Installing the Forms add-on

1. Install Forms add-on#

Installing the license#

You can find out how i-doit is licensed in the article Licensing.

Download and installation of the Forms add-on#

A detailed descriptions regarding download, installation, updates etc. can be found in the article i-doit Add-ons.

2. Installation MongoDB#

The system requirements of MongoDB can be found here. In addition, MongoDB provides a checklist for use in operation.

First install gnupg:

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sudo apt-get install gnupg curl

We import the public key for the mongodb-org repository:

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curl -fsSL https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-8.0.asc | \
sudo gpg -o /usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-8.0.gpg \
--dearmor

Now we create a sources file for MongoDB:

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echo "deb [ signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/mongodb-server-8.0.gpg ] http://repo.mongodb.org/apt/debian bookworm/mongodb-org/8.0 main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-8.0.list

Now we update the local package database:

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sudo apt-get update

Now we can install the latest stable version of MongoDB:

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sudo apt-get install -y mongodb-org

Next, we reload the services:

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sudo systemctl daemon-reload

So that MongoDB is started at the next system start:

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sudo systemctl enable mongod

Now we start MongoDB:

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sudo systemctl start mongod

3. Installation NodeJS#

Dependencies can be found here. A manual download as well as a installation guide can also be found there.

For the next step we need cURL:

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sudo apt-get install curl

NodeJS is installed automatically via the package manager using the code displayed via https://nodejs.org/en/download:

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# Download and install nvm:
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.2/install.sh | bash

# in lieu of restarting the shell
\. "$HOME/.nvm/nvm.sh"

# Download and install Node.js:
nvm install 22

# Verify the Node.js version:
node -v # Should print "v22.14.0".
nvm current # Should print "v22.14.0".

# Verify npm version:
npm -v # Should print "10.9.2".

Now we can install NodeJS:

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sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

4. Configuration of the Forms backend#

First, we navigate to the Form Backend subfolder within the i-doit installation:

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cd /var/www/html/i-doit/src/classes/modules/forms/backend/

We create a copy of the configuration template:

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sudo -u www-data cp .env.dist .env

Using a text editor like, vi or nano, we now edit the .env:

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sudo nano .env

A FORMS_SECRET must be set and the file saved.

Next, we create an instance. In order to use the run.sh, we must first set the rights for execution:

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sudo chmod +x run.sh

Now we can run the run.sh:

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sudo ./run.sh instance:create {Benutzername} {Apikey}

To use forms-service.sh, we must first set the rights to execute it:

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sudo chmod +x forms-service.sh

We now have the systemd service created for the Forms backend. The Service will be activated and started:

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sudo ./forms-service.sh

This completes the installation.

5. Configuration in i-doit#

In order for the frontend to be able to communicate with the backend, we have to store the previously used user name and the API key in the tenant settings. These are accessed via Administration → [Tenant name] management → Settings for [Tenant name] → Forms Add-on.

Continue to create forms