Form Templates

Learn how to create reusable form templates, clone forms from templates and manage a template library.

Overview

The FormTemplate model enables creating reusable form blueprints. Templates store form structure, fields, steps and settings as JSON schema, allowing you to quickly clone forms without rebuilding from scratch. This is ideal for standardized surveys, applications or recurring forms.

Core Properties

Property	Type	Description
`name`	string	Template name (e.g., "Customer Feedback Survey")
`description`	string\|null	Optional description of template purpose
`schema`	array	JSON schema containing form structure, fields, and steps
`is_active`	bool	Whether template is available for cloning
`metadata`	array	Additional data (category, tags, preview image, etc.)

Creating Templates

Create templates from existing forms using the CreateTemplateFromForm action:

app/Http/Controllers/TemplateController.php

Schema Generation

The action automatically serializes the form structure, including all fields, steps, options, validation rules and settings into a portable JSON schema.

Schema Structure

Templates store form data as structured JSON:

The schema includes all configuration needed to recreate the form, including conditional logic, validation rules and field relationships.

Cloning Forms from Templates

Use the Polyform facade to clone forms from templates:

app/Http/Controllers/FormController.php

Customization

Cloned forms are independent copies. You can modify fields, settings or structure without affecting the template or other cloned instances.

Listing Templates

Use the is_active flag to control which templates are visible in template libraries or UI pickers.

Updating Templates

Updating a template does not affect existing forms cloned from it. Templates are version snapshots.

Template Metadata

Store additional information in the metadata JSON column:

Metadata enables categorization, search filtering, usage tracking and custom UI rendering.

FormBuilder Workflow

Build forms with the fluent builder, then convert to templates:

Complete Workflow

Design and test form structure
Create template from validated form
Clone template for new instances
Customize cloned forms as needed
Update template when improvements are made

Seeding Templates

Populate your template library via database seeders:

database/seeders/FormTemplateSeeder.php

Seeding templates ensures consistent form structures across environments and simplifies onboarding.

Schema Validation

Schema Integrity

Always validate templates before making them active. Invalid schemas will throw exceptions during cloning.

Common Use Cases

Recurring Surveys - Quarterly employee feedback, annual reviews
Application Forms - Job applications, grant requests, membership forms
Multi-Tenant SaaS - Standardized forms deployed per customer
Industry Templates - Healthcare intake, legal questionnaires, insurance claims
A/B Testing - Clone template, modify fields, compare submission rates

Best Practices

Test forms thoroughly before creating templates
Use descriptive names and detailed descriptions
Categorize templates with metadata tags
Version templates by including version number in metadata
Set is_active to false for deprecated templates
Track usage via metadata to identify popular templates
Regularly audit and update templates based on feedback

Template Library

Build a template gallery UI using metadata for filtering, preview images for selection and usage stats for recommendations.

Extensibility

Templates are simple JSON storage and can be extended with:

Custom schema transformations during cloning
Template versioning systems
Import/export functionality for sharing across apps
Template marketplace features

Submissions Text Fields