Question 1

Do you support anchor links?

Accepted Answer

We support the ability to scroll the user to certain parts of your content on the same page via anchor (or "jump") links.

To insert an anchor click the anchor icon in the markdown editor. Type a name for your anchor in the dialog and hit insert (Malcolm! will make your text lower case and replace any spaces with a dash)

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/oCqoO1obU2/Insert%20anchor.png (Insert anchor dialog)

To link to the anchor use the create link dialog and find your anchor from the drop down list.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/7oI1UVxRhF/Target%20link%20to%20anchor.png (Target link to anchor)

Malcolm! will then add markdown to your content, you can see an example below

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/TkGY25Md9d/Anchor%20and%20target%20in%20markdown.png (Anchor and target in markdown)

Alternatively you can create your anchors and links directly in markdown, the syntax is as follows

To define your anchor

To link to your anchor

See the video below for a walkthrough of this feature

Question 2

I'd like to open the Overlay embed directly, how do I do this?

Accepted Answer

When you create an Overlay embed we give you two bits of code to add to your page. The first is the master code which you should place just before the closing tag. The second is the inline code which generates the button users click to open the overlay - this goes inside the tags where you want the button to appear. When the user clicks the button the Overlay embed will appear in a modal (pop-up) over your page.

The inline code we give you will look like this -

Sometimes you might want to call the overlay but not use our button. You might want to call it from text or use your own button/graphic or you might want to call it in the background when a user does something else on your page.

You can do this by calling mapi in JavaScript.

The mapi has four methods - open, close, trigger and toggle. Open, close and toggle all return promises (i.e., a function that resolves when the animation is complete or a rejects if something went wrong, e.g., no embed found for the param passed). Trigger is more "fire and forget" - it will call the open function if everything goes well, otherwise it silently fails.

Here is an example using an href link that uses the trigger method to open the Overlay -

Note that you must have our master embed code on your page for the above to work and you need to replace EMBED_ID with your embed ID.

The above may also be useful for customers who are using third party site building systems - sometimes putting inline code into a page on those systems can be restricted so you can't add our inline code to render your button. If you can create inline links you could try using the above example with the trigger method to open the Overlay (again remember you also need the master code on the page).

Question 3

Do you support animated GIFs?

Accepted Answer

Yes you can use animated GIFs in Malcolm! placing them in your FAQs or in Workflows (via the Content element).

You can upload the animated GIF into the media section of MyMalcolm or you can pull in externally hosted GIFs.

This cat has been uploaded to MyMalcolm:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/WsOiR3iaEG/Cat.gif (Animated Cat.gif)

To pull in external GIFs use the following Markdown syntax:

The above Markdown results in this:

https://media.giphy.com/media/QpWDP1YMziaQw/source.gif (Image Description)

Have fun!

Question 4

When a Workflow is completed will I be sent an email?

Accepted Answer

When a user completes a Workflow, by default all the Team members of the instance (who are added and manged via the Team section of MyMalcolm) will receive an email.

You can also configure other people to receive an email on a Workflow by Workflow basis.

To do this:

In MyMalcolm go to the Workflow section
Click Library and then click on the Workflow you wish to configure email alerts for
Then click "Configure" on the black horizontal navigation then "Email Answers" on the left hand vertical navigation
Click "add a new email address" to add a new recipient. This can be a fixed email address you enter or, if you collect an email address on your Workflow, you can choose for the email to be sent to the supplied email
Note that you can also make a recipient conditional - this is very useful if you only want an email to be sent to a particular address when certain criteria on a Workflow are met

Question 5

Do you support a collapsable section in content?

Accepted Answer

If you'd like to have content that has to be clicked to be viewed you can create collapsable sections of content which are closed by default.

Here is an example

Here is the hidden content!

https://media.giphy.com/media/3pZipqyo1sqHDfJGtz/giphy.gif (hello!)

The Syntax is as follows

This above will render a "> Click to open" link on the page which when clicked, will reveal the rest of the content underneath.

Question 6

How do I use Make (formerly Integromat) to connect Malcolm! to other applications or services I use?

Accepted Answer

Malcolm! now integrates with Make (formerly Integromat). Make is an integration platform - it connects thousands of apps to other apps.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/0HPOpP331Q/make.jpg (Malcolm! and Make)

In the context of Malcolm! this means that when a Workflow is completed you can use our Make integration to route some or all of the data that has been collected from that Workflow through into Make and then in turn onto thousands of other apps or services.

