Embedded Requesting Walkthrough

Embedded Requesting allows you to have users create and send signature requests on your site in an iFrame using hellosign-embedded, Dropbox Sign's official client-side library. The documentation below describes requirements and setup steps for the embedded requesting flow.

Preliminary

Please complete the steps below before following along with the content.

1. Create an API app (login required)

2. Save your API app's Client ID and API Key, which you'll need to use this feature.

Try Dropbox Sign Embedded

To get a feel for how our Dropbox Sign Embedded library works, you can use our Embedded Testing Tool to quickly test any of our Embedded flows without having to write a single line of JavaScript.

Server Side

The very first step is to create a "draft" signature request from the backend using our API. You must decide what you want to happen after the signature request is sent by your user. By default, Dropbox Sign will send an email to the signers and ask them to come to hellosign.com to sign and complete the document(s):

In the aforementioned scenario, you will need to retrieve the signature url after the request has been sent using /embedded/sign_url. See the embedded signing walkthrough to learn how to construct the embedded signing page from that point on.

Client Side

We provide a client-side library that handles the authorization and display of the embedded request using an iFrame. You can use this feature by adding a few lines of JavaScript code.

npm install hellosign-embedded

If you are not using a modern module bunder like npm, our library can be downloaded manually, compiled from source, or imported from our CDN.

import HelloSign from 'hellosign-embedded';

const client = new HelloSign();

client.open(claimUrl, {
  clientId: 'Your API client ID',
  skipDomainVerification: true,
});

{
  requestingEmail: alice@example.com
}

{
  locale: HelloSign.locales.ZH_CN
}

{
  redirectTo: 'http://example.com'
}

{
  allowCancel: false
}

{
  debug: true
}

{
  skipDomainVerification: true
}

{
  timeout: 10000
}

{
  container: document.getElementById('sign-here')
}

Additional Notes

App Approval

In order to ensure that integrations adhere to eSignature regulations and best practices, an app approval is needed prior to moving into production for all customers implementing embedded signing, embedded requesting, embedded templates, and OAuth workflows.

Please refer to the App Approval Section for more detailed information about getting your app approved.

Domain Restriction

When the iFrame is loaded, it will verify the domain of the parent window and ensure it matches the domain name of the API app specified by the client ID. If the domain does not match, the page won't be loaded.

You can disable domain restriction for easier development:

client.open(signUrl, {
  // ...
  skipDomainVerification: true
});

HTTPS Required

The host page must be served over HTTPS. The iFrame is also loaded over HTTPS, and due to browser security restrictions it will not be able to communicate with the parent window if it is not HTTPS. This communication is required to enable features such as iFrame callbacks and closing the iFrame.

To make development easier, the page will still load if the parent window is served over HTTP, however an alert will be displayed to notify you of this requirement. Switch to HTTPS to prevent this alert from being displayed.

Redirection

Text Tags

The embedded functionality can be used in conjunction with Dropbox Sign Text Tags.

Client Side Events

client.on('sign', (data) => {
  console.log('The document has been signed!');
  console.log('Signature ID: ' + data.signatureId);
});

Here are a list of possible events:

{
 signatureRequestId,
 signatureRequestInfo {
   title,
   message,
   signatures,
   ccEmailAddresses
 }
}

{
 url,
 iFrameUrl
}

{
 type,
 payload
}

{
 signatureId,
 code
}