Use a Smart Action Form

Please be sure of your agent type and version and pick the right documentation accordingly.

Node.js

This is the documentation of the forest-express-sequelize and forest-express-mongoose Node.js agents that will soon reach end-of-support.

forest-express-sequelize v9 and forest-express-mongoose v9 are replaced by @forestadmin/agent v1.

Please check your agent type and version and read on or switch to the right documentation.

Ruby on Rails

This is still the latest Ruby on Rails documentation of the forest_liana agent, you’re at the right place, please read on.

Python

This is the documentation of the django-forestadmin Django agent that will soon reach end-of-support.

If you’re using a Django agent, notice that django-forestadmin v1 is replaced by forestadmin-agent-django v1.

If you’re using a Flask agent, go to the forestadmin-agent-flask v1 documentation.

Please check your agent type and version and read on or switch to the right documentation.

PHP

This is the documentation of the forestadmin/laravel-forestadmin Laravel agent that will soon reach end-of-support.

If you’re using a Laravel agent, notice that forestadmin/laravel-forestadmin v1 is replaced by forestadmin/laravel-forestadmin v3.

If you’re using a Symfony agent, go to the forestadmin/symfony-forestadmin v1 documentation.

Please check your agent type and version and read on or switch to the right documentation.

Use a Smart Action Form

We've just introduced Smart actions: they're great because you can execute virtually any business logic. However, there is one big part missing: how do you let your users provide more information or have interaction when they trigger the Smart action? In short, you need to open a Smart Action Form.

Opening a Smart Action Form

Very often, you will need to ask user inputs before triggering the logic behind a Smart Action. For example, you might want to specify a reason if you want to block a user account. Or set the amount to charge a user’s credit card.

SQL

On our Live Demo example, we’ve defined 4 input fields on the Smart Action Upload Legal Docs on the collection companies.

/forest/companies.js

const { collection } = require('forest-express-sequelize');

collection('companies', {
  actions: [
    {
      name: 'Upload Legal Docs',
      type: 'single',
      fields: [
        {
          field: 'Certificate of Incorporation',
          description:
            'The legal document relating to the formation of a company or corporation.',
          type: 'File',
          isRequired: true,
        },
        {
          field: 'Proof of address',
          description:
            '(Electricity, Gas, Water, Internet, Landline & Mobile Phone Invoice / Payment Schedule) no older than 3 months of the legal representative of your company',
          type: 'File',
          isRequired: true,
        },
        {
          field: 'Company bank statement',
          description: 'PDF including company name as well as IBAN',
          type: 'File',
          isRequired: true,
        },
        {
          field: 'Valid proof of ID',
          description:
            'ID card or passport if the document has been issued in the EU, EFTA, or EEA / ID card or passport + resident permit or driving license if the document has been issued outside the EU, EFTA, or EEA of the legal representative of your company',
          type: 'File',
          isRequired: true,
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
});

/routes/companies.js

const { PermissionMiddlewareCreator } = require('forest-express-sequelize');
const permissionMiddlewareCreator = new PermissionMiddlewareCreator('companies');

...

router.post('/actions/upload-legal-docs', permissionMiddlewareCreator.smartAction(),
  (req, res) => {
    // Get the current company id
    let companyId = req.body.data.attributes.ids[0];

    // Get the values of the input fields entered by the admin user.
    let attrs = req.body.data.attributes.values;
    let certificate_of_incorporation = attrs['Certificate of Incorporation'];
    let proof_of_address = attrs['Proof of address'];
    let company_bank_statement = attrs['Company bank statement'];
    let passport_id = attrs['Valid proof of id'];

    // The business logic of the Smart Action. We use the function
    // UploadLegalDoc to upload them to our S3 repository. You can see the full
    // implementation on our Forest Live Demo repository on Github.
    return P.all([
      uploadLegalDoc(companyId, certificate_of_incorporation, 'certificate_of_incorporation_id'),
      uploadLegalDoc(companyId, proof_of_address, 'proof_of_address_id'),
      uploadLegalDoc(companyId, company_bank_statement,'bank_statement_id'),
      uploadLegalDoc(companyId, passport_id, 'passport_id'),
    ])
    .then(() => {
      // Once the upload is finished, send a success message to the admin user in the UI.
      res.send({ success: 'Legal documents are successfully uploaded.' });
    });
  });

  ...

module.exports = router;

Mongodb

On our Live Demo example, we’ve defined 4 input fields on the Smart Action Upload Legal Docs on the collection companies.

/forest/companies.js

const { collection } = require('forest-express-mongoose');

collection('companies', {
  actions: [{
    name: 'Upload Legal Docs',
    type: 'single',
    fields: [{
      field: 'Certificate of Incorporation',
      description: 'The legal document relating to the formation of a company or corporation.',
      type: 'File',
      isRequired: true
    }, {
      field: 'Proof of address',
      description: '(Electricity, Gas, Water, Internet, Landline & Mobile Phone Invoice / Payment Schedule) no older than 3 months of the legal representative of your company',
      type: 'File',
      isRequired: true
    }, {
      field: 'Company bank statement',
      description: 'PDF including company name as well as IBAN',
      type: 'File',
      isRequired: true
    }, {
      field: 'Valid proof of ID',
      description: 'ID card or passport if the document has been issued in the EU, EFTA, or EEA / ID card or passport + resident permit or driving license if the document has been issued outside the EU, EFTA, or EEA of the legal representative of your company',
      type: 'File',
      isRequired: true
    }],
});

/routes/companies.js

...

router.post('/actions/upload-legal-docs',
 (req, res) => {
    // Get the current company id
    let companyId = req.body.data.attributes.ids[0];

    // Get the values of the input fields entered by the admin user.
    let attrs = req.body.data.attributes.values;
    let certificate_of_incorporation = attrs['Certificate of Incorporation'];
    let proof_of_address = attrs['Proof of address'];
    let company_bank_statement = attrs['Company bank statement'];
    let passport_id = attrs['Valid proof of id'];

    // The business logic of the Smart Action. We use the function
    // UploadLegalDoc to upload them to our S3 repository. You can see the full
    // implementation on our Forest Live Demo repository on Github.
    return P.all([
      uploadLegalDoc(companyId, certificate_of_incorporation, 'certificate_of_incorporation_id'),
      uploadLegalDoc(companyId, proof_of_address, 'proof_of_address_id'),
      uploadLegalDoc(companyId, company_bank_statement,'bank_statement_id'),
      uploadLegalDoc(companyId, passport_id, 'passport_id'),
    ])
    .then(() => {
      // Once the upload is finished, send a success message to the admin user in the UI.
      res.send({ success: 'Legal documents are successfully uploaded.' });
    });
  });

...

module.exports = router;

Rails

On our Live Demo example, we’ve defined 4 input fields on the Smart Action Upload Legal Docs on the collection Company.

