Start a case with a form
With the start form, a Zoan Flow case no longer depends only on a queue, a schedule, a webhook or the API: anyone with permission starts it by filling in a form in Zoan Cloud. You get:
- Cases that start right. The form validates on screen and Zoan Cloud validates again on receipt: a case never starts with an empty required value or a type the flow does not expect.
- Safe attachments from the first step. Files are checked by their real content and by the antivirus before they are stored, and reach the case ready for a robot to read.
- One form engine for everything. It is the same form engine as human tasks: sections, rules to show or hide fields, calculations, tables and sensitive fields.
- Every case with its history. The monitor shows who started it, when and with which form version.
- No duplicate cases. A double click or a retry after losing the connection return the same case.
Choose the start form
Section titled “Choose the start form”In the flow designer, select the start event and open the Start section of the properties panel:
- Choose where the form comes from:
- From the library: a form from Forms with a fixed version, or Current, which uses the version published at the moment of submitting. A fixed version is the safe choice: a change to the form does not affect the flow until you update it.
- Designed here: a form that lives inside the flow and that you design right there.
- Review the field → variable table. Each field goes to the flow input variable with the same name; to use another one, pick it in the row, or choose Don’t pass to the case.
- For a field that has no variable yet, Create variable adds it to the flow with the right type (and sensitive, if the field is).
- Preview shows the form exactly as the person starting the case will see it.
What is checked when publishing
Section titled “What is checked when publishing”Zoan Cloud does not let you publish a start form that does not fit the flow, and tells you exactly what to fix:
| Error | What to do |
|---|---|
| A field goes to a variable that does not exist or is not an input. | Pick another variable or create it as an input variable. |
| The field type does not fit the variable (for example, a checkbox into a date). | Change the variable type or pick another one. |
| Two fields go to the same variable. | Each variable receives a single field. |
| A required input variable receives no field. | Add the field to the form or assign one: otherwise the case could never start. |
| A sensitive field goes to a variable that is not sensitive. | Mark the variable as sensitive so the monitor shows it masked. |
| The form uses decisions or required inputs. | A start form has no decisions or inputs: remove them. |
You also see warnings that do not block publishing: a field that does not reach the case, a required variable fed by a field that may be empty (optional or hidden), or a sensitive file that stays in Storage.
Type compatibility:
| Form field | Flow variable |
|---|---|
| Text, text area, email, phone, list, options | Text |
| Date | Date (or text) |
| Date and time | Date and time (or text) |
| Number, currency | Number (or integer, if the field has no decimals) |
| Checkbox | True/false |
| Multiple selection, table | List |
| File | File (if it accepts a single one) or list of files |
Start a case
Section titled “Start a case”- From the flow view, the Start case button opens the form.
- Business users use Start a case, in the Tasks group of the environment menu, next to My requests (also from Ctrl+K): they see only the flows that start with a form and pick one.
When you press Start case, the form is checked on screen; if something is wrong, the field is marked without losing what you typed. Once the case starts you see its title and, if you can view cases, the View in monitor link. Start another resets the form for a new case. Whoever can’t see the monitor gets Follow in My requests instead, to track their case there (see Tracking for whoever starts the case).
Permissions
Section titled “Permissions”| Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|
Start flow cases by filling in their start form (orchestration:start_form) | Start cases only through the form, always validated. Ideal for business roles. |
Start flow cases (orchestration:start) | In addition, start cases through the API with any input data. |
Without one of them, the button, the page and the menu entry are not shown.
File attachments
Section titled “File attachments”File fields upload to the environment storage with the same security as the rest of Zoan Cloud: the real content of the file is checked (an executable named .pdf does not pass), as are the types and size the field allows, the antivirus (if the file cannot be scanned, it is rejected) and the storage quota.
- While you fill in the form, each file is yours: nobody else can see or use it.
- When the case starts, the files stay in the formularios-inicio bucket, in the case folder (
orchestrations/<case>/inicio/), and reach the variable as a file: a robot downloads them like any other Storage file. - Whatever you uploaded that did not end up in the case (for example, from a field that ended up hidden) is deleted, and anything never submitted is cleaned up automatically after a few hours.
- Case retention and erasing a person’s data also reach these files.
In the monitor
Section titled “In the monitor”The case list shows the Form origin, and the detail says Started by form by and the person’s name, with the form version. The audit log records who started it, when and with which version, without storing the answers.
Public link (optional)
Section titled “Public link (optional)”If you want people without an account (suppliers, customers) to start cases, turn on the flow’s public link. It is off by default and managed by whoever can publish the flow.
- One URL per flow, in the Start section of the start event (Public link block), which you can Copy, Change link (the old one stops working at once), turn off or Delete link at any time.
- Limits you choose: submissions per hour for the link and maximum size per file.
- Abuse protection without external services: limits per IP address, a form that expires after two hours, a minimum wait before submitting and a trap field that spam bots fill in and people don’t. Each opened form starts at most one case.
- Audit with the IP of the sender; the case does not store the IP.
- The sender sees a short reference of the case, never its internal data.
Can I still start the flow from a queue, a schedule, a webhook or the API? Yes. The start form is one more way to start it; the others stay the same.
What happens if I change the library form? With a fixed version, nothing: the flow keeps its version until you update it and publish. With Current, the flow uses the new version; if it no longer fits the flow variables, the form becomes unavailable and the flow designer sees what to fix.
Are sensitive fields protected? Yes: they must go to sensitive variables, which the monitor shows masked and only reveals to whoever has permission.