Forums

I have set up a multipage form in CFV5, and encounter the same diffictulties as described in this post here but with V5, not V4, so I create a new post. Also, I am interested in best practice for CFV6, as I can't seem to migrate my form in one piece.
​
The users have to fill a 6 page Form with the aim of creating a downloadable PDF at the end. For the PDF creation I use an external library, but this should not be of any interest I think. Session lifetime in Joomla is set to 15 minutes, and most people seem to end up with lost data on the first few pages, because they wait longer than that to continue, having to go and collect information in order to complete the form. I added a manual keepalive by adding this code to each page:

JHtml::_('behavior.keepalive')

When I test, I get all the data at the end, even if I wait way longer than 15 minutes. Also, in the HTML Source code of the page I actually see the keep alive token being added in the header. Yet I just got notified of a form procedure ending up with no data apart from the last page, so it looks like there still is an issue.
Here I'd appreciate some support.
​
​
And then I have a more "philosophic" question to the whole community:
I am thinking of rebuilding the form in CF V6 if I have major changes in its structure, but I am not sure if I will go on with the multipage idea. If so, I'd probably opt for database update rather than session, so with a token, people could even come back after closing the browser / shutting down their computer. If not, maybe an accordion or tabs will be a better solution as people will be able to click through it and be able to prepare them selves in advance. What are your thoughts/experiences about this?

Move to v6, don't waste any more time trying to make your v5 form work.
​
As to a database token, it would depend on just how complex your form is as to whether or not the effort of doing that is actually worth it.

It's a 7 page form, so it is on the more complex side (also takes time to load the chronoforms interface which is keeping me back a bit with testing. Are there any advantages regarding multipage forms in v6? Would I proceed in the same way by using the keepalive command?
​
I saw there are also the options of using the request data. I can imagine as there is no expiry for request data, this could make the system more stable?
As for the database token: this is an additional feature the client has to decide upon. If I can't get it to work properly I'd tend to a one page form with accordion / tabs instead, where the user has the freedom to switch and get an overview the way he wishes.

You can build your form in the new 6.1, the keepalive is auto enabled, no need for multi page actions and the whole data is saved into a "datalog" table after the form is finished, you may also save to a custom table using the "Save data".
​
Best regards