/lib/forest_liana/collections/company.rb

class Forest::Company
  include ForestLiana::Collection

  collection :Company

  action 'Upload Legal Docs', type: 'single', fields: [{
    field: 'Certificate of Incorporation',
    description: 'The legal document relating to the formation of a company or corporation.',
    type: 'File',
    is_required: true
  }, {
    field: 'Proof of address',
    description: '(Electricity, Gas, Water, Internet, Landline & Mobile Phone Invoice / Payment Schedule) no older than 3 months of the legal representative of your company',
    type: 'File',
    is_required: true
  }, {
    field: 'Company bank statement',
    description: 'PDF including company name as well as IBAN',
    type: 'File',
    is_required: true
  }, {
    field: 'Valid proof of ID',
    description: 'ID card or passport if the document has been issued in the EU, EFTA, or EEA / ID card or passport + resident permit or driving license if the document has been issued outside the EU, EFTA, or EEA of the legal representative of your company',
    type: 'File',
    is_required: true
  }]
end

/config/routes.rb

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  # MUST be declared before the mount ForestLiana::Engine.
  namespace :forest do
    post '/actions/upload-legal-docs' => 'companies#upload_legal_docs'
  end

  mount ForestLiana::Engine => '/forest'
end

/app/controllers/forest/companies_controller.rb

class Forest::CompaniesController < ForestLiana::SmartActionsController

  def upload_legal_doc(company_id, doc, field)
    id = SecureRandom.uuid

    Forest::S3Helper.new.upload(doc, "livedemo/legal/#{id}")

    company = Company.find(company_id)
    company[field] = id
    company.save

    Document.create({
      file_id: company[field],
      is_verified: true
    })
  end

  def upload_legal_docs
    # Get the current company id
    company_id = ForestLiana::ResourcesGetter.get_ids_from_request(params, forest_user).first

    # Get the values of the input fields entered by the admin user.
    attrs = params.dig('data', 'attributes', 'values')
    certificate_of_incorporation = attrs['Certificate of Incorporation'];
    proof_of_address = attrs['Proof of address'];
    company_bank_statement = attrs['Company bank statement'];
    passport_id = attrs['Valid proof of ID'];

    # The business logic of the Smart Action. We use the function
    # upload_legal_doc to upload them to our S3 repository. You can see the
    # full implementation on our Forest Live Demo repository on Github.
    upload_legal_doc(company_id, certificate_of_incorporation, 'certificate_of_incorporation_id')
    upload_legal_doc(company_id, proof_of_address, 'proof_of_address_id')
    upload_legal_doc(company_id, company_bank_statement, 'bank_statement_id')
    upload_legal_doc(company_id, passport_id, 'passport_id')

    # Once the upload is finished, send a success message to the admin user in the UI.
    render json: { success: 'Legal documents are successfully uploaded.' }
  end
end

Django

On our Live Demo example, we’ve defined 4 input fields on the Smart Action Upload Legal Docs on the collection Company.

app/forest/company.py

from django_forest.utils.collection import Collection
from app.models import Company

class CompanyForest(Collection):
    def load(self):
        self.actions = [{
            'name': 'Upload Legal Docs',
            'fields': [
                {
                    'field': 'Certificate of Incorporation',
                    'description': 'The legal document relating to the formation of a company or corporation.',
                    'isRequired': True,
                    'type': 'File'
                },
                {
                    'field': 'Proof of address',
                    'description': '(Electricity, Gas, Water, Internet, Landline & Mobile Phone Invoice / Payment Schedule) no older than 3 months of the legal representative of your company',
                    'isRequired': True,
                    'type': 'File'
                },
                {
                    'field': 'Company bank statement',
                    'description': 'PDF including company name as well as IBAN',
                    'isRequired': True,
                    'type': 'File'
                },
                {
                    'field': 'Valid proof of ID',
                    'description': 'ID card or passport if the document has been issued in the EU, EFTA, or EEA / ID card or passport + resident permit or driving license if the document has been issued outside the EU, EFTA, or EEA of the legal representative of your company',
                    'isRequired': True,
                    'type': 'File'
                },
            ],
        }]

Collection.register(CompanyForest, Company)

Ensure the file app/forest/__init__.py exists and contains the import of the previous defined class :

app/forest/__init__.py

from app.forest.companies import CompanyForest

app/urls.py

from django.urls import path
from django.views.decorators.csrf import csrf_exempt

from . import views

app_name = 'app'
urlpatterns = [
    path('/actions/upload-legal-docs', csrf_exempt(views.UploadLegalDocsView.as_view()), name='upload-legal-docs'),
]

app/views.py

from django.http import JsonResponse
from django_forest.utils.views.action import ActionView


class UploadLegalDocsView(ActionView):

    def upload_legal_doc(company_id, doc, field):
        # FIXME
        pass

    def post(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
        params = request.GET.dict()
        body = self.get_body(request.body)
        ids = self.get_ids_from_request(request, self.Model)

        # Get the current company id
        company_id = ids[0]

        # Get the values of the input fields entered by the admin user.
        attrs = body['data']['attributes']['values']
        certificate_of_incorporation = attrs['Certificate of Incorporation']
        proof_of_address = attrs['Proof of address']
        company_bank_statement = attrs['Company bank statement']
        passport_id = attrs['Valid proof of ID']

        # The business logic of the Smart Action. We use the function
        # upload_legal_doc to upload them to our S3 repository. You can see the
        # full implementation on our Forest Live Demo repository on Github.
        self.upload_legal_doc(company_id, certificate_of_incorporation, 'certificate_of_incorporation_id')
        self.upload_legal_doc(company_id, proof_of_address, 'proof_of_address_id')
        self.upload_legal_doc(company_id, company_bank_statement, 'bank_statement_id')
        self.upload_legal_doc(company_id, passport_id, 'passport_id')

        # Once the upload is finished, send a success message to the admin user in the UI.
        return JsonResponse({'success': 'Legal documents are successfully uploaded.'})

Laravel

On our Live Demo example, we’ve defined 4 input fields on the Smart Action Upload Legal Docs on the collection Company.

