preview can be clicked to select them in the tree and to show their properties in the Properties tab.

By default, a Page layout element New Page 1 is created with a new project. You can find it in the tree and see the page title in the preview.

5. Click the page title in the preview and change the Page Title property on the Properties tab to New Print Letter. Check the result in the preview.
6. Click the center-top Questions tab and find all available question types that can be configured for the form.
7. Drag and drop a Text Field question onto the New Print Letter page in the tree.

A new question has now been added along with a new answer, called New Question 1 and New Answer 1 respectively:

Question types are composed of the question itself and its answer, or answers. Usually you configure on the question the text that is shown in the form and on the answer the input controls to answer the posed question. Depending on the question type, the answer can be a simple input field, multiple choice radio buttons or even a field to insert/paint a signature. For more information, refer to question types.

8. Click the question and in the Properties tab, change the Question Text property to Enter Customer Name: . Check the text in the preview. Leave all other properties with their default values or blank.

9. Click the answer and in the Properties tab, change the Answer Name property to Customer Name Answer. This change is visible in the tree on the left.

Connecting your Form and your Template

When a user fills in the form, at the end a document should be created containing their answers in all the right places. Technically speaking, the placeholders in the Word template must be replaced. Therefor you will upload the Word template you have created at the very beginning to the project and link its placeholders to the appropriate answers.

The Finish element in the project tree defines the steps that are run after a user submitted their form. It holds the documents that will be created in the end.

1. Click the center-top Templates tab and drag and drop the Word element onto the Finish element. In the opening dialog, upload your Word document.

2. On the Placeholder tab on the right-hand side, find the tree node with your document's name and expand it. You will see all placeholders you put into the template, namely {{Name}}, {{Date}} and {{Days}}.

3. Drag and drop the {{Name}} placeholder onto the Customer Name Answer answer in the project tree.

The Question Set should now look like this:

4. Click the Save control in the top-right menu to save the project to the database. Insert a Project Name, for instance New Print Letter, and select a folder where you will find it later.

Publishing the Sample in Manage

To make the form available for users, you will create now a publishing folder and publish your project into it. Therefore we leave Design and switch back to Manage.

1. Open Manage and click the Publish Folders tab on the left-hand site panel.

2. Click the New Folder button, provide an input for Folder Name and click the Save button to create a folder where you can publish your project.

3. Navigate to the Projects tab and find your project in the folder structure. Click onto your project so the screen shows the project properties.

4. Click the Publish button from the top menu. The publishing screen is opened in the main panel.

5. Next to the Folder field, click (...) and select the folder you have created previously. Then click Save to publish your project.

Completing the Form and Generating the Document in Produce

To generate the document you have created in the very beginning of this guide, you need to complete the form you have created in Design. This is done in Produce.

1. Click the menu item labeled Produce on the top-right navigation panel to open the main page of the document production. It shows all publishing folders and the forms that have been published into those folders.

2. Find your project in the publishing folder you have created earlier. Click it to open the form.

The form contains the only input field you have configured in your Question Set, asking to enter the customer's name.

3. Insert a name and click Submit.

When clicking Submit, SmartIQ generates the documents that are connected to the Finish page of the project. It takes all data from the form and replaces the placeholders. In the following screen, you can download your document.

4. Click the link to download and open the document. Confirm that SmartIQ has placed the customer name you have inserted in the form into the document's salutation as shown below:

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Exercise

To consolidate your SmartIQ knowledge, go ahead and add Text Field questions for Date and Days to your form.

Configure the questions' Data Type property to control the appearance of the form fields and the values a user can insert.