How publishing works in CMS Forms

Learn how forms move across databases to go from "saved" to "released".

On this page:

• The 3 databases used in CMS Forms
• "Published" vs "released"
• Saving to the Form Builder database
• Version control
• Publishing to the Form Runner QA database
• Releasing to the Form Runner PROD database

The 3 databases used in CMS Forms

CMS Forms uses 2 main applications:

• Orbeon Forms for building and processing forms
• CMS Lite for testing and publishing forms to the website

Supporting these are 3 databses:

• One to store your forms while you work on or maintain them
• One to make forms functional in CMS Lite's QA environment
• One to make forms functional to the general public through CMS Lite PROD

This arrangement allows you to build and test a form without impacting a version that may be in use by citizens.

"Published" vs "released"

Both Orbeon and CMS Lite have Publish buttons, so it can be confusing to refer to both as "publishing".

To try to make these easier to tell apart:

• "Publish" describes what you do in Orbeon to make a form available to CMS Lite
• "Release" describes what you do in CMS Lite to make a form available to the public

Saving to the Form Builder database

The Form Builder database stores your current form definitions. These can be:

• New forms you're creating
• Forms you've published
• Forms you're in the process of revising

To save your form, simply click the Save button in the Form Editor.

Version numbers

When you click the Publish button in the editor, Orbeon will ask if you want to:

• Publish the form with a new version number, or
• Publish the form with a previous version number

Versioning in Orbeon doesn't work they way you might expect.

• You can't "roll back" to a previous version
  • If you need to restore a previous version of a form, you'll need to do use a backup form definition
• It creates a new "data bucket" for your form's data submissions
  • This supports data storage and processing workflows
  • This is a feature we currently have disabled

If you were able to have Orbeon collect the data for processing, you'd access that data based on:

• The Application name
• The Form Name
• The version number

The more versions you publish, the more "buckets" you'd have to check, so it makes sense to limit the number of these. In addition, most changes you would make are data compatible with previous versions anyway.

As a general guideline, use one version for each public release. 

• A brand new form is published as version 1 when it goes to QA.
• Any changes made before release to the public are also published as version 1
• Version 1 is eventually released to the public
• Any changes or revisions after that public release are published as version 2
• Version 2 is eventually released to the public

Version numbers should align with your form records. This will also keep the overall number of versions low for when the workflow processes are made available.

An exception can be made when a revision or correction is made just after a release. If a form was released a few days ago and a typo just discovered, you can use the same version. Don't forgot to update your records accordingly.

For additional information see:

• Revising an existing form
• Orbeon Forms | Versioning
• Orbeon Forms | Publishing

Publishing to the Form Runner QA database

You'll need to publish your form if you want to:

• Create a form page
• Perform testing with the client
• Eventually release the form to the public

To publish your form to QA from the editor screen:

1. Click the Publish button. The Publish Form dialogue window will be displayed
2. Select the appropriate version number to use
3. Add a comment (optional)
4. Click Publish. The Publish Form window will close and a confirmation window will replace it.
5. Close the confirmation window

Your new or updated form is now available in CMS Lite's QA environment.

• You can now create a form page in CMS Lite

Releasing to the Form Runner PROD database

You'll need to publish your form page if you want to release your form to the public.

To release your form to PROD from the CMS Lite form page:

1. Complete or update metadata, if needed
2. Click the Publish button. The Publish dialogue window is displayed
3. Choose the option to:
   • Publish immediately, or
   • Publish later
4. Click Confirm

Your form and its page are now (or will be) available to the public.

For additional information, see:

• CMS Lite manual | Publishing content and assets in CMS Lite