V08 Joomla RSFormsBuilder Manual

8/3/2019 V08 Joomla RSFormsBuilder Manual

1/21

JOOMLA RS FORMS BUILDER TOOL

TRAINING MANUAL


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ContentManagementSystemTrainingRSFormsBuilderTool

Page2of21Confidential - Not for Resale and Not for Distribution

RS Forms Builder Tool

TableofContents

1

Overview..........................................................................................................................

2

2 ManageForms.................................................................................................................. 3

2.1 NewForm/Edit............................................................................................................................. 43 ManageSubmissions...................................................................................................... 17

4 Configuration.................................................................................................................. 18

4.1 Settings...................................................................................................................................... 184.2

GoogleAnalytics........................................................................................................................ 19

4.3 PayPal........................................................................................................................................ 194.4 ReCaptcha.................................................................................................................................. 20

5 Backup/Restore.............................................................................................................. 20

6 CreditsandContactInformation..................................................................................... 21

1 OverviewRSFormsisasimpleformbuildertoolthatwillallowyoutoquicklyandeasilycreateforms,receiveresponsesfromyour

websiteandstoretheresponsesinadatabasetoberetrievedbyotherapplicationslater.

LogintoyourCMSAdminareaandthenclickonComponentsfromthetopmainmenu,andthenselectRSforms!Pro.

MenuNavigation:Components>RSforms!Pro


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Figure1

TheRSforms!maindashboardpagedisplaysandyouwillbeabletomanageyourforms,formsubmission,

configurations,plug

ins

and

backup

forms.

Figure2

2 ManageFormsMenuNavigation:Components>RSforms!Pro>ManageForms

WhenyouclickonFormsManagerorManageForms,asummaryofallofyourformsthathavebeencreatedwill

display.


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Figure3

Inthetopmenuoptionsyouhave:

New.Thiswillcreateanewform. Copy.Thiswillcopytheselectedform. Delete.Thiswilldeletetheselectedforms. Publish.Thiswillpublishtheselectedforms.

Unpublish.

This

will

unpublish

selected

forms.

Support.ThiswilltakeyoutotheRSforms!Supportpage RSForms!Pro. ThiswilltakeyoutotheRSForms!Propage.

Belowthetopmenu,atableisshownwithinformationabouttheformscreatedinthesystem.

Checkbox.SelectingthecheckboxwillallowyoutoupdatemultipleformsatthesametimeusingthetopmenuoptionsDelete,Publish,Unpublish.

FormTitle.Thisistheoptionaltitlefortheform.ThisisenteredontheEditFormscreenwhenyouarecreatinganewformoreditingaform.Clickingthetitlewillbringyouintotheeditscreenoftheform.

FormName.Thisisthenameoftheform.ThisisenteredontheEditFormscreenwhenyouarecreatinganewform

or

editing

aform.

Published.Thisshowsthestateoftheformpublishedorunpublished. Submissions.ThisshowshowmanysubmissionshavebeenmadetotheformbasedonToday,Thismonthand

All(Total).

AddToMenu.ThiswillallowyoutoaddtheformdirectlytoaJoomlaMenuoption. Preview.ClickingthePreviewwillbringupapreviewofhowtheformwilllook. FormID.ThisistheIdentifierfortheform.ThisisusedfortrackinginJoomla.Aspecialpluginallowsyoualsoto

embedtheformintoarticlesusingthisID.

2.1 NewForm/EditToopentheNeworEditformpage,clickontheNewButtonoronthenameoftheformitself.Itwillthenbringyouinto

amultitabbededitorfortheform. Thefollowingsectionsinthismanualdescribeaddingandeditingoptionsinmore

detail.

2.1.1 ComponentsComponentsisthefirsttabandthedefaultwhenyoufirstentertheformeditmode.


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Figure4

TherearetwosectionstothispagetheFormComponentsandtheFormView.BelowyouwillseetheForm

ComponentsavailableinRSforms!.Note: Thesehavebeenplacedintotwocolumnsforeasierviewinginthisdocument.

Onthe

web

site,

this

is

only

asingle

column.

FORMCOMPONENTS

Figure5

(Imagemodifiedtofitbetteronpage) Textbox.Thisisasimplesinglelinetextboxthatcanbefilledin. Textarea.Thisisamultilinetextboxthatcanbefilledout.Thisallowsforgreaterinformationtobeplacedinit. Dropdown.Thisisaselectbox(dropdownbox).Youcansetmultipleoptionstoselectfrom,aswellassetwhich

itemisselected.

