Multi Forms - Is it possible.

Hi there,

I need to break a large feedback form in pdf down to an online verion. There are 30 question. I would like to have 6 forms created with five questions on each ... i.e the user only sees 5 questions at a time so they don't get turned off by seeing 30 questions at once.

As the user goes through the forms, the values are stored somewhere and then all the answers are emailed when the final form is submitted

Are there any examples of how this can be done?

Cheers
Chumby.

Hi Chumby,

Yes there are a several examples in the forums here if you search on 'multi' you should find some.

If you are comfortable with PHP then it's fairly easy to do this in a single form looping through several times.

Max is also working on a multi-page capability for ChronoForms - I'm not sure if it will be in the next release though.

Bob

Hi Bob -sorry to be a pain. Been searching for a while, just cant seem to come across anything...

Is there a FAQ somewhere on how to do this?

Cheers
Chumby

Hi Chumby,

If you can hang on a little longer Max has a plugin to do this in the next release, he's finalising it now.

Bob

Thanks Bob.... are we talking days or weeks here?

Kinda urgent with a client but I may be able to stall him..

Cheers
Chumby.

Hi Chumby,

Days, hopefully one or two. I was working yesterday making some changes to a couple of plugins that I coded. Max is on the final tweaks and testing phase.

I have a test version of the multi-page plugin here but haven't had a chance to try it out properly yet.

Bob

That is great Bob.

Can you post a reminder here when it is up?

Cheers
Chumby

Hi Chumby, Its out!

Cheers,
Max

Sorry for the dumb question, but where do I find the multi page extension?

Thanks,
db

Hi db,

It's a plugin packaged with RC 5.0

To use the plugins select your form in the Forms Manager using the checkbox, then click the plugin name in the column at the left to configure the plugin. To enable the plugin open your form and check the corresponding box on the plugins tab.

Bob

I have two partial forms, StudentData, FamilyData I checked the multipage plugin on the StudentData form (first one), Selected the StudentData form and set 2 steps with the names of each of these two forms with a yes for navigation.

Get a Error 500 Internal server error.

I'm sure it is something I am doing.

Maybe just a quick step instruction for 2 simple forms and I could get it from there.


Thanks for your patience.

Hi drbarnet,

You need a mother form for the multi forms, create a new form called whatever and configure it with the multi page plugin to hold your 2 forms, don't forget to disable the multi page plugin with your 2 forms now or this may make troubles!

Let us know!

Cheers
Max

Hello,

first of all, thanks for your precious advices and for releasing such a great extension.

I still have a last issue with the multi-page plugin: I can't get to display the navigation steps on my form.
Here's what I did:
I created a mother form named holder and two child forms form_A & form_B
I selected the holder form and clicked on the multi page plugin, where I entered the following data:
Steps: 2
forms: form_A,form_B
navigation: yes
I did enable the multi page plugin on the holder form, and entered 2 in the text box next to it.
I did not enable the plugin on the children forms.

The first form is correctly loaded but no button appears for going to the second step.
Is there a string to add in the holder form?
Do I have to link my children forms to the database ?

Thank you !

Hi misterploploop,

Put a normal submit button on your forms and that will take you to the next page. You might want to re-name it to 'Next Step'.

You can navigate between steps by using links with the attribute &ccformstep=[step_no] e.g. &ccformstep=2 to move to step 2 provided that you have navigation turned on in the plugin configuration.

I don't know if you need to add your children forms to the database but I haven't tested that. My guess is yes, but a simple experiment will quickly tell you.

Bob

Hi, thank you for your response.

I put a submit button on the first child form (step 1) but when I click it, the second step won't display: It's like the form gets submitted but it actually doesn't: no record in the database.

I also tried to add a link on the first step form, like this: <a href="index.php?option=com_chronocontact&Itemid=217&lang=fr&ccformstep=2">next</a> but when I click it, nothing happens. I enabled the navigation steps option though.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? Do I have to enable something else, somewhere else ?

