I just wanted to understand certain terms such as
1) what is a template in context of docusign
2) What is an envelope an when do we use it ?
3) What is embedding signature ?
Basically my client wants to populate a pdf contract form with certain data got from a form. Would liek to send the pdf form to get it signed by the client...
Although the form maybe same the data fields in it may change ..
so what approach should be taken
a) template or b) embedded ?
assuming a blank form needs ot be sent for signing how does that work ? does the form goto the client phsycially ? or do they come on your site to sign it ...
i am sorry if i am all over i just wanted to understand the process frolm a developers stand point.
I suggest you read up on the DocuSign Developer Center. In particular the Explore -> Features section has pages dedicated to Templates and Embedding (among other topics) that have much of this info.
what is a template in context of docusign
Templates help streamline the sending process by allowing you to - at design-time - save document(s), recipients (or placeholder roles for recipients), tab locations and types for those recipients, routing and workflow, and more. Then at real-time when you want to request a signature you simply match a recipient to a role on your template and they automatically inherit all that previously configured workflow. The data they enter into their fields will still be specific to them, but things like the location of the signature tabs you've placed for them will always be the same, any conditional or dynamic workflows will be the same, etc. Templates are very flexible and have many features and options so I suggest you read up on them both through the Features -> Templates page but also through the API docs.
An alternative to requesting a signature from a Template is to request a signature on a Document. This is a similar call except that you need to define the tab locations, recipients, routing, etc every time before sending. With a template you just define all of that stuff once, at design time.
What is an envelope an when do we use it?
Definition from Explore page overview: "An envelope is basically a "container" used to send documents to recipients. The envelope carries information about the sender and timestamps to indicate the progress of the delivery procedure. It can contain collections of Documents, Tabs and Recipients and is analogous to a physical envelope you would send through the mail".
An envelope can have as many documents as you want in it (I think there's a total size limitation but that it's set high) and can be addressed to 1 or more recipients (actually up to 1,000 if using Bulk Send feature). And once the last person is done signing the docs in the envelope a Certificate of Completion (CoC) PDF doc is automatically generated and placed inside the envelope as part of an audit trail for your review.
What is embedding signature ?
Embedding allows you Embed the signing workflow directly into your website or app or whatever you are building. The signing still takes place through a DocuSign endpoint but you can generate the unique signing URLs yourself and open in an iFrame or Webview. You can control the branding around the signing experience and you also have control over where the user is re-directed to after they sign. See the Features -> Embedding page.
Regarding your questions about form fields, yes DocuSign also supports that- you want to use Data Fields (called textFields in the API), see the Features -> Stick-eTabs page.
Lastly, in terms of what approach should be taken (Template or Embedded) - hopefully my first answer cleared this up but those are not mutually exclusive. You can create an envelope from a Template or from a Local Document(s), and you can either Embed the signing experience or have it remote (i.e. recipient receives an email to start signing). To make a recipient an Embedded one, you have to set their clientUserId property. See the links I've referenced.
DocuSign also has sample code in 6 different languages for 9 common API scenarios, including Embedding, Requesting a signature from a Template, on a Document, and more. See the API Walkthroughs:
http://iodocs.docusign.com/apiwalkthroughs
DocuSign has free code samples in 6 different languages
Related
I'm a BA trying to understand DocuSign's eSignature feature (specifically, requesting a signature via email aka remote signing) as my company are soon to integrate. I'm really struggling to understand the end to end workflow. Is anybody able to A) shed light on this in layman's terms and/or B) point me toward documentation that better explains this than this documentation does? A step by step breakdown with no assumptions would be so helpful.
I'm particularly cloudy on how the "signing link" works; when/how it is generated and shared with the recipient and how they interact with it.
Thanks.
I suggest you look at these two:
If you are looking for non-developer document - https://www.docusign.com/products/electronic-signature/how-docusign-works
If you are looking to write code - https://developers.docusign.com/esign-rest-api/code-examples/code-example-request-a-signature-via-email
The idea is this: the signing is contained in something we call an envelope. An envelope represents a transaction. In that transaction you have people (recipients) and documents. You also need to specify how the recipients act on the documents with tabs (signing elements).
After you define all of this (which require you to specify among other things - email address(es) of the signers) you change the status to "sent" to actually send the envelope which means emails will be sent to remote signers.
At that point the DocuSign system automatically generates an email to any recipient that needs to sign that is in the first routing order (lowest number).
These emails will include a link.
That links does indeed expire eventually, but only to be replaced with a new link sent to the same email.
