JOOMLA RS FORMS BUILDER TOOL TRAINING MANUAL

ContentManagementSystemTrainingRSFormsBuilderTool

RSFormsBuilderTool
TableofContents
1 2 Overview..........................................................................................................................2 ManageForms..................................................................................................................3
2.1 NewForm/Edit.............................................................................................................................4

3 4

ManageSubmissions......................................................................................................17 Configuration..................................................................................................................18
4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Settings......................................................................................................................................18 GoogleAnalytics........................................................................................................................19 PayPal........................................................................................................................................19 ReCaptcha..................................................................................................................................20

5 6

Backup/Restore..............................................................................................................20 CreditsandContactInformation.....................................................................................21

1 Overview
RSFormsisasimpleformbuildertoolthatwillallowyoutoquicklyandeasilycreateforms,receiveresponsesfromyour websiteandstoretheresponsesinadatabasetoberetrievedbyotherapplicationslater. LogintoyourCMSAdminareaandthenclickonComponentsfromthetopmainmenu,andthenselectRSforms!Pro. MenuNavigation:Components>RSforms!Pro

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ContentManagementSystemTrainingRSFormsBuilderTool

Figure1

TheRSforms!maindashboardpagedisplaysandyouwillbeabletomanageyourforms,formsubmission, configurations,pluginsandbackupforms.

Figure2

2 ManageForms
MenuNavigation:Components>RSforms!Pro>ManageForms WhenyouclickonFormsManagerorManageForms,asummaryofallofyourformsthathavebeencreatedwill display.

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ContentManagementSystemTrainingRSFormsBuilderTool

Figure3

Inthetopmenuoptionsyouhave: New.Thiswillcreateanewform. Copy.Thiswillcopytheselectedform. Delete.Thiswilldeletetheselectedforms. Publish.Thiswillpublishtheselectedforms. Unpublish.Thiswillunpublishselectedforms. Support.ThiswilltakeyoutotheRSforms!Supportpage RSForms!Pro.ThiswilltakeyoutotheRSForms!Propage.

Belowthetopmenu,atableisshownwithinformationabouttheformscreatedinthesystem. Checkbox.Selectingthecheckboxwillallowyoutoupdatemultipleformsatthesametimeusingthetopmenu optionsDelete,Publish,Unpublish. FormTitle.Thisistheoptionaltitlefortheform.ThisisenteredontheEditFormscreenwhenyouarecreating anewformoreditingaform.Clickingthetitlewillbringyouintotheeditscreenoftheform. FormName.Thisisthenameoftheform.ThisisenteredontheEditFormscreenwhenyouarecreatinganew formoreditingaform. Published.Thisshowsthestateoftheformpublishedorunpublished. Submissions.ThisshowshowmanysubmissionshavebeenmadetotheformbasedonToday,Thismonthand All(Total). AddToMenu.ThiswillallowyoutoaddtheformdirectlytoaJoomlaMenuoption. Preview.ClickingthePreviewwillbringupapreviewofhowtheformwilllook. FormID.ThisistheIdentifierfortheform.ThisisusedfortrackinginJoomla.Aspecialpluginallowsyoualsoto embedtheformintoarticlesusingthisID.

2.1 NewForm/Edit
ToopentheNeworEditformpage,clickontheNewButtonoronthenameoftheformitself.Itwillthenbringyouinto amultitabbededitorfortheform.Thefollowingsectionsinthismanualdescribeaddingandeditingoptionsinmore detail. 2.1.1 Components Componentsisthefirsttabandthedefaultwhenyoufirstentertheformeditmode.

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ContentManagementSystemTrainingRSFormsBuilderTool

Figure4

TherearetwosectionstothispagetheFormComponentsandtheFormView.BelowyouwillseetheForm ComponentsavailableinRSforms!.Note:Thesehavebeenplacedintotwocolumnsforeasierviewinginthisdocument. Onthewebsite,thisisonlyasinglecolumn. FORMCOMPONENTS