The 2nd parameter of the SmartAction method is not required. If you don't fill it, the name of your smartAction will be the name of your method that wrap it.

app/Models/Company.php

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use ForestAdmin\LaravelForestAdmin\Services\Concerns\ForestCollection;
use ForestAdmin\LaravelForestAdmin\Services\SmartFeatures\SmartAction;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;

/**
 * Class Company
 */
class Company extends Model
{
    use HasFactory, ForestCollection;

    /**
     * @return SmartAction
     */
    public function UploadLegalDocs(): SmartAction
    {
        return $this->smartAction('single', 'Upload Legal Docs')
            ->addField(
                [
                    'field' => 'Certificate of Incorporation',
                    'type' => 'File',
                    'is_required' => true,
                    'description' => 'The legal document relating to the formation of a company or corporation.'
                ]
            )
            ->addField(
                [
                    'field' => 'Proof of address',
                    'type' => 'File',
                    'is_required' => false,
                    'description' => '(Electricity, Gas, Water, Internet, Landline & Mobile Phone Invoice / Payment Schedule) no older than 3 months of the legal representative of your company'
                ]
            )
            ->addField(
                [
                    'field' => 'Company bank statement',
                    'type' => 'File',
                    'is_required' => true,
                    'description' => 'PDF including company name as well as IBAN'
                ]
            )
            ->addField(
                [
                    'field' => 'Valid proof of ID',
                    'type' => 'File',
                    'is_required' => true,
                    'description' => 'ID card or passport if the document has been issued in the EU, EFTA, or EEA / ID card or passport + resident permit or driving license if the document has been issued outside the EU, EFTA, or EEA of the legal representative of your company'
                ]
            );
    }
}

routes/web.php

Route::post('forest/smart-actions/company_upload-legal-docs', [CompaniesController::class, 'uploadLegalDocs']);

app/Http/Controllers/CompaniesController.php

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Models\Company;
use ForestAdmin\LaravelForestAdmin\Http\Controllers\ForestController;
use Illuminate\Http\JsonResponse;
use Illuminate\Http\Response;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Storage;

/**
 * Class CompaniesController
 */
class CompaniesController extends ForestController
{
    /**
     * @return JsonResponse
     */
    public function uploadLegalDocs()
    {
        $companyId = request()->input('data.attributes.ids')[0];
        $files = request()->input('data.attributes.values');
        foreach ($files as $key => $file)
        {
            $data = explode(";base64,", $file);
            Storage::disk('s3')->put($key . '-' . $companyId, base64_decode($data[1]));
        }

        return response()->json(
            [
                'success' => 'Legal documents are successfully uploaded.',
            ]
        );
    }
}

Handling input values

Here is the list of available options to customize your input form.

Name	Type	Description
field	string	Label of the input field.
type	string or array	Type of your field. string: Boolean, Date, Dateonly, Enum, File, Number, String array: ['Enum'], ['Number'], ['String']
reference	string	(optional) Specify that the input is a reference to another collection. You must specify the primary key (ex: category.id).
enums	array of strings	(optional) Required only for the Enum type. This is where you list all the possible values for your input field.
description	string	(optional) Add a description for your admin users to help them fill correctly your form
isRequired	boolean	(optional) If true, your input field will be set as required in the browser. Default is false.
hook	string	(optional) Specify the change hook. If specified the corresponding hook is called when the input change
widget	string	(optional) The following widgets are available to your smart action fields (text area, date, boolean, file, dateonly)

The widget property is only partially supported. If you want to use a custom widget via a Smart Action Hook, you'll need to use the syntax mentioned in the next section.

Use components to better layout your form

This feature is only available from version 9.4.0 (forest-express-sequelize and forest-express-mongoose) / version 9.4.0 (forest-rails) .

you must define your layout in a load hook at minima, and repeat it in each change hook.

This feature is useful when dealing with long/complex forms, with many fields. It will let you organize them and add useful information to guide the end user. The layout must contain the fields as they should be rendered on the form.

List of supported layout components

Node.js

// Page
{
  type: 'Layout',
  component: 'Page',
  elements: [] // An array of fields or other layout elements (except other pages)
},

// Row
{
  type: 'Layout',
  component: 'Row',
  fields: [] // An array of one or two fields
}

// Separator
{
  type: 'Layout',
  component: 'Separator',
}

// Html bloc
{
  type: 'Layout',
  component: 'HtmlBlock',
  content: '...' // A text content, which supports html tags
}

Ruby on Rails

# Page
{
  type: 'Layout',
  component: 'Page',
  elements: [] # An array of fields or other layout elements (except other pages)
},

# Row
{
  type: 'Layout',
  component: 'Row',
  fields: [] # An array of one or two fields
}

# Separator
{
  type: 'Layout',
  component: 'Separator',
}

# Html bloc
{
  type: 'Layout',
  component: 'HtmlBlock',
  content: '...' # A text content, which supports html tags
}

Example

Here's an example of an action form with many fields, that we want to improve with some layout components, to make it easier for the end user to fill in.

Node.js

forest/customers.js

const applyLayout = (fields) => {
  const fieldByName = (name) => fields.find((field) => field.field === name);
  return [
    {
      type: 'Layout',
      component: 'Page',
      elements: [
        {
          type: 'Layout',
          component: 'HtmlBlock',
          content: '<h3>Please fill in the customer details <b>first</b>, following this <a href="https://how-to-invoice.doc.example">guide</a></h3>'
        },
        {
          type: 'Layout',
          component: 'Row',
          fields: [fieldByName('firstname'), fieldByName('lastname')]
        },
        { type: 'Layout', component: 'Separator' },
        fieldByName('username'),
        fieldByName('email'),
      ]
    },
    {
      type: 'Layout',
      component: 'Page',
      elements: [
        {
          type: 'Layout',
          component: 'HtmlBlock',
          content: 'You may now enter his address details'
        },
        {
          type: 'Layout',
          component: 'Row',
          fields: [fieldByName('city'), fieldByName('zip code')]
        },
        fieldByName('country'),
      ]
    }
  ]
}