Clicking the link will launch the signing UI where the signer can complete the signing.
when all recipients completed acting on the envelope - the envelope is complete and a final signed/complete PDF is produced.
I am working on a DocuSign integration and want to allow the sender of the envelope to view the control panel to drag and drop signature tabs onto the document.
I already have a successful implementation that sends an embedded envelope to the signers. However, for this specific requirement, I do not know a) the X/Y coordinates of the signing tabs, or b) any anchor string for the signature tabs.
I have looked at the DocuSign api and I cannot see a way outside of java, which isn't really what im going for.
I am hoping to use this in an iframe, similar to how the embedded signing panel is done.
I believe the EnvelopeViews::CreateSenderView method is what you're looking for.
You can create a draft, then do the CreateSenderView call to request a url to a session of the DocuSign tagging screen. Since you're wanting to go straight to the tagger, you can leave the send=1 parameter as-is. If you wanted the URL to go to the Documents/Recipients screen instead of the tagger, you could change the url you recive from DocuSign to end with send=0 instead.
Do heed the Information Security warning on that API call: The Sender View URL will provide full access to the Web Console for whoever the authenticated user is. This is not a concern if you have one membership per user, but if you are using a shared membership everyone will have access to all envelopes on that membership.
Few questions about PowerForms
What is the real advantage of using PowerForms? In which case(s) it is most useful?
In Docusign Classic View >> PowerForms, there is an option to download Form Data as XML and CSV. Can we download this data using APIs?
For this question, I referred this thread "Can We get a report for the values filled in radio button in DocuSign Envelope".
PowerForms are an easy way of referencing a DocuSign Template through the API without writing any code. They are intended for less technical end-users who want to quickly access a Template through either email delivery or through a direct link (URL) but don't know / want to code it up. Instead they manually initiate such requests through a created PowerForm.
With regards to the form data question- yes, you can programmatically retrieve the form data through the API. You need to keep in mind that DocuSign tabs (aka fields) are always with respect to recipients and not the document itself.
Therefore, you can make the Get Tab Information For Recipient API call (REST version linked).
We have implemented the embedded signing process and at last step we get the embedded url. So, what we want is when I click on the embedded url I want to see the document in another language for eg. Norwegian.
Is it possible that using DocuSign API we can view documents in another language like Norwegian.
Thanks and Regards
Sandeep
DocuSign will always present the documents in the same exact state as the sender supplies them in -- having DocuSign translate the documents to another language, or make any other changes to the documents is not possible. The ability to configure "language" in DocuSign applies only to the DocuSign web console UI and other instructions that DocuSign displays to the Signer during the signing process -- not to the documents themselves.
I want to make sure I am on the right track as I have been having some problems getting started with the API. I am looking to maintain a list of product application PDFs as templates on docusign. When a customer comes to our site and wants a particular product they need to fill out an application form. All the data would be collected on our site. I would then want to:
Create an envolope with the customer (and potentially other parties) that need to sign the document
Fill in the form fields from data collected on our site
Send the envelope out for signature and monitor the progress.
So in doing this I am trying to build this up a piece at a time and first task is to make sure that I can provide form data to docusign. I create a template with the docusign web user interface and all of the form fields seem to be preserved. However when I try and retrieve the template with API
https://demo.docusign.net/restapi/v2/accounts/xxxx/templates/yyyy
I see a very short response with an envelopeTemplateDefinition showing the correct name for the template but no documents object and no custom fields object. I have also tried this by creating an envelope with the document (in draft) but with similar results.
My apologies in advance for this newbie question.
I've repro'd the issue you describe -- i.e., the Response I get from a GET Template request contains only very limited information and is thereby not consistent with the expected Response as documented on pages 194-196 of the DocuSign REST API guide (http://www.docusign.com/sites/default/files/REST_API_Guide_v2.pdf). Not sure if this is a bug with the GET Template operation or with the Documentation -- someone at DocuSign will need to confirm (#Ergin).
In light of this limitation with the GET Template operation, you can alternatively retrieve the recipient information (including tabs) and document information about a Template by using the GET Envelope Recipients and GET Envelope Documents operations -- just specify the TEMPLATE Id in place of the Envelope Id, as shown here:
GET https://{{env}}.docusign.net/restapi/{{version}}/accounts/{{acctId}}/envelopes/{templateId}/documents
GET https://{{env}}.docusign.net/restapi/{{version}}/accounts/{{acctId}}/envelopes/{templateId}/recipients?include_tabs=true