CheckboxGroup.Thiswillcreateagroupofcheckboxesthattheuserwillbeabletoselectandunselectfrom.Thiswillallowformultipleselects.

RadioGroup.Thiswillcreateagroupofradiobuttonoptions.Onlyasingleoptionwillbeabletobeselectedfromthis.

SubmitButton.Thiswillcreateasubmitbuttonthatwillcausetheformtosubmit. Password.Thisisatextboxthathidesthevaluebeingtypedinfromplaintext. Fileupload.ThiswillcreatetheFileUploadoptionsothatpeoplewillbeabletouploadfilestotheserver.Make

suretohaveadirectorythatwillallowforuploadingfilestoavailable.

FreeText.Thisisatextareathatwillallowyoutocreatetextontheform.Thesecanincludedescriptionsandinstructions.

Calendar.Thiswillcreateatextboxwithacalendarthatwillpopupwhenclickedin.


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Button.Thiswillcreateagenericbutton.Itwillnothaveanyspecialattributesassociatedwithitunlessyouaddthem.

ImageButton.Thiswillcreateabuttonbasedonanimageyousupplytoit. CaptchaAntispam.Thiswillcreateacaptchaobject.Thiswillusethebuiltinversionofthis.ReCaptchafrom

Googleisthealternateforthis.

HiddenField.Thiswillcreateahiddenfieldthatcanbeusedwithintheform. SupportTicket.Thiswillcreateahiddenfieldwithpresetvalues PayPalSingleProduct.Thisisanadditionalpluginthatisinstalled.Thiswillallowforasingleproducttobe

purchasedusingPayPal.TheformwillneedtobeconfiguredtohandlePayPaltransactions.Thiswillalsorequire

aPayPalTotal.

PayPalMultipleProducts.Thisisanadditionalpluginthatisinstalled.ThiswillallowformultipleproductstobepurchasedusingPayPal.TheformwillneedtobeconfiguredtohandlePayPaltransactions.Thiswillalsorequire

aPayPalTotal.

PayPalTotal.ThisisthetotalamountthatwillbesenttoPayPalifPayPalisconfiguredforthisitem. reCaptcha.ThisisGooglesreCaptchatool.Anauthorizationcodewillbeneededforthis.Thiswillvalidateto

makesure

the

person

entering

the

information

is

human.

Belowyouwillseethestandardoptionsthateachofcomponentsshare.EachofthesecomponentscanexecutePHP

codethatisescapedvia//phpcode//.ThisdocumentationdoesnotcoverPHPcoding.ContacttheStrudellStudios/

CourtlandConsultingwebdevelopmentsupportteamat(517)9083950.

Figure6

(Imagemodifiedtofitbetteronpage)


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Name.Thisisthenameofthecomponent.Thisishowitisreferencedinscriptswithinthisform.Itisrecommendedthatthisfieldcontainnospacesorspecialcharacters.

Caption.Thisistheinformationthatisdisplayednexttothefield.Thisiswhattheuserswillsee.Spacing,specialcharactersandsoforthareacceptablehere.

Save.Youcansavetheinformationatthispointwithoutaddingadditionalinformation.Additionalinformationisrecommended

however.

Required.Thissetswhetherthecomponentisrequiredornot.Ifrequired,thenonsubmit,itwillchecktomakesurethevaluesaresetandgiveanerrormessageifitisnotvalid.

Size.Thisisthesizefordisplayingtheelement.ThiscanbedifferentthattheMaxSize. MaxSize.Thisisthemaximumsize(numberofcharacters)thatthisfieldisallowedtoreceive.Ifthisisvalueis

goingintoadatabase,itisrecommendedtosetthistothefieldsizeofthecolumnthisvaluewillbeaddedto.

ValidationRule.Thisistherulethatwillbeusedwhenvalidationofthecomponentisused.Possibleoptionsinclude:

o None.Novalidationruleisapplied.o Email.Checkstomakesurethevalueisinstandardemailformat.o Numeric.Checkstomakesuretheenteredvaluecontainsonlynumbers.o Alphanumeric.Checksiftheenteredvaluecontainsonlylettersandnumbers.o Alpha.Checkstheenteredvaluetomakesureitcontainsonlyletters.o Custom.Canbeusedincombinationwithothervalidationrulesandwillextendthevalidationwiththe

specifiedcharacters.

ValidationMessage.Wheneverthevalidationruleisnotmet,thismessagewillshowupinthefrontendpartoftheform.

AdditionalAttributes.Usingthisproperty,youcansetcustomattributesinsidetheHTMLtag.ThemostcommonuseofthispropertyisaddingcustomCSSstylingorfurtherJavaScriptprocessing.

