Repeating sections (manual)

Sections and pages can be configured to repeat a set of questions as many times as the end user needs to enter all the required information.

It enables users to collect multiple items of data at one time. Repeating pages allow the user to add and remove pages as many times as needed, and is suitable for situations with many or complex questions.

Repeating sections are similar to repeating pages, except that the questions are repeated down the same page more like a table. Repeating sections are useful for situations where there are a small, clear amount of questions to ask, such as a line item entry.

Users are provided with buttons to ADD new records, FILL DOWN a copy of the previous record into a new record and to DELETE selected records. Users may also import and export the repeating data from and to a CSV file for editing outside SmartIQ

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Best Practice

SmartIQ allows the dynamic upload of data from a CSV file into a repeating section. If utilizing this feature, caution is required. SmartIQ calculation engine will recalculate all questions contained in the repeating section, any dependencies on the repeating section and its questions and also any questions that depend on the repeating section. If the form is designed to use nested or side-by-side repeating sections with dependencies relating to the uploaded data these can result in a non-linear increased time to load (and serious CPU impacts on the server) up to and including full timeouts and application crashes. The load times for each additional row can increase on an exponential or even factorial basis (for nested repeats). This can mean a CSV that loads easily with 10 rows may be very slow with 25 rows and not load at all with 100 rows. If using CSV data upload, best practice is to start designing with an initial set of test data that exceeds the projected maximum row count so any performance issues are identified early in the form design process.

By default, the number of rows in a repeating section and the data within it is controlled by users filling out the form. To associate the repeating section with a data source, the “Driven By” property can be changed from “Manual” to “Data”. For more information about Data-Driven Repeating, Sections see Data Driven Sections and Page Repeats.

Line items are usually laid out in columns across the screen.

Multiple-item data is often laid out in larger blocks of questions.

Setting 'Maximum' and ‘Minimum’ property of Repeating Sections

Manual repeaters are the default selection for repeating sections. When Manual is selected it repeats a set of questions as many times as the end user needs. Repeating sections can be controlled by defining the ‘Maximum’ and ‘Minimum’ properties which can be found within the ‘Properties’ tab of a repeating section or page. These properties can be set for an amount of repeating sections/pages by simply entering a number into the ‘Maximum’ or ‘Minimum’ property fields. Alternately the minimum amount of Pages/Sections can be set as default on start-up (Refer to Article Minimum repeats for pages and sections).

Design

Produce

Start-up View

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Note:

The Maximum property is set to 3 in Design, so after adding three records, ‘ADD’ button will disappear and the user will be unable to add any more rows as shown in the screenshot above.