Custom Form Page Type

Custom Form Page Types allow you to create and collect custom forms like: event registrations, product registrations, surveys, sales and support inquiries, request forms, and many others.

Here are the Page Type Properties available to this Page Type:

Form Name:

The is the unique name of the Custom Form that is embedded in the Page.  It is used to identify the form's data captured and accessible in the [FORMS] area, and to connect the optional Custom Form Confirmation Page.

NOTE: The Form Name can be changed at any time as long as you have deleted all submitted form data associated with the Custom Form.

Enable Form:

Select this when you want the Custom Form to collect submitted data.  If this is not selected, the Custom Form and it's submit button will not appear within the Page.

Enable Quiz: Select this option if you want to add "Quiz Question" fields to the Custom Form.  

This option prevents the submitter from reaching the "Next Page" until they answer a certain percentage of the "Quiz Questions" correctly. This is useful for creating certification tests and displaying a certificate of completion ONLY if they obtain a passing percentage. If the submitter does not complete the correct percentage, they remain on the Custom Form page and a message is displayed. The Custom Form is submitted regardless of the percentage scored so that quiz administrators can audit the number of attempts and keep track of each score.
Quiz Pass Percentage: If Enable Quiz is selected, specify the percentage of correct answers required before the Submitter is allowed to continue to the Next Page.

Label Column Width:

This optional setting adjusts the horizontal width (in percent) of the label column within the Custom Form area of the Page.  Use this setting to improve your form's layout.

Enable Watcher Option:

This optional setting will allow Users to add themselves to the watch list for the Page where Visitors might comment on the Submitted Form. You should select the Form Item View Page where the Submitted Form will appear and where Comments and watching are enabled.

TIP: This feature is often used for a forum where the User who submits a thread might want to be notified about all replies to that thread.

Submit Button Label:

Enter the text you wish to display for the clickable Submit button.

E-mail Submitter:

The following fields direct the built-in auto-responder feature for the form's submitter.

Page:

This optional field allows you to select any Page to e-mail automatically to the Submitter when a form is successfully submitted.  In order to send the Page to the Submitter, a field on the form must be an  "E-Mail Address" field type, and be connected to the Contact.

NOTE: If a Form Item View Page is selected to be e-mailed, then the Form Item View Page will be sent with the submitted data from this Custom Form in it.

From E-mail Address:

Specify the e-mail address that the auto-responder should use when sending the Page (above).

Subject:

Specify the e-mail subject of the e-mailed Page (above) sent to the Submitter. You may include the name of a field (^^example^^) that is in this Custom Form in order to create a dynamic subject that contains submitted form data. Example: You received a message from ^^name^^.

You may use the following format to output different content depending on whether there is a value or not:

[[There is a value: ^^example^^|| There is not a value]]

E-mail Administrator:

The following fields direct the built-in notification feature for the form's administrators.

Page:

This optional field allows you to select any Page to e-mail automatically to the Form's Administrator when a form is successfully submitted.  This feature is used to send notifications to those coordinating activities around the form information.

NOTE: If a Form Item View Page is selected to be e-mailed, then the Form Item View Page will be sent with the submitted data from this Custom Form in it.

To E-mail Address:

This is the e-mail address of the person (or group) that you wish to send the Page (above) to when a form is successfully submitted.

TIP: You can specify multiple e-mail addresses if you separate each by a comma.

NOTE: If the Custom Form submitter selects a field option that is set to notify an administrator, then the e-mail will also be sent to that administrator.

BCC E-mail Address:

This is the e-mail address of the person (or group) that you wish to BCC the Page (above) to when a form is successfully submitted. 


TIP: You can specify multiple e-mail addresses if you separate each by a comma.

Subject:

Specify the e-mail subject of the e-mailed Page (above) sent to the Form Administrator. You may include the name of a field (^^example^^) that is in this Custom Form in order to create a dynamic subject that contains submitted form data. Example: You received a message from ^^name^^.

You may use the following format to output different content depending on whether there is a value or not:

[[There is a value: ^^example^^|| There is not a value]]

Add to Contact Group:

If there is a contact for the visitor that submits the custom form, then the contact will be added to this contact group.

Grant Membership Trial:

Select this option if you want to grant a membership trial to the User that submits the Custom Form. If a membership trial is granted to a User, then the Contact's Member ID is set to the Reference Code for the Submitted Form, the Contact's Expiration Date is set according to the Trial Length field below, and the Contact is added to the membership Contact Group, which is set in the settings.  A Visitor is required to login or register in order to submit a Custom Form that grants a membership trial.
 
A User is not allowed to submit a Custom Form that grants a membership trial if the User's Contact already has a Member ID.  This prevents Users, whose membership has expired (e.g. previous trial Members), from obtaining a new membership trial.

Trial Length:

Enter the number of days that each User should be granted membership access. If you want to grant a membership trial, then the value of this field must be greater than 0.

Set Member's Start Page to:

If you also want to update the Member's Start Page, so that the Member is forwarded to a specific Page when he/she logs in, then you should select a page for this field. You may leave this field blank. It is not required in order to grant a membership trial.

Next Page:

The Page that you want the system to go to when the Submit Button is clicked and the Custom Form is submitted successfully.  Typically, you may wish for the system to go to a Custom Form Confirmation Page Type, or any other Page on your site - depending on your needs.

NOTE: If a Form Item View Page is selected, then when the User submits the Custom Form they will be sent to the Form Item View Page with the data that the user submitted.