collection('customers', {
  actions: [
    {
      name: 'Send invoice',
      type: 'single',
      fields: [
        {
          field: 'firstname',
          type: 'String',
          isRequired: true,
        },
        {
          field: 'lastname',
          type: 'String',
          isRequired: true,
        },
        {
          field: 'username',
          type: 'String',
        },
        {
          field: 'email',
          type: 'String',
          isRequired: true,
        },
        {
          field: 'country',
          type: 'Enum',
          enums: [],
        },
        {
          field: 'city',
          type: 'String',
          hook: 'onCityChange',
        },
        {
          field: 'zip code',
          type: 'String',
          hook: 'onZipCodeChange',
        },
      ],
      hooks: {
        load: async ({ fields }) => {
          return applyLayout(fields);
        },
        change: {
          onCityChange: async ({ fields }) => {
            return applyLayout(fields);
          },
          onZipCodeChange: async ({ fields }) => {
            return applyLayout(fields);
          },
        },
      },
    },
  ],
  fields: [],
  segments: [],
});

Ruby on Rails

lib/forest_liana/customers.rb

class Forest::Customers
  include ForestLiana::Collection

  collection :Customers

	def self.apply_layout(fields)
	  find_field_by_name = proc { |field_name| fields.find { |field| field[:field] == field_name } }

	  [
		{
		  type: 'Layout',
		  component: 'Page',
		  elements: [
			{
			  type: 'Layout',
			  component: 'HtmlBlock',
			  content: '<h3>Please fill in the customer details <b>first</b>, following this <a href="https://how-to-invoice.doc.example">guide</a></h3>'
			},
			{
			  type: 'Layout',
			  component: 'Row',
			  fields: [find_field_by_name.call('firstname'), find_field_by_name.call('lastname')]
			},
			{ type: 'Layout', component: 'Separator' },
			find_field_by_name.call('username'),
			find_field_by_name.call('email'),
		  ]
		},
		{
		  type: 'Layout',
		  component: 'Page',
		  elements: [
			{
			  type: 'Layout',
			  component: 'HtmlBlock',
			  content: 'You may now enter his address details'
			},
			{
			  type: 'Layout',
			  component: 'Row',
			  fields: [find_field_by_name.call('city'), find_field_by_name.call('zip code')]
			},
			find_field_by_name.call('country'),
		  ]
		}
	  ]
	end

	action 'Send invoice',
	  type: 'single',
	  fields: [
		{
		  field: 'firstname',
		  type: 'String',
		  is_required: true,
		},
		{
		  field: 'lastname',
		  type: 'String',
		  is_required: true,
		},
		{
		  field: 'username',
		  type: 'String',
		},
		{
		  field: 'email',
		  type: 'String',
		  is_required: true,
		},
		{
		  field: 'country',
		  type: 'Enum',
		  enums: [],
		},
		{
		  field: 'city',
		  type: 'String',
		  hook: 'on_city_change',
		},
		{
		  field: 'zip code',
		  type: 'String',
		  hook: 'on_zip_code_change',
		},
	  ],
	  hooks: {
		load: proc { |context| apply_layout(context[:fields]) },
		change: {
		  'on_city_change' => proc { |context| apply_layout(context[:fields]) },
		  'on_zip_code_change' => proc { |context| apply_layout(context[:fields]) },
		}
	  }
end

The resulting action form will be:

Making a form dynamic with hooks

Business logic often requires your forms to adapt to its context. Forest Admin makes this possible through a powerful way to extend your form's logic.

To make Smart Action Forms dynamic, we've introduced the concept of hooks: hooks allow you to run some logic upon a specific event.

The load hook is called when the form loads, allowing you to change its properties upon load.

The change hook is called whenever you interact with a field of the form.

Prefill a form with default values

Forest Admin allows you to set default values of your form. In this example, we will prefill the form with data coming from the record itself (1), with just a few extra lines of code.

SQL

/forest/customers.js

const { collection } = require('forest-express-sequelize');
const { customers } = require('../models');

collection('Customers', {
  actions: [{
    name: 'Charge credit card',
    type: 'single',
    fields: [{
      field: 'amount',
      isRequired: true,
      description: 'The amount (USD) to charge the credit card. Example: 42.50',
      type: 'Number'
      }, {
      field: 'description',
      isRequired: true,
      description: 'Explain the reason why you want to charge manually the customer here',
      type: 'String'
      }, {
      // we added a field to show the full potential of prefilled values in this example
      field: 'stripe_id',
      isRequired: true,
      type: 'String'
    }],
    hooks: {
      load: async ({ fields, request }) => {
        const amount = fields.find(field => field.field === 'amount');
        const stripeId = fields.find(field => field.field === 'stripe_id');

        amount.value = 4520;

        const id = request.body.data.attributes.ids[0];
        const customer = await customers.findByPk(id);

        stripeId.value = customer.stripe_id;

        return fields;
      },
    },
  }],
  ...
});

Mongodb

/forest/customers.js

const { collection } = require('forest-express-mongoose');
const { customers } = require('../models');

collection('Customers', {
  actions: [{
    name: 'Charge credit card',
    type: 'single',
    fields: [{
      field: 'amount',
      isRequired: true,
      description: 'The amount (USD) to charge the credit card. Example: 42.50',
      type: 'Number'
      }, {
      field: 'description',
      isRequired: true,
      description: 'Explain the reason why you want to charge manually the customer here',
      type: 'String'
      }, {
      // we added a field to show the full potential of prefilled values in this example
      field: 'stripe_id',
      isRequired: true,
      type: 'String'
    }],
    hooks: {
      load: async ({ fields, request }) => {
        const amount = fields.find(field => field.field === 'amount');
        const stripeId = fields.find(field => field.field === 'stripe_id');

        amount.value = 4520;

        const id = request.body.data.attributes.ids[0];
        const customer = await customers.findByPk(id);

        stripeId.value = customer.stripe_id;

        return fields;
      },
    },
  }],
  ...
});

