Ephemeral / Temporary Fields for Variables

This explains Ephemeral aka Temporary Variable Fields. For an overview check out Understanding Data....

Note

In v14 we added data.parameters.* to the Formulas. It containss all parameters given in the prefill.

Since ephemeral fields are mainly used in Formulas, you may not need to ephemeral fields for your scenario.

The main reason to still use ephemeral fields over parameters is when you do additional initalization logic which would be used in many Formulas in the form.

Sometimes you need fields which controle the Form UI without being real data. Some examples:

  1. Toggles which show/hide other fields or field groups
  2. Hidden calculations which will consolidate other field values to determine if something else is required

We don't want to save these fields as the data is not relevant, and often the value should be calculated upon opening the form - so it's important that they are reset.

These kinds of fields are ephemeral = temporary

To configure a field to not save and be temporary / ephemeral, use this setting:

Tip

Since these fields are usually used as variables, we recommend that you name the Var.... Example: VarShowAdvanced.

History

  1. Introduced in 2sxc 12.01
  2. Added data.parameters in v14

Shortlink to here: https://r.2sxc.org/ephemeral