Here is how to set things up:

Firstly set up and publish a workflow in Malcolm! that collects the data you wish to move into other applications.
In MyMalcolm go to the Settings Section, then Workflows, then Integrations, then click on Make.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/9ZMkRdBXkW/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.05.24-11_51_26.png (Make in MyMalcolm)

Sign up for an account at Make if you don't already have one - it is free - or login if you do have an account.
In Make click "Create a new scenario".
Search or browse to the third party app/s or service/s you wish to link to your Workflow, select them, then click continue.
You will then find yourself in new scenario dialogue of Make. This is where you connect Make to Malcolm! and also your third party apps or services (ie by providing your credentials). Note that Make calls the connection to Malcolm! a webhook.
You then set up the sort of interactions you want to happen when a Malcolm! Workflow is completed. For example you may wish to connect to Google Sheets and have a new row containing the data submitted each time a Workflow is completed. There are also many other powerful options and settings that can be configured from this area. For more detals see Make's guides.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/gh0ZuJlWP4/Screenshot%202021-05-01%20at%2011.26.37.png (Creating a scenario)

Once you have set things up, you can test the integration by clicking "Run Once" in the Make interface, then complete the Malcolm! Workflow in question. The actions you have configured in Make should then happen, or you may see details of errors that need correcting.
When you are happy you can then set the scenario to run immediately (ie each time a Workfow is completed) or periodically.
Back in MyMalcolm, if you find the Workflow you set up with Make in the Library, select it, then go to Configure then Integrations you should be able to see Make as been added. You can turn the integation off here if you want and/or configure it to be conditional (for example to only run when certain choices have been made on a Workflow).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/hDb4itCeGp/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2022.05.24-12_24_42.png (A set up Make integration in MyMalcolm)

You can also see a video walkthrough below:

Remember that Malcolm! always stores your data (which you can download anytime) - so if Make goes down or your integration doesn't seem to work properly no data will be lost.

We are hugely excited about the possibilities opened up via Make - we hope you are too! If you have questions or need a hand setting things up just contact us and we'll be happy to help.

Question 7

Can I enable reCAPTCHA on my Workflows or FAQs?

Accepted Answer

We now support using Google reCAPTCHA on your Workflows and FAQs/Articles.

When enabled, this will offer protection against spam completions of your Workflows and (if you are using them) the submit feedback and send FAQ/Article by email functionality within Malcolm!

You can find out more about Google reCAPTCHA here.

We support:

reCAPTCHA v3
reCAPTCHA v2 - Invisible
reCAPTCHA v2 - Tickbox

You can enable and configure reCAPTCHA for Workflows and/or FAQs independently. So, for example, you could enable reCAPTCHA protection for Workflows but not FAQs. You could also use a different version of reCAPTCHA for Workflows and FAQs.

You can turn reCAPTCHA on via:

Settings --> FAQs --> reCAPTCHA
Settings --> Workflows --> re CAPTCHA

Start by registering your instance with Google which you can do here.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/xynNm0rZqV/screenshot-my.malcolm.app-2023.04.16-22_02_50.png (Setting up reCAPTCHA in MyMalcolm)

Our dialog will show you the information you need to add to Google's interface. You can then paste the credentials you receive back from Google into MyMalcolm.

When enabled, ReCAPTCHA will work across all formats (ie content on your hosted hub, widgets, overlays and embeds).

Question 8

How do I delete feedback on an FAQ or Workflow?

Accepted Answer

Feedback collected via Malcolm! can only be seen by suitability authorised team members on your instance but there may be situations where you want to delete it, for example if it contains personally identifiable information and your organisation has a policy that you only want to store this for a certain period of time.

To delete feedback for an individual FAQ select the "Delete data" option in the Analyse section of the FAQ.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/IK3fsFzNON/Delete%20FAQ%20Data%20in%20MyMalcolm.png (Delete FAQ Data in MyMalcolm)

To delete feedback for an individual Workflow select the "Delete data" option in the Analyse section of the Workflow and then select either "Delete feedback data" or "Delete all data" (which will also delete all your completion data)

Question 9

What are Webhooks and how do I use them to receive notifications when Workflows are completed?

Accepted Answer

Webhooks allow you to set up your own integrations to Malcolm! Workflow.

Webhooks are endpoints on web servers you own. Whenever a Workflow is completed the configured Webhooks will be notified. The Payload will contain the completed Workflow Session, related Workflow and (optionally) the submitted Workflow Values.

Configuration

Webhooks are are configured in "Workflows > Edit > Configure > Webhooks" section of MyMalcolm.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/IWqLLH7kgn/Screenshot%202021-01-26%20at%2016.17.46.png (Screenshot 2021-01-26 at 16.17.46.png)

Webhook URL

The only requirement is to provide the URL of your Webhook. This is the URL Malcolm! will send the Payload to.

The URL should be a secure endpoint which means it should start with https://, although we do support http:// too. The endpoint should also be accessible which means hosted on a remote machine, not behind a firewall and not requiring Authentication.

Include the Workflow Values

There is an additional option to include the submitted Workflow Values in the Payload. This option is disabled by default for security reasons but available to use should you wish to enable it. By enabling the option you agree to the following terms -

(a) I would like the Workflow Values included in the Webhook Payload (b) the recieving web server is private and properly secured (c) I am aware the use of Webhooks can facilitate the transfer of end-user personal data to third party Data Processors and my use of Webhooks adheres to my responsibilities as Data Controller under applicable Data Protection Laws.

