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Forms

A Form is a group of inputs the assistant treats as a single unit: a sign-up form, a search bar, a contact form, a multi-field filter. When you register a form, Appilot auto-discovers its inputs and lets you decide which ones the assistant should know about.

If you only need to teach the assistant about a single button or one input, register it as a Control instead.

Register a form​

  1. Open the Editor tab, then Forms.
  2. Click Pick element on page.
  3. Click the container that holds all the inputs (often the <form> element, or a <div> wrapping them).
  4. The Editor auto-discovers every visible input inside the container and lists them in the Register form.
  5. Review and edit:
    • Identifier: a short slug (e.g. contact_form).
    • Label: what users see in the chat ("Contact form").
    • Description: what this form does and when to recommend it.
    • Pages where this form appears: chip-style list of page paths.
    • Fields auto-discovered: each row is a field. Uncheck the ones you don't want the assistant to know about; rename their identifiers if the auto-suggestion is unclear; click Show to highlight a specific field on the page.
  6. Click Save.

The assistant can now help users fill this form in.

Picking the right container​

The container matters. If you pick too narrow (a single <input>) you lose the grouping; pick too wide (the page <main>) you pull in dozens of unrelated inputs.

A good rule of thumb: pick the smallest element that contains all the fields you want grouped, and only those fields. If your site uses semantic HTML, that's almost always the <form> tag or its closest wrapper.

When the field list looks wrong​

If the auto-discovery picked up too many or too few inputs:

  • Too many: uncheck the ones that don't belong before saving.
  • Too few: your form container may be too narrow. Cancel, pick a wider container, and try again.
  • Wrong labels: the Editor tries to read the input's <label>, aria-label, or placeholder. If your site uses an unusual labelling pattern, the Editor falls back to the input's name attribute. You can fix individual identifiers in-line; the description should explain what the field collects.

Click Show on a row to highlight that input on the page so you can confirm what it is.

Pages where this form appears​

A form is usually only meaningful on certain pages. Use the chip-style input under Pages where this form appears to tell the assistant where it lives:

  • Type a path like /contact and press Enter to add it.
  • Click Use current page to add the path you are looking at right now.
  • Click × on a chip to remove it.
  • Patterns like /admin/* match anything under /admin.

When the assistant is on a page that does not match any of the listed paths, this form is invisible to it.

Editing a form​

Click Edit on the row. You can change:

  • Label
  • Description
  • Pages where this form appears

You cannot change the form's field structure from here. Adding, removing, or reordering fields after creation is a Backoffice operation. Use the "Open in Backoffice for advanced settings" link to jump there.

Deactivating a form​

Click Deactivate on the row, then Confirm. The form is hidden from the assistant and from the default list. Toggle Show inactive to see it again, and Reactivate to bring it back.

Trying it out​

Switch to Chat and ask the assistant something that should trigger the form:

Can you help me sign up?

If the assistant knows about a form called "Sign up", it should recommend filling it in. If it doesn't, edit the description to be more explicit about when the form should be used.

What lives in Backoffice instead​

The Editor intentionally does not expose:

  • Field defaults: pre-filled values per field.
  • Visibility rules: show / hide individual fields based on other fields' values.
  • Required-field configuration: which fields must be filled before submit.
  • Multi-tab forms: forms split across multiple pages or wizard steps.
  • Submit / entry control linkage: which button the assistant clicks to submit, which one it clicks to enter the form.

For all of these, use the "Open in Backoffice for advanced settings" link.