Hi, I have a multipage (7 steps) form. My client sometimes receives an e-mail with some fields filled in, but some with the field names in curly brackets. When I test it everything works fine.
What could be happening? What can I doe to avoid this?
Do I need session tot data or data to session events in a multipage setup?
Is there a way to create some kind off fallback, like saving every form-page to the database and at the end send all values by e-mail?
Hi Bob,
Thanks for your reply. I use the multipage action on every step. See attached png file. If I understand you correctly I could use on of these three options:
- save the form data after each page (what action?)
- Use use the Multi-page ( This is what I use now)
- 'Data to Session' and 'Session to Data' actions. (Same as 1?)
So I do not need tot use the Multi-page action If I use one of the other options?
Hi jj135 ,
It depends on how you want the form to behave.
If you want to save the data then you need to add DB Save actions at the appropriate points. I'd probably create separate submit events but it might still work if you add the DB Save to the next Load event.
The Multi-page action passes data from one form page to the next. Id you need to access the data - for example to change which form options are shown then you still need this. You will at the very least need to pass the record id form one page to the next to make sure that the same record is updated at each step.
The Multi-page action is a 'wrapper' for the 'Data to Session' and 'Session to Data' actions; you don't need both. Sometimes the separate actions give you better control.
Bob
Hi Bob,
Thanks for your explanation.
Could you tell me what happens when a user takes quit some time to fill out one page of the form? Is it possible to lose some of the session data? I've had some filled out forms where only the last pages are showing data an the first pages are showing the placeholder fields. Could this be caused by spending to much time filling out a form? If so, is there any way to prevent this? Is it possible to extend this session time? Does this have anything to do with the session time in the Joomla! settings?
Jip.
Hi jj135,
It's quite possible to lose data if the session expires. The default Joomla! session is only 15 minutes - so an interruption can end the session.
You can extend the session in the Site Global Configuration; there's a Keep_alive option in ChronoForms Show HTML action that will extend the session as long as the form is open.
And you can save the data after each page and make sure that it is re-loaded if the user comes back later. To do this you need some kind of user identifier: a cookie, a logged in user, an email address - each of these can be used depending on the form and the circumstances.
Bob