Secure your Webhook with a secret token

Webhook URLs can be called by anyone and are therefore insecure.

To ensure a request to your Webhook URL comes from Malcolm! a secret token known only by yourself and Malcolm! can be used to generate a Signature.

Malcolm! will take the Payload and the secret and create a Signature. This will be passed to your App as the request header X-Signature. Your App will use the same secret and the received Payload to generate a second Signature. If the Signatures match you know the request came from Malcolm! and not another source.

The secret token can be any string you like, but Malcolm! recommends using a random string of at least 36 characters. For example in a Terminal window run -

To validate the Payload from Malcolm! use the HMAC SHA-256 algorithm to create a hash using the Payload as the data and your secret as the key.

For example in PHP use the hash_hmac function to generate a binary hash.

Next encode the binary hash using a Base 64 encoder, in PHP this is the base64_encode function.

Finally prefix the encoded hash with "sha256=" and compare with the value of X-Signature. In PHP you can use the $_SERVER variable to access the headers.

Conditional settings

There are conditional controls available too. If you have a condition configured the Webhook will only be notified if the conditions at the end of the Workflow are satisfied.

Headers

The HTTP POST will contain the following Headers.

Payload

The Payload will be a JSON Body containing the Workflow Session.

Workflows are defined as -

Workflow Values are defined as -

Workflow Fields are defined as -

Example

Question 10

Can I pass secure values into Malcolm! Workflows via the URL?

Accepted Answer

Passing data into a Workflow via the URL is a feature we've had for a while - read more - but what if the data you want to pass is confidential?

Understandably, you wouldn't want to pass that straight in. Luckily Malcolm! understands how important protecting your data is so we've come up with a solution that allows values to travel safe and secure with minimal effort!

A beginners guide to encryption

Suppose you have a value, such as an account number, that you don't want anyone else to read. Encryption provides a way to scramble this value so only you and the people you share the password or secret key with can read it.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/FR8yDloV2d/encryption-diagram.png (encryption-diagram.png)

The sender uses the secret key to scramble the original value and the encrypted value is sent to the receiver. On receipt of the encrypted value the receiver uses the same secret key to unscramble the value back to the original.

And that's encryption in a nutshell!

Step 1: Generate a secret key

The secret key can be any string you like, but Malcolm! recommends using a random string of at least 36 characters. A simple ruby command can quickly generate one for you.

Keep your secret key safe - you'll need it later!

Step 2: Share your secret key with Malcolm!

We do this via the Workflow Builder. Any question field that supports URL query values can now be secured with your secret key - e.g. text fields, hidden fields, number fields, email address fields, etc.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/g6hGpX1dvl/Screenshot%202021-11-10%20at%2013.43.37.png (Screenshot 2021-11-10 at 13.43.37.png)

Here's a simple example which starts with a text field renamed to "Account number".

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/b4uJV41azB/Screenshot%202021-11-10%20at%2013.51.53.png (Screenshot 2021-11-10 at 13.51.53.png)

To enable URL values open up the edit window, scroll to the bottom and turn on "Allow a value to be set in URL query". Malcolm! will automatically generate a query name for you but you can change it to something different if you prefer.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/HwJyEPPI3q/resources/7OhxX21Mdq/Screenshot%202021-11-10%20at%2013.52.01.png (Screenshot 2021-11-10 at 13.52.01.png)

Next turn on the "Secure the query value" and paste in your secret key.

Hit save and that completes the configuration!

Step 3: Encrypting values

Malcolm! uses OpenSSL and the "aes-128-gcm" cipher to decrypt values.

Passed values need to be encoded and made up of three parts -

The Initialisation Vector used during the encryption
The Authentication Tag resulting from AEAD ciphers
The encrypted string

Initialisation Vectors are generated using the OpenSSL rand function. For our chosen cipher these need to be exactly 12 bytes long. If using PHP you can use the openssl_random_pseudo_bytes function.

Why 12 bytes? This just happens to be the required length for our chosen cipher. In PHP you can verify this by using the openssl_cipher_iv_length function.

This will output -

Next use the OpenSSL enc function to create the encrypted string. Here's an example using the PHP openssl_encrypt function.

This will assign an Authentication Tag to the $tag variable (passed by reference) and an encrypted string to the $ciphertext variable.

Note - in PHP we pass OPENSSL_RAW_DATA to generate binary data.

Complete the process by concatenating $iv, $tag and $cipertext into a single string - Malcolm! needs all three for the decryption process!

As we're passing this value via the URL we need to first encode it. Use a Base 64 encoder followed by a URL encoder to ensure all the characters are sent correctly. In PHP this is the base64_encode function and urlencode functions respectively.

This is the final encoded string!

For simplicity all the steps from above can be put in a single function.

And that's all there is to it ;)