Rails

lib/forest_liana/customers.rb

class Forest::Customers
  include ForestLiana::Collection

  collection :Customers

  action 'Charge credit card',
    type: 'single',
    fields: [{
      field: 'amount',
      isRequired: true,
      description: 'The amount (USD) to charge the credit card. Example: 42.50',
      type: 'Number'
      }, {
      field: 'description',
      isRequired: true,
      description: 'Explain the reason why you want to charge manually the customer here',
      type: 'String'
      }, {
      # we added a field to show the full potential of prefilled values in this example
      field: 'stripe_id',
      isRequired: true,
      type: 'String'
    }],
    :hooks => {
      :load => -> (context) {
        amount = context[:fields].find{|field| field[:field] == 'amount'}
        stripeId = context[:fields].find{|field| field[:field] == 'stripe_id'}

        amount[:value] = 4520;

        id = context[:params][:data][:attributes][:ids][0];
        customer = Customers.find(id);

        stripeId[:value] = customer['stripe_id'];

        return context[:fields];
      }
    }
    ...
end

Django

app/forest/customer.py

import json

from django_forest.utils.collection import Collection
from app.models import Company

class CompanyForest(Collection):
    def load(self):
        self.actions = [{
            'name': 'Charge credit card',
            'fields': [
                {
                    'field': 'amount',
                    'description': 'The amount (USD) to charge the credit card. Example: 42.50',
                    'isRequired': True,
                    'type': 'Number'
                },
                {
                    'field': 'description',
                    'description': 'Explain the reason why you want to charge manually the customer here',
                    'isRequired': True,
                    'type': 'String'
                },
                # we added a field to show the full potential of prefilled values in this example
                {
                    'field': 'stripe_id',
                    'isRequired': True,
                    'type': 'String'
                },
            ],
            'hooks': {
                'load': self.charge_credit_card_load,
            },
        }]

    def charge_credit_card_load(fields, request, *args, **kwargs):

        amount = next((x for x in fields if x['field'] == 'amount'), None)
        stripeId = next((x for x in fields if x['field'] == 'stripe_id'), None)

        amount['value'] = 4520;

        body_unicode = request.body.decode('utf-8')
        body = json.loads(body_unicode)
        id = body['data']['attributes']['ids'][0]
        customer = Customers.objects.get(pk=id)

        stripeId['value'] = customer['stripe_id']

        return fields

Collection.register(CompanyForest, Company)

Laravel

app/Models/Customer.php

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use ForestAdmin\LaravelForestAdmin\Services\Concerns\ForestCollection;
use ForestAdmin\LaravelForestAdmin\Services\SmartFeatures\SmartAction;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany;

/**
 * Class Customer
 */
class Customer extends Model
{
    use HasFactory, ForestCollection;

    /**
     * @return SmartAction
     */
    public function chargeCreditCard(): SmartAction
    {
        return $this->smartAction('single', 'Charge credit card')
            ->addField(
                [
                    'field' => 'amount',
                    'type' => 'Number',
                    'is_required' => true,
                    'description' => 'The amount (USD) to charge the credit card. Example: 42.50'
                ]
            )
            ->addField(
                [
                    'field' => 'description',
                    'type' => 'String',
                    'is_required' => true,
                    'description' => 'Explain the reason why you want to charge manually the customer here'
                ]
            )
            ->addField(
                [
                    'field' => 'stripe_id',
                    'type' => 'String',
                    'is_required' => true,
                ]
            )
            ->load(
                function () {
                    $customer = Customer::find(request()->input('data.attributes.ids')[0]);
                    $fields = $this->getFields();
                    $fields['amount']['value'] = 4250;
                    $fields['stripe_id']['value'] = $customer->stripe_id;

                    return $fields;
                }
            );
    }
}

Making a field read-only

To make a field read only, you can use the isReadOnly property:

Name	Type	Description
isReadOnly	boolean	(optional) If true, the Smart action field won’t be editable in the form. Default is false

Combined with the load hook feature, this can be used to make a field read-only dynamically:

const { customers } = require('../models');

collection('customers', {
  actions: [
    {
      name: 'Some action',
      type: 'single',
      fields: [
        {
          field: 'country',
          type: 'String',
          isReadOnly: true,
        },
        {
          field: 'city',
          type: 'String',
        },
      ],
      hooks: {
        load: async ({ fields, request }) => {
          const country = fields.find((field) => field.field === 'country');
          country.value = 'France';

          const id = request.body.data.attributes.ids[0];
          const customer = await customers.findById(id);

          // If customer country is not France, empty field and make it editable
          if (customer.country !== 'France') {
            country.value = '';
            country.isReadOnly = false;
          }
          return fields;
        },
      },
    },
  ],
  fields: [],
  segments: [],
});

Change your form's data based on previous field values

This feature is only available from version 8.0.0 (forest-express-sequelize and forest-express-mongoose) / version 7.0.0 (forest-rails) .

Here's a typical example: Selecting a City within a list of cities from the Country you just selected. Then selecting a Zip code within a list of zip codes located in the City you just selected.

SQL

forest/customers.js

const { getEnumsFromDatabaseForThisRecord } = require('./my-own-helper');
const { getZipCodeFromCity } = require('...');
const { collection } = require('forest-express-sequelize');
const { customers } = require('../models');

collection('customers', {
  actions: [
    {
      name: 'Send invoice',
      type: 'single',
      fields: [
        {
          field: 'country',
          type: 'Enum',
          enums: [],
        },
        {
          field: 'city',
          type: 'String',
          hook: 'onCityChange',
        },
        {
          field: 'zip code',
          type: 'String',
          hook: 'onZipCodeChange',
        },
      ],
      hooks: {
        load: async ({ fields, request }) => {
          const country = fields.find((field) => field.field === 'country');

          const id = request.body.data.attributes.ids[0];
          const customer = await customers.findByPk(id);

          country.enums = getEnumsFromDatabaseForThisRecord(customer);

          return fields;
        },
        change: {
          onCityChange: async ({ fields, request, changedField }) => {
            const zipCode = fields.find((field) => field.field === 'zip code');

            const id = request.body.data.attributes.ids[0];
            const customer = await customers.findByPk(id);

            zipCode.value = getZipCodeFromCity(customer, changedField.value);

            return fields;
          },
          onZipCodeChange: async ({ fields, request, changedField }) => {
            const city = fields.find((field) => field.field === 'city');

            const id = request.body.data.attributes.ids[0];
            const customer = await customers.findByPk(id);

            city.value = getCityFromZipCode(customer, changedField.value);

            return fields;
          },
        },
      },
    },
  ],
  fields: [],
  segments: [],
});

