Edge Delivery Services for AEM Forms
Edge Delivery Services for AEM Forms is a composable set of services that enables a rapid development environment where authors can update, publish, and launch new forms rapidly. These services deliver exceptional and high impact forms experiences that drive engagement and conversions. These forms experiences are easy to author and develop.
These services enable you to:
-
Create enrolment experiences with tools of your choice: Increase authoring efficiency by decoupling content sources. Out of the box you can use Document-based Authoring (Microsoft SharePoint or Google Drive), WYSIWYG Authoring (Universal Editor or Adaptive Forms Editor). You can work with multiple content sources on the same forms site and use your preferred authoring tools, such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Universal Editor, or Adaptive Forms Editor.
-
Deliver exceptional Digital Enrolment experiences: Deliver Digital Enrolment experiences that load and render quickly and continuously monitor your forms performance through Operational Telemetry. Faster loading times and optimized user experience contribute to higher form completion and conversion rates.
-
Use developer friendly toolset: Edge Delivery Services for AEM Forms
uses plain HTML, modern CSS, and vanilla JavaScript to create exceptional experiences, avoiding the steep learning curve of a specific framework. A developer with basic web development skills can customize and easily build form components and experiences. There is no need to wait for a pipeline to run, just check-in your code into GitHub and your changes are live.
Choosing an authoring method
ÃÛ¶¹ÊÓƵ Experience Manager (AEM) Edge Delivery Services (EDS) lets you serve blazing-fast, highly scalable web experiences from the edge. This guide explains how to build and publish forms for those experiences—with a clear recommendation hierarchy:
- Universal Editor (UE) – Best choice for most teams
- Document-Based Authoring (Docs/Sheets) – Great for quick, simple forms
- Document Authoring (DA) – Use to embed forms into DA-authored pages
By the end you will be able to pick the right authoring method, understand submission options, and follow next steps toward production-ready forms.
Authoring methods in detail
Universal Editor
Universal Editor is a visual, drag-and-drop authoring tool for marketers and designers that combines speed with enterprise-grade power:
- Real-time WYSIWYG editing and device previews.
- Direct integration with AEM assets, workflows, and Form Data Model (FDM).
- Seamless hand-off to developers for custom components in vanilla JS/CSS.
- Advanced rules editor for creating complex logic.
- Server-side extensibility for custom functionalities.
- WYSIWYG editing experience for easy form creation and visualization.
- Document of record functionality to create tamper-proof archives of submitted data.
- Integration with ÃÛ¶¹ÊÓƵ Sign for electronic signatures.
- Integration with ÃÛ¶¹ÊÓƵ Workfront Fusion to triggering ÃÛ¶¹ÊÓƵ Workfront Fusion scenarios upon form submission.
- Integration with various data sources for pre-populating forms and submitting data.
- Form Data Model (FDM) for defining data structure and interactions with various data sources.
- Ability to choose from multiple submit actions for handling form submissions, including submitting data to Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft OneDrive, ÃÛ¶¹ÊÓƵ Workfront Fusion, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, many more data sources.
- Submit using Forms Submission Service (FSS) or AEM Publish submit actions
Recommendation: Start every new form project with Universal Editor unless your team is 100 % document-centric and the form is very basic.
Document-Based authoring (Using Microsoft Docs or Google Sheets)
Document-Based authoring is best suited for creating simple, low-complexity forms using familiar tools such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or Google Sheets. This method is ideal for content teams who require a fast and straightforward way to build forms.
- Accessible components for a user-friendly experience.
- Standardized HTML structure for consistent rendering.
- Rules and validations to ensure data accuracy.
- File attachment options for collecting additional information.
- Google reCAPTCHA integration for spam protection.
- Ability to create custom form components for specific needs.
- Submit form data directly to Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets or email addresses.
- Monitor your forms performance through Operational Telemetry
Embedding Forms in Document Authoring (DA)
Document Authoring (DA) is designed for creating structured page content and does not support native form creation. To add a form to a DA-authored page, you can create the form using the Universal Editor (recommended) or Document-Based Authoring and embed the form to Document Authoring page.
Publishing Edge Delivery Services Forms edge-overview
The following diagram illustrates how you can edit forms in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets (Document-based Authoring) and publish to Edge Delivery Services. It also shows the AEM publishing method using the WYSIWYG Authoring (Universal Editor).
Next Steps
You are now ready to create your first high-performance form with AEM Edge Delivery Services.