Managing Dynamic Lists

A dynamic list is a named source of options that your forms read, and the Dynamic Lists tab in Resources is where you create those lists and decide which file each one serves. A list holds many files and publishes one of them, so updating the options in a form means uploading a new file rather than editing a file in place or pointing the form somewhere new.

Available from Zegeba 4.13.

The list's address never changes. That is the point: the form keeps the same URL for good, and whichever file you publish is the one your users get at their next sync.

Before You Start

You need access to Resources. Form Managers who also design forms need the Resource Manager role to see it.
Have your options ready as a TXT, JSON or CSV file, one option per line for a text list, or create the file here.

Key Areas

Dynamic Lists tab: the third tab in Resources, beside Resources and Tags.
Folder tree: folders and lists, nested as deeply as you need. Both hold files and both have a URL of their own; the difference is that a folder can hold folders and lists as well, while a list holds only files. New Folder at the bottom of the tree creates a top-level folder; a folder's own ⋮ menu creates folders and lists inside it.
All Lists: every file across every list in one table, filtered by Published state. It opens showing published files only, so the list you see is what your forms are serving right now.
The list URL: at the top of a list or a folder, with a button to copy it. This is what goes into your form.
Upload area: click or drag to add a file to the open list. TXT, JSON or CSV, up to 100 MB.
New File: creates a Text File (.txt) or a JSON File (.json) in the open list and opens the editor. It adds the extension for you, which Rename does not.
File table: every file in the list with its state, size, who uploaded it and when it was last edited.
Right panel: Preview shows the file's content, Details shows its metadata.

Steps

In Resources, select the Dynamic Lists tab.
Select New Folder at the bottom of the tree and name it, or open an existing folder's ⋮ menu and select New Folder to nest one inside it.
Open the folder's ⋮ menu and select New List. Name it for what it holds, for example Staff or Suppliers, because the name becomes part of the URL your forms use.
Add the first file, either by dropping it on the upload area or with New File. The first file in a list is published automatically.
Copy the list's URL from the top of the page and paste it into your form's Dynamic List element. See 4.6 Dynamic Lists for the element itself.
When the options change, add the new file to the same list. It arrives as Draft, and the list carries on serving the published file until you say otherwise.
Open the new file's ⋮ menu and select Publish, and confirm when asked. It becomes the published file and the previous one becomes Unpublished.

Your forms pick up the change at their next sync, with no edit to the form and no change to the URL.

What The Badges Mean

Every file in a list carries one of three badges, and only one file per list is ever published.

Published: the file the list is serving. Publishing another file replaces it, and the file it replaces becomes Unpublished.
Draft: the file has never been published. New files you add to a list that already has a published file start here.
Unpublished: the file was published once and is not any more. It stays in the list.

Older files are never removed to make room for a new one, so you can see what a list served before and publish an earlier file again if you need to go back.

File Actions

A file's ⋮ menu in the list carries:

Publish or Unpublish: change which file the list serves. Both ask you to confirm first.
Download: save a copy of the file.
Edit: change the content of a .txt or .json file and save it.
Rename: change the file's name, keeping an extension on it, .txt, .csv or .json, or the save is refused. Renaming does not affect which file the list serves.
Duplicate: copy the file into the same list.
Copy: copy the file for pasting into another list.
Delete: remove the file from the list.

FAQs

Does the file name decide which file my form gets?
No. The published badge decides, and nothing else. You can name files however suits you, and renaming one never changes what a form receives.

Do I have to change my form when I publish a new file?
No. The URL belongs to the list, not to the file, so it stays the same for the life of the list. Publish a new file and the form follows at the next sync.

Can two files in one list be published at the same time?
No. Publishing a file unpublishes the one that was published before it, so a list always has one answer.

What file types can I use?
You can upload TXT, JSON and CSV files, up to 100 MB each. New File creates .txt and .json files; to add a CSV, upload it.

What happens to the file that was published before?
It stays in the list as Unpublished. Nothing is deleted to make room, and you can publish it again later.

I already have dynamic lists as files in Resources. Do they still work?
Yes, for now. They keep working as before, including the converter you paste in front of their URL, but that route is legacy and is being phased out over the 12 months following Zegeba 4.13. Build every new list here, and move the ones you already have across during that time: create a list, upload the file to it, and replace the URL in the form with the list's own. See 4.6 Dynamic Lists.

Should I still create list files in Resources?
No. Resources > Dynamic Lists is where dynamic lists belong from Zegeba 4.13. Resources keeps holding your other files, images and documents among them.

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