Work-flow features of Custom Forms

Custom Forms include built-in work-flow features, allowing you to create auto-responders easily, display confirmations for printing, and even send the form's confirmation to the Submitter and/or to other staff member to alert them each time a Custom Form is submitted.

Custom Forms work like all other Pages, which allow you to chain Custom Form Pages together or with other Page Types to easily create your own custom work flows.

1) Create or update the Submitter's User and Contact Information

When a Custom Form is submitted successfully, a new Contact is created and the Contact is added to the “Add to Contact Group” group if it is specified.  If a Contact is found for the Submitter (i.e. the Submitter has already logged in), then any Custom Form field that has the optional "Connect to Contact" field property selected will update the Contact's data automatically.

2) Send optional confirmation/information to Submitter

When a Custom Form is submitted successfully, the optional “E-mail Submitter" fields can be specified and the system will e-mail any Page specified each time the Custom Form is submitted successfully. If the Page is a Custom Form Confirmation Page Type, then the system will include the Submitters form data (from the current browser session) based on the Confirmation Pages’ associated "Custom Form" property.  If the Page is not a Custom Form Confirmation Type, then the system will simply send the Page without any form data. 

NOTE: This auto-responder feature requires that you create a field on the Custom Form with a Form Field Type of "E-mail Address" and that you also connect the field to the Contact.  Otherwise, the system will NOT send the Page.

3) Send optional confirmation/notification to Administrator(s)

When a Custom Form is submitted successfully, the optional “E-mail Administrator" fields can be specified and the system will e-mail any Page specified each time the Custom Form is submitted successfully. If the Page is a Custom Form Confirmation Page Type, then the system will include the Submitters form data based on the Confirmation Pages’ associated "Custom Form" property.  If the Page is not a Custom Form Confirmation Type, then the system will simply send the Page without any form data.

4) Go to another Page

When a Custom Form is submitted successfully and the "Next Page" property is specified, the Submitter will be redirected to the Next Page.

5) Make the "Next Page" conditional by selecting the Enable Quiz option.

This is useful for creating certification tests and displaying a certificate of completion ONLY if they obtain a passing percentage.  If the submitter does not complete the correct percentage, they remain on the Custom Form page and a message is displayed.  The Custom Form is submitted regardless of the percentage scored so that quiz administrators can audit the number of attempts and each score.

Custom Form Behaviors

Custom Forms are flexible, allowing you to create many form processes for your specific needs by linking them together with each other and with other Page Types to customize your site's work flow.

Custom Forms share data with Contacts, so that data collected can be pre-filled and used to populate Contact information and My Account information, and other Custom Forms.

Custom Forms are work flow-enabled, allowing you to e-mail confirmations, create auto-responders, and send alerts to the Submitter and to your staff whenever a particular Custom Form is submitted.

Each Custom Form can also have one or more Custom Form Confirmation Pages associated with them to display and/or e-mail a Custom Form’s data to the Submitter, and to notify your staff of the completed form.  This is ideal for displaying (and e-mailing) the Custom Form data collected to the Submitter, along with a unique confirmation number for future reference.

A Custom Form cannot be deleted if any of it's submitted data exists.  If no form data exists, then the Page is allowed to be deleted or the Page Type is allowed to be changed.

When a Page containing a Custom Form is “Duplicated”, the underlying Form Definition (fields and their values) is also duplicated into the new Page.  The duplicated Page and embedded Custom Form are not related to the original Page or Custom Form.  You can rename the Custom Form at any time, just like the duplicated Page.

If you need to temporarily or permanently disable a Custom Form from collecting new data, you can edit the Page containing the Custom Form and set it's Page Type Properties.

Files uploaded using Custom Forms will be deleted automatically when the Submitted Form is deleted.

Securing Custom Forms & Submitted Form Data Collected

Since Custom Forms are integrated into Pages, each Custom Forms is embedded into a Page and shares the Page's security. By simply moving the Page containing a Custom Form to a different Folder, you can control the access to submit, view, and edit Custom Forms and their associated data.

Any User that has "Edit" rights to a Folder that contains the Custom Form Page, can edit the Custom Form AND it's data.

Any Visitor or User with "View" rights to a Folder containing a Custom View Page Type, can view form data it displays REGARDLESS of their access rights to the Folder where the Custom Form Page resides.  Be sure that you limit the View Designer to include only data that you want to display to the Visitor or User.

Any User with "Edit" rights to a Folder containing a Custom View Page will also see an [Edit] button on the bottom of the page when viewing it. They can click on the edit button to edit the selected Forms Custom View Data Page Type.

Files uploaded using Custom Forms are assigned to specified Folders, thus all access rights to the Folder also apply to the uploaded files.

SPAM Protection

Spammers use unprotected web forms in an attempt to use another's website to post and broadcast their own advertising. To combat this malicious technique, if CAPTCHA is enabled in the Site Settings then all Custom Forms have a built-in CAPTCHA feature that is automatically enabled if a Custom Form is displayed to any site visitor that has is not logged into the website. The CAPTCHA asks a simple challenge question that the visitor must answer correctly in order to submit the Custom Form.

Disconnect from Contact Feature

There are times when your staff may need to submit a Custom Form on behalf of another person or User. When this occurs, any "Connect to Contact" fields in the Custom Form will overwrite the Submitter's Contact information. In this case, the "Connect to Contact" feature is undesirable. To disable this feature, a special value ("connect_to_contact=false") can be added to any Custom Form Page link to disable this feature for any Submitted Form:

Example: "/pages/custom_form_page?connect_to_contact=false"

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