Figure5

(Imagemodifiedtofitbetteronpage) Textbox.Thisisasimplesinglelinetextboxthatcanbefilledin. Textarea.Thisisamultilinetextboxthatcanbefilledout.Thisallowsforgreaterinformationtobeplacedinit. Dropdown.Thisisaselectbox(dropdownbox).Youcansetmultipleoptionstoselectfrom,aswellassetwhich itemisselected. CheckboxGroup.Thiswillcreateagroupofcheckboxesthattheuserwillbeabletoselectandunselectfrom. Thiswillallowformultipleselects. RadioGroup.Thiswillcreateagroupofradiobuttonoptions.Onlyasingleoptionwillbeabletobeselected fromthis. SubmitButton.Thiswillcreateasubmitbuttonthatwillcausetheformtosubmit. Password.Thisisatextboxthathidesthevaluebeingtypedinfromplaintext. Fileupload.ThiswillcreatetheFileUploadoptionsothatpeoplewillbeabletouploadfilestotheserver.Make suretohaveadirectorythatwillallowforuploadingfilestoavailable. FreeText.Thisisatextareathatwillallowyoutocreatetextontheform.Thesecanincludedescriptionsand instructions. Calendar.Thiswillcreateatextboxwithacalendarthatwillpopupwhenclickedin.

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Button.Thiswillcreateagenericbutton.Itwillnothaveanyspecialattributesassociatedwithitunlessyouadd them. ImageButton.Thiswillcreateabuttonbasedonanimageyousupplytoit. CaptchaAntispam.Thiswillcreateacaptchaobject.Thiswillusethebuiltinversionofthis.ReCaptchafrom Googleisthealternateforthis. HiddenField.Thiswillcreateahiddenfieldthatcanbeusedwithintheform. SupportTicket.Thiswillcreateahiddenfieldwithpresetvalues PayPalSingleProduct.Thisisanadditionalpluginthatisinstalled.Thiswillallowforasingleproducttobe purchasedusingPayPal.TheformwillneedtobeconfiguredtohandlePayPaltransactions.Thiswillalsorequire aPayPalTotal. PayPalMultipleProducts.Thisisanadditionalpluginthatisinstalled.Thiswillallowformultipleproductstobe purchasedusingPayPal.TheformwillneedtobeconfiguredtohandlePayPaltransactions.Thiswillalsorequire aPayPalTotal. PayPalTotal.ThisisthetotalamountthatwillbesenttoPayPalifPayPalisconfiguredforthisitem. reCaptcha.ThisisGooglesreCaptchatool.Anauthorizationcodewillbeneededforthis.Thiswillvalidateto makesurethepersonenteringtheinformationishuman.

Belowyouwillseethestandardoptionsthateachofcomponentsshare.EachofthesecomponentscanexecutePHP codethatisescapedvia//phpcode//.ThisdocumentationdoesnotcoverPHPcoding.ContacttheStrudellStudios/ CourtlandConsultingwebdevelopmentsupportteamat(517)9083950.

Figure6

(Imagemodifiedtofitbetteronpage)

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ContentManagementSystemTrainingRSFormsBuilderTool

Name.Thisisthenameofthecomponent.Thisishowitisreferencedinscriptswithinthisform.Itis recommendedthatthisfieldcontainnospacesorspecialcharacters. Caption.Thisistheinformationthatisdisplayednexttothefield.Thisiswhattheuserswillsee.Spacing,special charactersandsoforthareacceptablehere. Save.Youcansavetheinformationatthispointwithoutaddingadditionalinformation.Additionalinformationis recommendedhowever. Required.Thissetswhetherthecomponentisrequiredornot.Ifrequired,thenonsubmit,itwillchecktomake surethevaluesaresetandgiveanerrormessageifitisnotvalid. Size.Thisisthesizefordisplayingtheelement.ThiscanbedifferentthattheMaxSize. MaxSize.Thisisthemaximumsize(numberofcharacters)thatthisfieldisallowedtoreceive.Ifthisisvalueis goingintoadatabase,itisrecommendedtosetthistothefieldsizeofthecolumnthisvaluewillbeaddedto. ValidationRule.Thisistherulethatwillbeusedwhenvalidationofthecomponentisused.Possibleoptions include: o None.Novalidationruleisapplied. o Email.Checkstomakesurethevalueisinstandardemailformat. o Numeric.Checkstomakesuretheenteredvaluecontainsonlynumbers. o Alphanumeric.Checksiftheenteredvaluecontainsonlylettersandnumbers. o Alpha.Checkstheenteredvaluetomakesureitcontainsonlyletters. o Custom.Canbeusedincombinationwithothervalidationrulesandwillextendthevalidationwiththe specifiedcharacters. ValidationMessage.Wheneverthevalidationruleisnotmet,thismessagewillshowupinthefrontendpartof theform. AdditionalAttributes.Usingthisproperty,youcansetcustomattributesinsidetheHTMLtag.Themost commonuseofthispropertyisaddingcustomCSSstylingorfurtherJavaScriptprocessing. DefaultValue.Thisisthedefaultvalueforthiselement. Description.Thedescriptionofthetextfield.Thiswillbedisplayedinthefrontend,asatextualhelpforthe user.UsethiswhentheCaptionofthecomponentisnotselfexplanatory. Save.Savethecurrentinformationonthiscomponent.

