Discussion: Submitting data in forms after each user input vs. only submitting data at the very end

What are the pro’s and con’s of having Bubble forms submit data after each user input, instead of waiting until the very end of the form to have a user submit all of the data at once.

Here’s my current take – would love to hear what you think I’m missing!

Pros:

  • Submitting after each field is essentially required to use RGs in forms (because there’s no good way to get the data stored at the very end if you haven’t already created things for each input).
  • Submitting throughout means that users won’t have to wait long at all after clicking the submit button (at the end) since nearly all of the content will already be included in the database.
  • Enables us to store partially completed forms. This has 2 benefits: 1) they can be set-up to allow users to come back later and complete them, without any data loss. 2) the data can be mined to better determine why users may not be completing the form

Cons:

  • Uses more workflows
  • Can be slow when users are submitting many fields and Bubble is running slower than normal
  • It’s less scaleable since it hits the database more frequently
  • Requires database and corresponding workflows to search through half-completed forms.

Any other important considerations that I’m missing?

Thanks.

You can track if an input’s value has changed and have it stored in a custom state. When the actuator is clicked at the bottom of the form, create a workflow to store all the states’ value into your database. Cost: 1 workflow.

1 Like

Could have a field to track form completion, for example each input or group of inputs or each “page” could be represented by a number, report it back to the user as a percentage complete, and on re-entry jump to a specific “page” or input based on the number.

I think a bit of both works well for long forms, batch up a meaningful amount of input for saving, to avoid the user having to re-enter it later.

1 Like

Why not simply use Auto Binding on your input controls? As a rule I prefer this to having an update button on a form (from a UI perspective) - and I assume this doesn’t use any workflows?

1 Like

You are correct in that Auto Binding doesn’t use any workflows. I like this approach as well. The one constraint I’m coming across with it is that it doesn’t work for storing Custom States.