DefaultValue.Thisisthedefaultvalueforthiselement. Description.Thedescriptionofthetextfield.Thiswillbedisplayedinthefrontend,asatextualhelpforthe

user.UsethiswhentheCaptionofthecomponentisnotselfexplanatory.

Save.Savethecurrentinformationonthiscomponent.FORMVIEW

ThesecondhalfoftheComponentspagecontainsalloftheformelementsthatyouhaveentered oredited.Theform

elementsdisplayinaWYSIWYGstyleontherighthandsideofthepage.Thismeansthatthedropdownboxeswilllook

andactlikedropdownboxes,andthetextareaswillbemultilined.


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Figure7

Checkbox.Inselectingthecheckbox,youallowthisitem(andothersthatareselected)tobequicklyDeleted,PublishedandUnpublished.

Name.Thisisthenameofthecomponent. Caption.Thisisthecaption(orlabel)thattheuserwillseeonthefrontend. ComponentPreview.Thisisapreviewofhowthecomponentwilllookonceitispublished. Edit.Thiswillallowyoutoeditthecomponent.WhenyouclickonEdit,theelementwillopenupontheleft

handsideofthescreenundertheelementtypethatitcurrentlyisselectedas.

Remove.Thiswilldeletethecomponent. Ordering.Thisistheorderthattheelementswillshowupas.Ifyourenumberthese,makesuretohittheSave

iconnexttoOrdering.Thiswillsavethenewordering.

UpandDownArrows.Theupanddownarrowswillallowyoutomove(andsave)theelementonespotatatime.

Publish.Ifthisisselected,thenthecomponentwillbevisibleonthefrontend.IMPORTANT:Onceyouhaveworkedonthecomponents,makesuretoApplyorSavethechangesthatyouhavemade.

Thiswillsavetheworkthatyouhavedoneonthesecomponents.


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2.1.2 FormLayoutTheFormLayoutcontrolshowtheformwilllookonthefrontend.Youhaveachoiceofafewdifferentstylesthatwill

automaticallyupdatewheneveryouupdatethecomponents,oryoucancustomizethelayout.

Figure8

Youhavetheoptionofsixdifferentstyles.TheclassicstylesusetableswhiletheXHTMLstylesuseDivsforthelayingout

oftheformelements.Additionally,ifyouuncheckAutoGenerateLayoutthiswillallowyoutocustomizetheform

(addingJavaScriptandothercode)totheform.Rememberthatiftheformisnotautogenerating,youwillneedtomake

suretoupdatetheformwithneworremovedelements.

Figure9

2.1.3 EditFormEditFormwillallowyoutoeditthebasicinformationabouttheform,aswellastherequiredmessaging.

Figure10


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TheEditFormhastwosectionstothepagetheEditFormPropertiesandtheQuickAdd.TheQuickAddhasalistofall

oftheelementswithintheform.Thecaptionisthenameofthecomponentandthevalueisthevaluethatthe

componentreceivedfromtheuser.

Figure11

FormTitle.Thisisthetitleoftheformthatwillshowuponthepagethattheformisdisplayedupon. FormName.Thisisthenameoftheform.ThisisusedforidentificationinJavaScriptaswellasintheform

managementarea.

ReturnURL.ThisisthereturnURLaftertheformiscompleted.Iftheformneedstogotoanotherlocationratherthantheendconclusionofthedefaultworkflow,youcansettheReturnURLtothenewlocation.

EdittheThankYouMessage.ThisistheThankyoumessagethatappearsaftertheuserhasfilledouttheform.ThisiseditedinaWYSIWYGpopupeditor(seebelow).

ErrorMessage.Thisistheerrormessagetheuserwillreceiveonanunsuccessfulattempttosubmittheform.


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Figure12

TheWYSIWYGeditorallowsyoutocustomizeboththeerrormessageandthethankyoumessagefortheenduser.You

cansaveyourwork,Saveandclosethepopupwindow,orjustclosewithoutsaving.

2.1.4 UserEmailsWhentheendusercompletestheform,anoptionalemailcanbesenttothem.Thisscreenhandlestheconfigurationof

theemailmessage.

Figure13

BelowisascreenshotoftheUserEmails.Thefollowingfieldsareforediting:

From.Thisistheemailaddressthatthesender. FromName.Thisisthenameofthepersonthatissendingtheemailmessage. Replyto.Thisistheemailaddressthatreplieswillbesentto. To.Thisiswhothemessagewillbesentto.ThiswilltakevaluesfromtheQuickAddsothatitcanbesenttothe

userthat

filled

out

the

form.