Thanks again🙂

Hi misterploploop,

There's nothing else to enable that I know of. Please use a full url in the link not the menu url with ItemId in it. I'm not sure where that will redirect to.

I'll try some more experiments as soon as I have time.

Bob

Hi,

I tried to run the plugin on another install of joomla, the next step parameter "&ccformstep=2" works fine.

I think something got wrong because of another component, or because of multi-language support… I'll figure it out.

thanks again ;-)

Hi misterploploop,

Excellent, great to know that it's working OK.

Bob

Hi misterploploop,

If you found any problems then please let us know so we can fix it!🙂

Regards
Max

Thanks for this Max,

Getting back to this in the next couple of days.

Is it all working well?

Cheers
Chumby

Hi Chumby,

Let me know after testing, the current multi form plugin has a bug that it doesn't forward all forms data to the last step, but this is easy to fix through a patch you can get from me!

Regards,
Max

HI Max,

Can you send through that patch... working on the multi-form at the moment.

Just to get it clear...

Once I have created the mother form... I just create the daughter forms as per a normal form. How do I send off an email at the end with all the data on it?

I presume there is some kind of session variable happening? How long have people to fill out all the forms before some of the anwsersw are forgotten?

Cheers
Martin.

Any updates here Bob / Max?

Cheers
Chumby

Box/Max - don't want to but I'll have to give this idea the flick if I cant get a response...

Is the multiform plugin fully functional now... if not can you send me the patch that you discussed?

Cheers
Chumby

Hi chumby,

I really don't know - Max is out of town and mostly off-line this week.

I'll run a check in a few minutes and post again.

Bob

Hi chumby,

I believe it's working OK. Please check with a simple test form.

If you have any problems let me know and I'll send you an updated beta version that I have just tested.

To save the data I had to create a table adding fields manually from each of the steps, then the data from all the steps was saved on the final step.

Bob

HI Bob,

Thanks for the reply.

Can you please just go through the setup process for me? I have set up the "mother" and "child" forms as explained here, but from there...????

Not 100% sure what you mean in your post, regarding adding a table. ...

Cheers
Chumby

Hi Chumby,

setup on mother form and 2 other forms, configure the mother form ONLY for the multi page plugin and enable it!

Cheers
Max

Hi Chumby,

Once you have the 'mother' and 'child' forms set up go to the mother form link and you should see the content of the first 'child' displayed.

To save the data you need to have a table set up with columns to match the fields from all of the steps, at the moment you have to do this by hand. You can use the 'Create Table' icon in the 'mother' form, then use the 'Add new field' button to add all of the fields. Lastly set up the DB Connection on the 'mother' form.

Bob

Hi Bob,

Not having much luck here... the part below is not displaying as it should...

"Once you have the 'mother' and 'child' forms set up go to the mother form link and you should see the content of the first 'child' displayed."

Any ideas? I have followed the instructions OK ... I think.

Also, I dont need to save my data.... just need to email all the reponses at the end off..

Really appreciate the help.

Cheers
Chumby

Hi chumby,

I've just been digging into the Multi-Form plugin and wrote this post a few minutes ago.

I can't tell what's happening with your form from the info here; if you want to PM or email me a SuperAdmin login then I'll take a look.

Bob

Bob / Max,

Stil not working. Have updated everything but am getting SQL errors when I try to set up an email form in the mother form.

Bob - have sent you an email about this.

Any ideas?

Cheers
Chuby

Hi Chuby,

Bob is out of town, did you follow Bob's post about multi page forms under the Chronoforms plugins forum ?

Max

Hi Max,

Yea...did that.

When I select the email form results option on the mother form ... then hit save form... I get a bunch of sql errors.

Have updated and verified the install all ok.

Any ideas?

Cheers
Chumby

Hi Chumby,

What are the errors you get ? try to open the Update SQL option under Chronoforms menu!

Max

Thanks Max ... did that and it there are no errors now. Great!

Will let you kno how I go setting up and sending off the email now...

Cheers
Chumby