Filling an external web form with info from Knack

API & Customization
1

Hi folks, I’ll start by disclosing that I’m not a programmer, but I have a question for those of you that are. I know how to create a menu button that will open an external URL in a new browser page/tab. BUT, once that new page is opened, is it possible for JavaScript code within the Knack environment to interact with that page?

Here’s the problem i am trying to solve…

A supplier has asked us to complete one of their online forms for every warranty return to them. The form uses Zoho Forms. If you want I can DM you the url, but dont really want to post it here in this public forum. (Note that Zoho Forms does NOT allow information to be passed to the form through the URL)

All the info on the form (or at least 90%) is already collected in Knack. So filling out that form is just double data entry.

I’m looking for a way that I can provide users with a button that launches the form and fills out 90% of the fields, before they hit submit.

Is this conceptually possible from Knack?

Or, is there was another way through something like Zapier or Make to automate this?

All advice gratefully accepted.

2

Hi,

Good question.

Basically, yes, there are ways to automate the process of filling out a form on an external website, and the info can come from Knack or any other database.

Using a third-party API (Application Programming Interface) like WebDriver, you can create a workflow that navigates to the website containing the form and fills in its inputs.

APIs can be integrated with your Knack app via tools like Zapier/Make, or Javascript code on the frontend or backend, depending on the API and its security requirements.

The workflow can then be triggered on click of a button inside Knack.

Potential issues that could arise from automatically filling out forms on external websites might be: It might be flagged as spam/blocked, be against the website’s terms of service, or maybe the underlying HTML for the form might change, making it hard to reliably identify the inputs.