Mongodb

forest/customers.js

const { getEnumsFromDatabaseForThisRecord } = require('./my-own-helper');
const { getZipCodeFromCity } = require('...');
const { collection } = require('forest-express-mongoose');
const { customers } = require('../models');

collection('customers', {
  actions: [
    {
      name: 'Send invoice',
      type: 'single',
      fields: [
        {
          field: 'country',
          type: 'Enum',
          enums: [],
        },
        {
          field: 'city',
          type: 'String',
          hook: 'onCityChange',
        },
        {
          field: 'zip code',
          type: 'String',
          hook: 'onZipCodeChange',
        },
      ],
      hooks: {
        load: async ({ fields, request }) => {
          const country = fields.find((field) => field.field === 'country');

          const id = request.body.data.attributes.ids[0];
          const customer = await customers.findById(id);

          country.enums = getEnumsFromDatabaseForThisRecord(customer);

          return fields;
        },
        change: {
          onCityChange: async ({ fields, request, changedField }) => {
            const zipCode = fields.find((field) => field.field === 'zip code');

            const id = request.body.data.attributes.ids[0];
            const customer = await customers.findById(id);

            zipCode.value = getZipCodeFromCity(customer, changedField.value);

            return fields;
          },
          onZipCodeChange: async ({ fields, request, changedField }) => {
            const city = fields.find((field) => field.field === 'city');

            const id = request.body.data.attributes.ids[0];
            const customer = await customers.findById(id);

            city.value = getCityFromZipCode(customer, changedField.value);

            return fields;
          },
        },
      },
    },
  ],
  fields: [],
  segments: [],
});

Rails

/lib/forest_liana/collections/company.rb

actions 'Send invoice',
  type: 'single',
  fields: [
        {
          field: 'country',
          type: 'Enum',
          enums: []
        },
        {
          field: 'city',
          type: 'String',
          hook: 'oncityChange'
        },
        {
          field: 'zip code',
          type: 'String',
          hook: 'onZipCodeChange'
        },
      ],
  hooks: {
      :load => -> (context){
        country = context[:fields].find{|field| field[:field] == 'country'}

        id = context[:params][:data][:attributes][:ids][0];
        customer = Customers.find(id);

        country[:enums] = getEnumsFromDatabaseForThisRecord(customer)

        return context[:fields]
      },
      :change => {
        'oncityChange'=> -> (context){
          zipCode = context[:fields].find{|field| field[:field] == 'zip code'}

          id = context[:params][:data][:attributes][:ids][0];
          customer = Customers.find(id);

          zipCode[:value] = getZipCodeFromCity(
            context[:record],
            context[:context][:changed_field][:value]
          )

          return context[:fields]
        },
        'onZipCodeChange'=> -> (context) {
          city = context[:fields].find{|field| field[:field] == 'city'}

          id = context[:params][:data][:attributes][:ids][0];
          customer = Customers.find(id);

          city[:value] = getCityFromZipCode(
            context[:record],
            context[:context][:changed_field][:value]
          )

          return context[:fields]
        },
      },
  }

Django

app/forest/company.py

import json

from django_forest.utils.collection import Collection
from app.models import Company

class CompanyForest(Collection):
    def load(self):
        self.actions = [{
            'name': 'Send invoice',
            'fields': [
                {
                    'field': 'country',
                    'type': 'Enum',
                    'enums': []
                },
                {
                    'field': 'city',
                    'type': 'String',
                    'hook': 'cityChange'
                },
                {
                    'field': 'zip code',
                    'type': 'String',
                    'hook': 'zipCodeChange'
                },
            ],
            'hooks': {
                'load': self.send_invoice_load,
                'change': {
                    'cityChange': self.send_invoice_change_city,
                    'zipCodeChange': self.send_invoice_change_zip_code,
                },
            },
        }]

    def get_enums_from_database_for_this_record(customer):
        # TODO
        pass

    def get_zip_code_from_city(customer, value):
        # TODO
        pass

    def get_city_from_zip_code(customer, value):
        # TODO
        pass

    def send_invoice_load(fields, request, *args, **kwargs):
        country = next((x for x in fields if x['field'] == 'country'), None)
        body_unicode = request.body.decode('utf-8')
        body = json.loads(body_unicode)
        id = body['data']['attributes']['ids'][0]
        customer = Customers.objects.get(pk=id);

        country['enums'] = self.get_enums_from_database_for_this_record(customer)
        return fields

    def send_invoice_change_city(self, fields, request, changed_field, *args, **kwargs):
        zip_code = next((x for x in fields if x['field'] == 'zip code'), None)

        body_unicode = request.body.decode('utf-8')
        body = json.loads(body_unicode)
        id = body['data']['attributes']['ids'][0]
        customer = Customers.objects.get(pk=id);

        zip_code['value'] = self.get_zip_code_from_city(
            customer,
            changed_field['value']
        )

        return fields

    def send_invoice_change_zip_code(self, fields, request, changed_field, *args, **kwargs):
        city = next((x for x in fields if x['field'] == 'city'), None)

        body_unicode = request.body.decode('utf-8')
        body = json.loads(body_unicode)
        id = body['data']['attributes']['ids'][0]
        customer = Customers.objects.get(pk=id);

        city['value'] = self.get_city_from_zip_code(
            customer,
            changed_field['value']
        )

        return fields

Collection.register(CompanyForest, Company)

Laravel

app/Models/Company.php

<?php

/**
 * Class Company
 */
class Company extends Model
{
    use HasFactory, ForestCollection;

    /**
     * @return SmartAction
     */
    public function sendInvoice(): SmartAction
    {
        return $this->smartAction('single', 'Send invoice')
            ->addField(
                [
                    'field' => 'country',
                    'type' => 'Enum',
                    'enums' => [],
                ]
            )
            ->addField(
                [
                    'field' => 'city',
                    'type' => 'String',
                    'hook' => 'onCityChange',
                ]
            )
            ->addField(
                [
                    'field' => 'zipCode',
                    'type' => 'String',
                    'hook' => 'onZipCodeChange',
                ]
            )
            ->load(
                function () {
                    $fields = $this->getFields();
                    $fields['country']['enums'] = Company::getEnumsFromDatabaseForThisRecord();

                    return $fields;
                }
            )
            ->change(
                [
                    'onCityChange' => function () {
                        $fields = $this->getFields();
                        $fields['zipCode']['value'] = Company::getZipCodeFromCity($fields['city']['value']);

