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Creating Google Forms
Creating Google Forms

Make and integrate forms from Google into your Blink Hub.

Updated over a week ago

This article will cover how to create a Google Form and pull data from Blink into the form this article will cover that.

Creating Google Forms

  1. To start, head to this link - https://forms.google.com. You can use either a Template or create your own

  2. Create your Form, for assistance on this check out Google's support documentation on this - https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/9302965

  3. Once you have created your Form you need to disable any options that require Google Sign-In or restrict the form to your G Suite domain. To do so, click the cog in the top right-hand corner of the screen followed by ensuring all options in the "Requires sign-in" section is unchecked.

  4. If you don't wish to pull across any data then you can just click Send in the top right corner. This will open a screen with several options to "Send via". Select the Link icon and press Copy. If you wish to pull data into your Form from Blink then please move onto the 'Creating Custom Variables' section now.

  5. If you don't want to pull any data across then you can move on to the 'Adding your Form to Blink' section now.

Custom Variables

If you wish to pre-fill some of the fields with values from the user's profile then click the three-dot menu in the top right corner of the screen and select "Get pre-filled link".

This will open a new tab with the form open. In the fields, you wish to pre-fill enter some text that identifies the field. We find that the field value in caps and underscores provides the easiest value to find later. Once you have filled in the questions you wish to be populated click the Get Link button. When the black feedback message appears click "Copy Link".

  1. With the link that you captured from earlier (containing the Custom Variable entries you added) have this pasted somewhere safe where you can edit it, like a Notes page.

  2. The link will look something like this:
    ​https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9LWzD6OXjs5I3iXi9onTah4KhfA6FGogjucOA-CxusxxRlA/viewform?usp=pp_url&entry.713398166=DEPARTMENT_NAME&entry.739274627=SECOND_NAME&entry.172947399=FIRST_NAME
    ​

    In this above example, the DEPARTMENT_NAME is being pulled from Blink into the Form, as well as the FIRST_NAME, and SECOND_NAME

  3. Scroll down to the Custom Variables Tab within Blink.

  4. You will see two options - Name and Blink Property. You need to match the entries to the Blink property now.

  5. Now, you need to add the entry into the 'Name' box and match that to the Blink Property.

    This is the link we are using in this example - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9LWzD6OXjs5I3iXi9onTah4KhfA6FGogjucOA-CxusxxRlA/viewform?usp=pp_url&entry.713398166=DEPARTMENT_NAME&entry.739274627=SECOND_NAME&entry.172947399=FIRST_NAME

    1. Entry 1 - DEPARTMENT_NAME

      To pull this entry across find the entry that matches the Property within your link and copy the text and numbers between the '&' and '=' from the Google Form link. It will look like this- entry.713398166. Add this into the 'Name' section on Blink. The 'Blink Property' should then be "Department Name"

    2. Entry 2 - FIRST_NAME

      We will be doing the same as above - taking the entry from the link and matching it to the property. So, same again - adding entry.172947399 as the 'Name' and "First Name" would be the Blink Property.

    3. Entry 3 - SEC0ND_NAME

      Take the entry - entry.739274627 and add this to the 'Name' and then "Last Name" would be the Blink property.

  6. Now the final step, removing every entry from the link. Removing this will allow the fields in the form to populate so this is very important. You must remove everything after pp_url in your link. Your link will then look like this - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9LWzD6OXjs5I3iXi9onTah4KhfA6FGogjucOA-CxusxxRlA/viewform?usp=pp_url

  7. Add this link to the URL box within Blink

  8. Now, this is ready to be shared.

  9. Select the Team(s) you wish to share the form with

  10. You can also choose to send a post into the Feed of all those who can view it. Simply toggle on "Share to Feed". Once you have everything set up as desired click Share.

    1. If you selected "Share to Feed" at this point the share modal will open. You can enter the message you would like to be included in your post and also select which Post Type it should be sent as. Once ready simply click "Share".

Adding your Form to Blink

  1. Head to Blink's Admin page

  2. Click on the Hub

  3. Click on 'Create Content', then the 'Form' Option

  4. Set the Form Provider to Google Forms

    1. If you are not pulling data from Blink into your Form then follow these steps. If you are pulling data into Blink then move onto the 'Setting your Custom Variables' section.

  5. Paste your link into the URL box

  6. Select the Team(s) you wish to share the form with

  7. You can also choose to send a post into the Feed of all those who can view it. Simply toggle on "Share to Feed". Once you have everything set up as desired click Share.

    1. If you selected "Share to Feed" at this point the share modal will open. You can enter the message you would like to be included in your post and also select which Post Type it should be sent as. Once ready simply click "Share".

Troubleshooting

My form is appearing as blank in Blink

Please ensure that you have disabled any options that require Google Sign-In or restrict the form to your G Suite domain.

Data isn't being pulled across from Blink

Please ensure you have followed the steps carefully, and make sure that everything after pp_url. The link within the URL box must look like this: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe9LWzD6OXjs5I3iXi9onTah4KhfA6FGogjucOA-CxusxxRlA/viewform?usp=pp_url

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