Multiple

email

addresses

are

separated

by

commas.

CC.ThisiswhereCarbonCopiedemailaddressesareadded.ThiswilltakevaluesfromtheQuickAddsothatitcanbesenttotheuserthatfilledouttheform.Multipleemailaddressesareseparatedbycommas.

BCC.ThisiswheretheBlindCarbonCopiedemailaddressesareadded.ThiswilltakevaluesfromtheQuickAddsothatitcanbesenttotheuserthatfilledouttheform.Multipleemailaddressesareseparatedbycommas.

Subject.Thisisthesubjectoftheemailmessage.


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Mode.ThisisthemethodthattheemailwillbesentPlaintextorHTMLformatted. AttachFile.Selectthisifyouwouldliketoattachafiletotheresponse. Locationoffiletoattach.Thisistheabsolutepathofthefilethatistobeattachedtotheemailresponse. Message.Thisisthemessagethatwillbesenttotheuser.ClickingEdittheEmailtextwillproduceaWYSIWYG

editor.

Figure14

Theeditor(picturedbelow)willallowyoutoconstructtheresponsethatwillbesenttotheenduser.Youwillbeableto

usealloftheelementsfromtheQuickAddpanelinthiseditor.


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Figure15

2.1.5 AdminEmailsWhentheendusercompletestheform,anoptionalemailcanbesenttotheadministrator.Thisscreenhandlesthe

configurationoftheemailmessage.

Figure16

BelowisascreenshotoftheUserEmails.Thefollowingfieldsareforediting:

From.Thisistheemailaddressthatthesender. FromName.Thisisthenameofthepersonthatissendingtheemailmessage. Replyto.Thisistheemailaddressthatreplieswillbesentto. To.Thisiswhothemessagewillbesentto.ThiswilltakevaluesfromtheQuickAddsothatitcanbesenttothe

userthatfilledouttheform.Multipleemailaddressesareseparatedbycommas.

CC.ThisiswhereCarbonCopiedemailaddressesareadded.ThiswilltakevaluesfromtheQuickAddsothatitcanbesenttotheuserthatfilledouttheform.Multipleemailaddressesareseparatedbycommas.

BCC.ThisiswheretheBlindCarbonCopiedemailaddressesareadded.ThiswilltakevaluesfromtheQuickAddsothatitcanbesenttotheuserthatfilledouttheform.Multipleemailaddressesareseparatedbycommas.

Subject.Thisisthesubjectoftheemailmessage. Mode.ThisisthemethodthattheemailwillbesentPlaintextorHTMLformatted. Message.Thisisthemessagethatwillbesenttotheuser.ClickingEdittheEmailtextwillproduceaWYSIWYG

editor.


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Figure17

Theeditor(picturedbelow)willallowyoutoconstructtheresponsethatwillbesenttotheenduser.Youwillbeableto

usealloftheelementsfromtheQuickAddpanelinthiseditor.

Figure18

2.1.6 ScriptsThe

Scripts

tab

will

allow

you

to

run

PHP

scripts

at

various

times

during

the

loading,

processing

and

post

processing

of

theform.ThescriptsrequireknowledgeofPHPprogrammingtobeeffectiveanduseful.


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Figure19

Figure20

Figure21

Figure22

2.1.7 MetaTagsThe

Meta

Tags

tab

will

allow

you

to

place

Meta

Data

in

the

head

of

each

form.

This

is

used

in

Search

Engine

Optimization.AttheveryleasttheMetaDescriptionshouldbeincludedforeachformsothatitwillshowupinsearch

results.


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Figure23

Figure24

2.1.8 MappingsMappingsareaspecialpluginthatisoptionallyinstalled.Thiswillallowforthemappingofformelementstoadatabase

tablewiththeirrespectivecolumns.

Figure25

AdatabasetablewillneedtohavebeencreatedpriortoattemptingtousetheMappingsplugin.Thetablewillneedto

belocatedwithintheJoomlaDatabaseinstallation.Itisrecommendedthatyouprefixallofyourformtableswith

somethingsimilartors_.


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Figure26

Toconnectaformtoadatabase,selecttheappropriateComponentNamefromthedropdownlist.Next,selectwhich

tabletomapittounderTabletomap.ThiswillloadinthecolumnnamesfortheColumnfromtabletomap.Onceyou

selectthecolumnclickAddmapping.Thenewmappingshouldappearontherighthandsidewiththeothermappings.

Mappingscannotbeupdated,buttheycanbedeleted.Onceamappingisdeleted,itisgone.

