Templates

What Are Survey Programming Templates?

Templates are reusable survey shells that help you standardize project structure and speed up new project creation. A template contains your starter metadata and routing code — the boilerplate that every project of a particular type needs — along with any linked AI Rule folders that should be applied by default.

Instead of writing the same base scripts from scratch every time, you define them once in a template and select it when initializing a new project. Templates allow you to build on top of MetaForms' baseline intelligence with your own custom logic, helping standardize survey structure across teams and clients.

A Survey Programming Template includes:

• Starter metadata code

• Starter routing code

• Linked AI Rule folders (optional)

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Getting Started

Navigate to the Templates section under the Build tab to view, create, and manage your survey programming templates.

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Creating a Template

Step 1: Click New Template.

Step 2: Enter a descriptive name for your template. Use a name that reflects the team, client, or project type it's designed for — for example, "Client A - Standard Tracker" or "CATI Team Template." This makes it easy for programmers to pick the right template when starting a new project.

Choose Unicom as the Survey Hosting Platform.

Step 3: Select your Survey Hosting Platform (e.g., Unicorn) and click Create Template.

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Adding Starter Code

Step 4: After creation, you'll see fields to add our started code. Paste your desired metadata and routing starter code into these fields. This is the boilerplate shell that will be pre-loaded into every project that uses this template — things like standard variable definitions, common routing blocks, or shared includes.

Step 5: Click Save Changes to store your template.

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Linking AI Rules to a Template

You can link AI Rule folders to a template so that the relevant rules are automatically pre-selected whenever someone creates a project using this template. This ensures the AI agent follows the right programming conventions from the start.

Step 6: Click the Link AI Rules option at the top of the template editor.

Step 7: Select the AI Rule folders you want to associate with this template and click Save Changes.

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Using a Template in a New Project

When you create a new project and navigate to the Build tab, you'll go through a setup wizard before entering the programming interface. During this initialization:

Step 1: When prompted, select the template you want to use. Your starter code will be pre-loaded into the project.

Step 2: On the AI Rules screen, any folders linked to the selected template will be automatically pre-selected. You can still check or uncheck additional "If Selected" folders as needed before proceeding.

The project will then open with your starter code already in place and the AI agent configured with the linked rules — ready to start programming.