Linked Checklist Control
The Linked Checklist control creates a child checklist from within a parent checklist. The two are linked together: the child is displayed inside the parent, and you can move between them in a click.
You can optionally map controls from the parent to controls in the child, so that data collected in the parent is pushed into the child at the moment it is created.
A common use case is a multi-stage process where one checklist spawns a follow-up — an inspection checklist that creates a remediation checklist when a fault is found, or an onboarding checklist that creates a separate IT provisioning checklist with the new starter's details already filled in.
Add to the Template
The Linked Checklist control can be added from the controls toolbar in the Template.
Template
You must select the template that will be used to create the child checklist. Click the Template selector to search and choose from the templates available to your team. Nothing else on the control can be configured until a template has been chosen.
Default Checklist Name
The name that the child checklist will be given.
This field accepts Dynamic Values, so the name can be built from data captured in the parent checklist — a client name, a site, a job reference, the date. Giving child checklists meaningful, distinct names matters a great deal once you have hundreds of them in your reports.
To insert a dynamic value, click the button or type {{. A popup lists all available dynamic values; select the one you want and it is inserted into the name.
Auto Create
Auto Create decides who triggers the creation of the child checklist.
- On — the child checklist is created automatically, as soon as the parent checklist is created. No action is required from the user. While this is happening the control displays "Creating Linked Checklist. Please Wait…", and the child appears when it is ready.
- Off — a Create Linked Checklist button is displayed in the parent checklist. The user enters or adjusts the checklist name and clicks the button to create it.
Auto Create is disabled if the linked template is the same template the control lives in, to prevent a circular reference in which each new checklist endlessly creates another. You can still link a template to itself with Auto Create off, because a person has to click the button each time.
CheckFlow also guards against the indirect version of the same loop: a chain that leads back to a template already in it — A creating B, B creating A — is refused. You do not have to trace the chain yourself.
Linked Controls
Linked Controls map a control in the parent checklist to a control in the child checklist. When the child is created, the value from the parent control is copied into the mapped child control.
The Linked Controls table appears once a template has been selected. To add a mapping:
- Click New Linked Control.
- Select the Parent Control — the control in this template whose value you want to pass. The list is grouped by task.
- Select the Child Control — the control in the linked template that will receive the value.
- Optionally enter a Default Value — used if the parent control has no value at the point the child checklist is created.
Add as many mappings as you need. To remove one, click the trash button at the end of its row.
Which Controls Can Be Mapped
Not every control can take part in a mapping, and some can only be used on one side of it:
| Control | Can be a Parent Control | Can be a Child Control |
|---|---|---|
| Short Text | Yes | Yes |
| Long Text | Yes | Yes |
| Yes | Yes | |
| Website | Yes | Yes |
| Date & Time | Yes | Yes |
| Drop-Down | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-Choice | Yes | Yes |
| Sub-Tasks | Yes | Yes |
| Members | Yes | Yes |
| File Upload | Yes | — |
| Text | — | Yes |
| Video | — | Yes |
| Embed | — | Yes |
| Image | — | — |
| File | — | — |
| Table | — | — |
| Mail-To | — | — |
| Separator | — | — |
| Linked Checklist | — | — |
The child-only controls behave a little differently: the parent value replaces the content of a Text, Video or Embed control rather than being entered as an answer. That makes them useful for carrying a URL or a block of instructions through from the parent, but it will overwrite whatever was authored in the child template.
Values are converted where the two control types differ — a date passed into a Short Text control arrives as text, for example. Where a conversion is not possible the child control is left untouched.
Populating from a Data Set
The Linked Checklist control cannot be linked to a Data Set. Only the Dropdown, Multi-Choice, Sub-Tasks and Table controls can be.
Use in the Checklist
Before the child checklist exists, and with Auto Create off, the control shows a panel headed with the linked template's name, a Checklist Name box pre-filled from the template, and a Create Linked Checklist button. The name is required. With Auto Create on, the panel instead shows a progress message while the checklist is created in the background.
Once the child checklist exists, the panel is replaced by a live view of it: the child checklist's name in the heading, and its task list beneath. You can tick tasks off in the child checklist directly from inside the parent — you do not have to open it.
An Open Checklist button is displayed beneath the task list, which takes you to the child checklist in full. This button is only shown to users who have permission to that child checklist; users without access can still see the parent checklist, but not follow the link.
Limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Control mappings | Unlimited. Add as many as you need. |
| Self-reference | Auto Create is unavailable when the control links to the template it lives in. The link is still allowed with Auto Create off. |
| Shared checklists | Not rendered. A message is shown in place of the control. |
| Nesting depth | No limit. A child checklist can contain its own Linked Checklist control, and so on to any depth. |
| Circular references | Prevented. CheckFlow will not let you build a chain of templates that leads back to one already in it. |
Notes and Limitations
- Shared checklists. Linked Checklists cannot be rendered inside a shared checklist. A message is displayed in place of the control explaining this.
- The Linked Checklist control captures no answer of its own, so it does not appear in Reports. The child checklists it creates are ordinary checklists and are reported on in the normal way.
- It cannot be the source of a Conditional Logic rule, but it can be the target of one — so a linked checklist can be created only when a condition earlier in the process calls for it. This is the usual way to build a "create a remediation checklist only if the inspection failed" flow.
- It does not support binding to Template Parameters. To vary the child checklist name per run, use a parameter elsewhere in the template and insert it into the Default Checklist Name as a dynamic value.
- The control is read-only in the sense that it has no required setting and never blocks task completion. A task containing a Linked Checklist can be completed whether or not the child checklist has been created.
Related Pages
- Dynamic Values — how to build a meaningful name for each child checklist.
- Share a Checklist — shared checklists cannot render this control.
- Create a Checklist — the ordinary way to start a checklist, without a parent.
- Control Types — the capability matrix for every control.