Uponsubmission,theformwillfillinthenewdatabaserecordwiththevaluessuppliedfromtheform.

3

ManageSubmissions

ManageSubmissionswilldisplayareportofthesubmissionsthathavecomeintothesystem. Youhavetheoptionto

exportthesubmissionsintoaCSV(commaseparatedvalue)file.Additionallyyouareabletodeleteindividualentries

thathavecomein.

Figure27

Additionally,youareabletofilteryoursubmissionsbasedonform,andkeywords.

Figure28


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Thesubmissionswillshowintabularformthevaluesofeachfieldfortheform.TheonlyfieldthatisstaticistheDate

Submitted.Therestofthefieldsaregeneratedbythecomponentsyouaddintotheform.

Figure29

Thearrowsnexttothetableheadingswillallowyoutosortthesubmissionsbythecolumn(ascendingordescending).

4 ConfigurationThe

Configuration

section

allows

you

to

set

up

the

configuration

information

for

RSforms!

and

for

any

plug

ins

that

are

usedwithinthesystem.PleasenotethatGoogleAnalytics,PayPal,andReCaptchaareallpluginsthathavebeen

installedseparately.

4.1 Settings

Figure30

Figure31


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Code.ThisisthecodetoreceiveupdatesfromRSForms!aboutupdatestothesystem. DebugMode.ThiswillenabletheDebugmode.Thiswillproducelotsofextracodeoutputtohelpdebugissues

withthesystemandforms.

IISCompatibilityMode.ThisistoallowsubmissionfromaWindowsserverthatisusingIIS WYSIWYGEditorCompatibilityMode.ThisresolvessomeoftheissuesthatarecommonsettingswithinJoomla

thatcan

cause

issues

with

your

form.

4.2 GoogleAnalyticsGoogleAnalyticscanbeusedtotrackhowfarpeoplegetthroughyourforms.EnteringinyourGoogleAnalyticscodewil

allowyoutouseGoogleAnalyticsforyourforms. Thisisanoptionalplugin.

Figure32

Figure33

4.3 PayPalThisPluginwillallowyoutointegratePayPalintoyourformsforquicksetupofsingleandmultipleitemsales.

Figure34

Figure35


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PayPalEmailAccount.ThisistheemailaccountthatisassociatedwiththePayPalaccountreceivingthepayment.

ReturnURL.ThisisthereturnURLafteratransactionhasbeenmade. LiveMode.IsthisinProduction(Yes)orDevelopment(No). Currency.Thisisthecurrencystandard.USDshouldbeplacedinthisfield. ThousandsSeparator.Whatcharacterisusedasaseparatorforthethousandsplace DecimalSeparator.Whatcharacterisusedasaseparatorforthedecimalportionofthemoney. Numberofdecimals.Thisisthenumberofdecimalplacesforthecents.

4.4 ReCaptchaReCaptchaisanoptionalpluginforRSFroms!thatusesGooglesReCaptchaAPI.YouwillneedtohaveaGoogleaccount

inordertousethistool.

Figure36

Figure37

InGoogle,youwillneedtocreateanewinstanceofReCaptchathatwillprovideyouaPublicandPrivatekey.Youwill

copyandpastethosekeysintothePublicKeyandPrivateKeyfieldsunderReCaptcha.Nextyouwillchooseatheme

Red,White,CleanorBlackglass.ThemostcompatibleoftheseistheCleantheme.

5 Backup/RestoreInadditiontobeingabletocreatetheseforms,youareabletobackupandrestoreformstouseonotherinstallationsof

Joomla.


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Page21of21

Figure38

UnderBackupyouwillselecttheformsyouwanttobackup,selectifyouwanttobackuptheformsonlyortheforms

andsubmissions,andthenclickGenerateabackupfile.Thiswillcreateafilefordownloadforyou.

UnderRestoreyouwillbeabletobrowseforaformbackupfileandrestorethatform.

6 CreditsandContactInformationThistrainingmanualhasbeendevelopedanddeliveredbyStrudellStudios,theCreativeDivisionofCourtland

Consulting.Some

of

the

content

for

this

manual

is

based

upon

and/or

taken

verbatim

from

http://www.joomla.com

20072010,allrightsreserved.Forupdatesorquestionsregardingthismanual,contacttheStrudellStudios/Courtland

Consultingsupportteam.

StrudellStudios

CreativeDivisionofCourtlandConsulting

1500WatertowerPlace,Ste200

EastLansing,MI48823

[email protected]

www.strudellstudios.com

(517)9083950direct

(517)371

7810

main

(517)3717815fax

Documents

V08 Joomla RSFormsBuilder Manual