eForms Hocus Pocus

In our last blog we discussed the value of eForms and JavaScripts, and how to automatically value a text field with the date and time a digital signature was applied. We then introduced the ability to design field logic to secure information security and privacy within your eForms.

I am going to exaggerate an example to illustrate a point.

Imagine you are designing an eForm which has a series of workflow steps. The first step requires a nurse to answer a series of questions regarding the specifics of an OR procedure, including what procedure will be performed, body location and physician performing the procedure. The nurse completes her section and saves the eForm which is then automatically forwarded to the physician indicated.

In the second step, the physician receives the eForm, reviews the information, verifies with the patient and digitally approves the procedure before starting.

Are you ready for the monkey wrench?

Consider if you will the possibility of an unauthorized change to the data between steps one and two. To what risks would you be exposed if the procedure were to change from left hand to right after the nurse confirmed, but before the physician proceeded? At best this is an inconvenience and at worsts a tragedy.

But this is all preventable using JavaScripts in eForms.

We will use Hocus Pocus.PDF as our training example.

1. Download Hocus-Pocus and open on your computer. (Contact me if your organization prevents the download of zip files)
2. Complete the top 3 fields named Department, Order and Site.
3. Save and close the document.
4. Re-open the document.
5. Notice that Department, Order and Site can be changed.
6. Now, click on the button labeled “I, George Wilson RN by clicking…”
7. Save and close the document.
8. Re-open the document.
9. Notice that Department, Order and Site are LOCKED!
10. Clicking the second checkbox locks the entire eForm, and places it into the legal record.

All of this magic is sourced from the Check Box. For instance, the logic for the first check box is this…

var fieldsToLock = [“Department“, “Order“, “Combo Box3“, “Check Box5“];
for (var i in fieldsToLock) this.getField(fieldsToLock[i]).readonly = true;
The first line identifies the fields to lock, and the second line changes their field attributes to READONLY.

You can re-use this logic with any eForm, just replace the fields names in line 1 to match your specific eForm field names.

With this knowledge you can now accommodate eForms requiring multiple consecutive users and approvals. You are empowered to design workflows that not only rid you of the inefficiencies of paper forms, but protect the integrity and privacy of the data.

With a wave of my script I can make entire portions of a form disappear.

But that is a trick for another time…

Until then, I will leave you with this quote from Yeats,

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”

For more information about eForms, java-scripting or or making paper problems disappear contact dbtech!