                        return $fields;
                    },
                    'onZipCodeChange' => function () {
                        $fields = $this->getFields();
                        $fields['city']['value'] = Company::getCityFromZipCode($fields['zipCode']['value']);

                        return $fields;
                    },
                ]
            );
    }

    /**
     * @return string[]
     */
    public static function getEnumsFromDatabaseForThisRecord(): array
    {
        return ['France', 'Germany', 'USA'];
    }

    /**
     * @param string $zipCode
     * @return string
     */
    public static function getCityFromZipCode(string $zipCode): string
    {
        return "City for $zipCode";
    }

    /**
     * @param string $city
     * @return string
     */
    public static function getZipCodeFromCity(string $city): string
    {
        return "Zip code for $city";
    }
}

How does it work?

The hooks property receives a context object containing:

• the fields array in its current state (containing also the current values)

• the request object containing all the information related to the records selection. Explained here.
• the changedField is the current field who trigger the hook (only for change hook)

fields must be returned. Note that fields is an array containing existing fields with properties described in this section.

If you want to use a widget inside of a hook, you'll need to use the following syntax on your field:

• For a text area, use { widgetEdit: 'text area editor', parameters: {} }

• For a boolean, use { widgetEdit: 'boolean editor', parameters: {} }

• For a date or a dateonly, use { widgetEdit: 'date editor', parameters: {} }

• For a file, use { widgetEdit: 'file picker', parameters: {} }

To dynamically change a property within a load or change hook, just set it! For instance, setting a new description for the field city:

SQL

const city = fields.find((field) => field.field === 'city');
city.description = 'Please enter the name of your favorite city';

Mongodb

const city = fields.find((field) => field.field === 'city');
city.description = 'Please enter the name of your favorite city';

Rails

city = context[:fields].find{|field| field[:field] == 'city'}
city[:description] = "Please enter the name of your favorite city"

Django

city = next((x for x in fields if x['field'] == 'city'), None)
city['description'] = 'Please enter the name of your favorite city'

Laravel

$fields = $this->getFields();
$fields['city']['description'] = "Please enter the name of your favorite city";

As a result, the correct way to set a default value is using the value property within a load hook, as follows:

SQL

    hooks: {
      load: ({ fields, request }) => {
        const country = fields.find(field => field.field === 'country');
        country.value = "France";
        return fields;
      },
    }

Mongodb

    hooks: {
      load: ({ fields, request }) => {
        const country = fields.find(field => field.field === 'country');
        country.value = "France";
        return fields;
      },
    }

Rails

    hooks: {
      :load => -> (context){
        country = context[:fields].find{|field| field[:field] == 'country'}
        country[:value] = "France"
        return context[:fields]
      },
    }

Django

    'hooks': {
        'load': self.send_invoice_load,
    }
...

def send_invoice_load(fields, request, *args, **kwargs):
    country = next((x for x in fields if x['field'] == 'country'), None)
    country['value'] = 'France'
    return fields

Laravel

 ->load(
    function () {
       $fields = $this->getFields();
       $fields['country']['value'] = "France";

       return $fields;
   }
)

Add/remove fields dynamically

This feature is only available from version 8.0.0 (forest-express-sequelize and forest-express-mongoose) / version 7.0.0 (forest-rails).

You can add a field dynamically inside the fields array, like so:

SQL

[...]
hooks: {
  change: {
    onFieldChanged: ({ fields, request, changedField }) => {
      [...]
      fields.push({
        field: 'another field',
        type: 'Boolean',
      });
      return fields;
    }
  }
}
[...]

Mongodb

[...]
hooks: {
  change: {
    onFieldChanged: ({ fields, request, changedField }) => {
      [...]
      fields.push({
        field: 'another field',
        type: 'Boolean',
      });
      return fields;
    }
  }
}
[...]

Rails

:hooks => {
  :change => {
    'onFieldChanged' => -> (context) {
      [...]
      context[:fields].push({
        field: 'another field',
        type: 'Boolean',
      });
      return context[:fields];
    }
  }
}

Django

    'hooks': {
        'change': {
            'onFieldChanged': self.on_field_change,
        }
    }
...

def on_field_change(self, fields, request, changed_field, *args, **kwargs):
    fields.append({
        'field': 'another field',
        'type': 'Boolean',
    })
    return fields

Laravel

 ->change(
    [
        'onFieldChanged' => function () {
            $fields = $this->getFields();
            $fields['another field'] = (new SmartActionField(
                [
                    'field' => 'another field',
                    'type'  => 'Boolean',
                ]
            ))->serialize();

            return $fields;
        },
    ]
 );

We added the changedField attribute so that you can easily know what changed.

Note that you may add a change hook on a dynamically-added field. Simply use the following syntax:

SQL

[...]
hooks: {
  change: {
    onFieldChanged: ({ fields, request, changedField }) => {
      [...]
      fields.push({
        field: 'another field',
        type: 'Boolean',
        hook: 'onAnotherFieldChanged',
      });
      return fields;
    },
    onAnotherFieldChanged: ({fields, request, changedField }) => {
      // Do what you want
      return fields;
    }
  }
}
[...]

Mongodb

[...]
hooks: {
  change: {
    onFieldChanged: ({ fields, request, changedField }) => {
      [...]
      fields.push({
        field: 'another field',
        type: 'Boolean',
        hook: 'onAnotherFieldChanged',
      });
      return fields;
    },
    onAnotherFieldChanged: ({fields, request, changedField }) => {
      // Do what you want
      return fields;
    }
  }
}
[...]

