Relations between submissions and entries

Submissions can be related to Craft elements — entries, categories, products, users — so form data stays connected to the content it belongs to. Relations are set in Twig before render, not chosen manually by editors in the form builder.

Prerequisites

• Relations reference

When to use relations

• A contact form on an entry page should link submissions to that entry.
• Product enquiry forms should relate to the product being viewed.
• You need to query "all submissions for this entry" later in templates or integrations.

Relations complement Entries fields inside the form (where the user picks an entry). Template-set relations attach context the user did not choose — the current page, a related product, a campaign entry.

Attach relations before render

{% set entry = craft.entries.slug(craft.app.request.getSegment(2)).one() %}
{% set product = craft.commerce.products.slug(craft.app.request.getParam('product')).one() %}
{% set form = craft.formie.forms.handle('enquiryForm').one() %}

{% if not entry or not form %}
    {% exit 404 %}
{% endif %}

{% set relations = [entry] %}
{% if product %}
    {% set relations = relations|merge([product]) %}
{% endif %}

{% do form.setRelations(relations) %}

{{ craft.formie.renderForm(form) }}

When the form submits, those elements are stored as relations on the submission.

Read relations from a submission

{% set submission = craft.formie.submissions.id(3344).one() %}

{% if submission %}
    {% for element in submission.getRelations() %}
        <p>Related: {{ element.title ?? element.name }}</p>
    {% endfor %}
{% endif %}

Find submissions for an element

{% set entry = craft.entries.id(2242).one() %}

{% for submission in craft.formie.getSubmissionRelations(entry) %}
    {{ submission.title }} — {{ submission.dateCreated|date }}
{% endfor %}

Use this on entry templates to show enquiry history, or in the CP via custom modules.

Pattern: entry contact form

A common setup:

1. Create a contactForm form used site-wide.
2. On each entry template, load the form and call setRelations([entry]).
3. In the CP or a custom report, filter submissions related to an entry.

The form definition stays generic; the template supplies context per page.

Pattern: product enquiry with hidden context

Combine relations with visible product fields:

• Relation stores the canonical Commerce product element.
• A read-only or calculated field shows the product title for the submitter's confirmation email.

Integrations can map relation element IDs to CRM product fields.

Relations and editing

When editing a submission on the front end, relations set at original render are preserved unless your edit template calls setRelations() again. See Editing submissions on the front end.

Relations vs Entries fields

Use both when needed — relation for the page the user was on, Entries field when they must pick from a broader list.

Cached pages

setRelations() runs when Twig renders the form. On statically cached pages, relations are fixed from the render that built the cache. Vary the cache by entry/product context, or avoid full-page caching on relation-heavy forms. See Cached Forms.

Related

• Relations
• Editing submissions on the front end
• Entries field