Geolocation widgets: feature requests for improvement.

To the Jotform Development Team,

This document outlines several challenges encountered during a recent project involving geolocation data, its manipulation, custom widget development, and integration with original PDFs. While Jotform is a powerful platform, certain limitations created significant hurdles for what should have been relatively straightforward tasks. We believe addressing these points would greatly benefit many users and developers.

I. Core Issues Encountered:

1. Geolocation Widget Data Handling & PDF Integration:

Challenge: Difficulty in getting geolocation data (specifically addresses and clean latitude/longitude pairs) from standard Jotform widgets into a format suitable for reliable display on "Original PDF" uploads. Widgets often don't map directly, or their default output requires extensive manipulation.

Specific Widget Issues:

Lat/Lon Output: Widgets providing latitude and longitude often output them as a single string (e.g., `"10.80577, -50.42369"`). The space after the comma frequently causes issues when this string is used to construct a URL, as some systems truncate the link.

Address Auto-Population: The "GPS Location" widget (or similar) can display an automatically detected street address based on GPS, but this detected address does not populate the widget's actual field value unless the user manually interacts with the map (e.g., drags the marker). This prevents automatic use of the initially detected address.

PDF Incompatibility: These specialized widget outputs are not directly mappable or displayable in a user-friendly way on an uploaded "Original PDF."

II. Suggested Enhancements & Solutions:

1. Geolocation Widgets:

Separate Field Outputs: Allow Geolocation/GPS widgets to optionally output discrete data points (Latitude, Longitude, Full Address, Street, City, ZIP, Country) directly into specified, separate Short Text fields on the form.

Automatic Value Population: For address-detecting widgets, ensure the initially auto-detected address is immediately set as the widget's field value, available to conditions and submission data, without requiring manual map interaction.

Configurable Output Formatting: For single-string outputs, provide options to customize the delimiter and formatting (e.g., control spaces around commas).

Improved PDF Compatibility: Explore ways to make widget data (like a formatted address block) more easily integrated into Original PDF templates.

2. Form Calculation Widget:

Rich String Functions: Ensure a comprehensive suite of string manipulation functions (`SubString`, `IndexOf`, `Replace`, `Trim`, `Split`, `Length`, `ToUpperCase`, `ToLowerCase`, etc.) are available, clearly documented, and easily accessible within the Form Calculation widget. Consider adding RegEx capabilities for advanced users.

3. Hyperlink Handling for PDFs:

Clean URL Generation: If widget outputs are improved (see 1c), this will help.

Dedicated Hyperlink Intent: Provide a mechanism (perhaps a field property) to mark a text field's content as intended to be a hyperlink in PDF outputs, improving reliability with PDF viewers.

4. Custom Widget Platform:

Clear Developer Feedback: Offer transparent status indicators for custom widgets in the developer's account ("Active & Private," "Pending Review," "Failed - [Reason]").

Reliable Testing Environment: Ensure that privately registered custom widgets are immediately and reliably available for testing by the developer within the Form Builder, including on specialized accounts like HIPAA (with appropriate sandboxing if needed).

Improved Debugging: If a custom widget fails to load or be added via the builder or a direct link, provide meaningful console errors or logs from the Jotform side.

Updated Documentation: Keep all developer documentation, especially regarding Form Calculation functions and widget APIs, current and accurate.

I believe these improvements would significantly enhance Jotform's power and flexibility, reduce developer frustration, and allow users to achieve their goals more efficiently. The current limitations around these areas can turn simple requirements into complex and time-consuming development efforts.

Thank you for considering this feedback.

Best regards,

Alex Smith

Hi Alex,

Thanks for reaching out to Jotform Support. I'll need a bit of time to look into this. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Thanks for your patience, we appreciate it. 

Hi Alex,

We appreciate your detailed feedback to improve our features and widgets. For the Geolocation Widgets, while the feature you're looking for isn't available at Jotform right now, we've gone ahead and escalated your request to our developers. Exactly when or if it's developed depends on their workload, how viable it is, and how many other users also request it. If there are any updates, we’ll circle back to this thread and let you know.

To avoid confusion, I moved your other feedback and suggestions to new threads, and I will answer those there shortly. You can access them by clicking the links below:

String Manipulation Limitations: Ensure a comprehensive suite of string manipulation functions.

URL Hyperlink Generation for PDFs

Custom Widget Development & Testing Experience (especially on HIPAA Accounts)

General Widget Controls: Standard Read-Only Option

Thanks for your patience and understanding, we appreciate it.