Rails

:hooks => {
  :change => {
    'onFieldChanged' => -> (context) {
      [...]
      context[:fields].push({
        field: 'another field',
        type: 'Boolean',
        hook: 'onAnotherFiledChanged',
      });
      return context[:fields];
    },
    'onAnotherFiledChanged' => -> (context) {
      # Do what you want
      return context[:fields];
    }
  }
}

Django

    'hooks': {
        'change': {
            'onFieldChanged': self.on_field_change,
            'onAnotherFieldChanged': self.on_another_field_change,
        }
    }
...

def on_field_change(self, fields, request, changed_field, *args, **kwargs):
    fields.append({
        'field': 'another field',
        'type': 'Boolean',
        'hook': 'onAnotherFieldChanged',
    })
    return fields

def on_another_field_change(self, fields, request, changed_field, *args, **kwargs):
    // Do what you want
    return fields

Laravel

->change(
    [
        'onFieldChanged' => function () {
            $fields = $this->getFields();
            $fields['another field'] = (new SmartActionField(
                [
                    'field' => 'another field',
                    'type'  => 'Boolean',
                    'hook'  => 'onAnotherFiledChanged'
                ]
            ))
                ->serialize();

            return $fields;
        },
        'onAnotherFiledChanged' => function () {
            $fields = $this->getFields();
            // Do what you want

            return $fields;
        },
    ]
);

Get selected records with bulk action

When using hooks with a bulk Smart action, you'll probably need te get the values or ids of the selected records. See below how this can be achieved.

SQL

/forest/customers.js

const { collection, RecordsGetter } = require('forest-express-sequelize');
const { customers } = require('../models');
const customersHaveSameCountry = require('../services/customers-have-same-country');

collection('customers', {
  actions: [
    {
      name: 'Some action',
      type: 'bulk',
      fields: [
        {
          field: 'country',
          type: 'String',
          isReadOnly: true,
        },
        {
          field: 'city',
          type: 'String',
        },
      ],
      hooks: {
        load: async ({ fields, request }) => {
          const country = fields.find((field) => field.field === 'country');

          const ids = await new RecordsGetter(
            customers,
            request.user,
            request.query
          ).getIdsFromRequest(request);
          const customers = await customers.findAll({ where: { id } });

          country.value = '';
          country.isReadOnly = false;

          // If customers have the same country, set field to this country and make it not editable
          if (customersHaveSameCountry(customers)) {
            country.value = customers.country;
            country.isReadOnly = true;
          }

          return fields;
        },
      },
    },
  ],
  fields: [],
  segments: [],
});

Mongodb

/forest/customers.js

const { collection, RecordsGetter } = require('forest-express-mongoose');
const { customers } = require('../models');
const customersHaveSameCountry = require('../services/customers-have-same-country');

collection('customers', {
  actions: [
    {
      name: 'Some action',
      type: 'bulk',
      fields: [
        {
          field: 'country',
          type: 'String',
          isReadOnly: true,
        },
        {
          field: 'city',
          type: 'String',
        },
      ],
      hooks: {
        load: async ({ fields, request }) => {
          const country = fields.find((field) => field.field === 'country');

          const ids = await new RecordsGetter(
            customers,
            request.user,
            request.query
          ).getIdsFromRequest(request);
          const customers = await customers.findAll({ _id: { $in: ids } });

          country.value = '';
          country.isReadOnly = false;

          // If customers have the same country, set field to this country and make it not editable
          if (customersHaveSameCountry(customers)) {
            country.value = customers.country;
            country.isReadOnly = true;
          }

          return fields;
        },
      },
    },
  ],
  fields: [],
  segments: [],
});

Rails

class Forest::Customers
  include ForestLiana::Collection

  collection :Customers

  action 'Some action',
    type: 'bulk',
    fields: [
      {
        field: 'country',
        type: 'String',
        is_read_only: true
      },
      {
        field: 'city',
        type: 'String'
      },
    ],
    :hooks => {
      :load => -> (context) {
        country = context[:fields].find{|field| field[:field] == 'country'}

        ids = ForestLiana::ResourcesGetter.get_ids_from_request(context[:params], context[:user]);
        customers = Customers.find(ids);

        country[:value] = '';
        country[:is_read_only] = false;

        # If customers have the same country, set field to this country and make it not editable
        if customers_have_same_country(customers)
          country[:value] = customers.country;
          country[:is_read_only] = true;
        end

        return context[:fields];
      },
    },
end

Django

import json

from django_forest.utils.collection import Collection
from django_forest.utils.views.base import BaseView
from app.models import Customer

class CustomerForest(Collection):
    def load(self):
        self.actions = [{
            'name': 'Some Action',
            'type': 'bulk',
            'fields': [
                {
                    'field': 'country',
                    'type': 'String',
                    'isReadOnly': True
                },
                {
                    'field': 'city',
                    'type': 'String',
                },
            ],
            'hooks': {
                'load': self.some_action_load,
            },
        }]


    def send_invoice_load(fields, request, *args, **kwargs):
        country = next((x for x in fields if x['field'] == 'country'), None)
        body_unicode = request.body.decode('utf-8')
        body = json.loads(body_unicode)

        ids = BaseView().get_ids_from_request(request, Question)
        customers = Customer.objects.filter(pk__in=ids);
        country['value'] = '';
        country['isReadOnly'] = False;

        # If customers have the same country, set field to this country and make it not editable
        if (self.customersHaveSameCountry(customers)) {
          country['value'] = customers[0]['country'];
          country['isReadOnly'] = True;
        }


        return fields

Collection.register(CustomerForest, Customer)

Laravel

app/Models/Customer.php

<?php

namespace App\Models;

use ForestAdmin\LaravelForestAdmin\Services\Concerns\ForestCollection;
use ForestAdmin\LaravelForestAdmin\Services\SmartFeatures\SmartAction;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\HasMany;

/**
 * Class Customer
 */
class Customer extends Model
{
    use HasFactory, ForestCollection;

    /**
     * @return SmartAction
     */
    public function someAction(): SmartAction
    {
        return $this->smartAction('bulk', 'Some action')
            ->addField(
                [
                    'field' => 'country',
                    'type' => 'String',
                    'is_read_only' => true,
                ]
            )
            ->addField(
                [
                    'field' => 'city',
                    'type' => 'String',
                ]
            )
            ->load(
                function () {
                    $customerCountries = Customer::select('country')
                        ->whereIn('id', request()->input('data.attributes.ids'))
                        ->groupBy('country')
                        ->get();

                    $fields = $this->getFields();
                    $fields['country']['value'] = '';
                    $fields['stripe_id']['is_read_only'] = false;

                    if ($customerCountries->count() === 1) {
                        $fields['country']['value'] = $customerCountries->first()->country;
                        $fields['stripe_id']['is_read_only'] = true;
                    }

                    return $fields;
                }
            );
    }
}