When designing your form and setting the name of a field becomes an important first step because it potential determines how your field will be accessed later. Therefore, setting a field name that makes sense initially will reduce ambiguity and more work later. Here are some form design tips when field naming:


1. Name by field "groups" or "areas"

As you look at a form, most fields can be categorized into groups, usually based on where they are located in proximity to each other. For instance, a form 



For instance, an area of your form might need to look like this:

In this case, the fields under "Buyer" should be grouped as the "Buyer" group; and fields under "Seller" should be grouped as the "Seller" group. 

When naming fields for these groups, we recommend the following format:

BuyerLabel
SellerLabel
BuyerName
SellerName
BuyerAddress
SellerAddress
BuyerPhone
SellerPhone


Note that the left-most text in the field name is the group and the right-most text is the field. You could continue to keep this formatting rule to identify field names such as the following if the above example required more detail:

BuyerLabel
SellerLabel
BuyerNameFirst
SellerNameFirst
BuyerNameLast
SellerNameLast
BuyerAddressStreet
SellerAddressStreet
BuyerAddressCity
SellerAddressCity
BuyerAddressZip
SellerAddressZip
BuyerPhone
SellerPhone

... 


Naming fields in this format makes it very easy to identify what the field is referring to. 


2. Handling sequential fields (such as checklists)

In some scenarios, a list of questions or checklists may need to be added, such as the following:


Note the hierarchy of groups and subgroups apparent on the form layout. Based upon this, following field naming might be ideal:


StEngLabel    
StEngActiveEngLabel
StEngStTalkLabel
StEngActiveEngQ_1
StEngStTalkQ_1
StEngActiveEngQ_2
StEngStTalkQ_2
StEngActiveEngQ_3
StEngStTalkQ_3
StEngActiveEngQ_4
StEngStTalkQ_4
StEngActiveEngQ_5

StEngActiveEngQ_6

StEngActiveEngQ_7

StEngActiveEngQ_8


In regards to aiding scripting and handling potential field calculations, consider reviewing the following article as well:

https://support.mi-corporation.com/solution/articles/1000268477-form-naming-to-aid-scripting


Naming fields in a logical, patterned method will help yourself and others later when exporting data and when maintaining your form for the future. 


Happy form building!