FORMVIEW ThesecondhalfoftheComponentspagecontainsalloftheformelementsthatyouhaveenteredoredited.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)theelementonespotata time. Publish.Ifthisisselected,thenthecomponentwillbevisibleonthefrontend.

IMPORTANT:Onceyouhaveworkedonthecomponents,makesuretoApplyorSavethechangesthatyouhavemade. Thiswillsavetheworkthatyouhavedoneonthesecomponents.

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2.1.2 FormLayout TheFormLayoutcontrolshowtheformwilllookonthefrontend.Youhaveachoiceofafewdifferentstylesthatwill automaticallyupdatewheneveryouupdatethecomponents,oryoucancustomizethelayout.

Figure8

Youhavetheoptionofsixdifferentstyles.TheclassicstylesusetableswhiletheXHTMLstylesuseDivsforthelayingout oftheformelements.Additionally,ifyouuncheckAutoGenerateLayoutthiswillallowyoutocustomizetheform (addingJavaScriptandothercode)totheform.Rememberthatiftheformisnotautogenerating,youwillneedtomake suretoupdatetheformwithneworremovedelements.

Figure9

2.1.3 EditForm EditFormwillallowyoutoeditthebasicinformationabouttheform,aswellastherequiredmessaging.

Figure10

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TheEditFormhastwosectionstothepagetheEditFormPropertiesandtheQuickAdd.TheQuickAddhasalistofall oftheelementswithintheform.Thecaptionisthenameofthecomponentandthevalueisthevaluethatthe componentreceivedfromtheuser.

Figure11

FormTitle.Thisisthetitleoftheformthatwillshowuponthepagethattheformisdisplayedupon. FormName.Thisisthenameoftheform.ThisisusedforidentificationinJavaScriptaswellasintheform managementarea. ReturnURL.ThisisthereturnURLaftertheformiscompleted.Iftheformneedstogotoanotherlocation ratherthantheendconclusionofthedefaultworkflow,youcansettheReturnURLtothenewlocation. EdittheThankYouMessage.ThisistheThankyoumessagethatappearsaftertheuserhasfilledouttheform. ThisiseditedinaWYSIWYGpopupeditor(seebelow). ErrorMessage.Thisistheerrormessagetheuserwillreceiveonanunsuccessfulattempttosubmittheform.

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Figure12

TheWYSIWYGeditorallowsyoutocustomizeboththeerrormessageandthethankyoumessagefortheenduser.You cansaveyourwork,Saveandclosethepopupwindow,orjustclosewithoutsaving. 2.1.4 UserEmails Whentheendusercompletestheform,anoptionalemailcanbesenttothem.Thisscreenhandlestheconfigurationof theemailmessage.

Figure13

BelowisascreenshotoftheUserEmails.Thefollowingfieldsareforediting: From.Thisistheemailaddressthatthesender. FromName.Thisisthenameofthepersonthatissendingtheemailmessage. Replyto.Thisistheemailaddressthatreplieswillbesentto. To.Thisiswhothemessagewillbesentto.ThiswilltakevaluesfromtheQuickAddsothatitcanbesenttothe userthatfilledouttheform.Multipleemailaddressesareseparatedbycommas. CC.ThisiswhereCarbonCopiedemailaddressesareadded.ThiswilltakevaluesfromtheQuickAddsothatit canbesenttotheuserthatfilledouttheform.Multipleemailaddressesareseparatedbycommas. BCC.ThisiswheretheBlindCarbonCopiedemailaddressesareadded.ThiswilltakevaluesfromtheQuickAdd sothatitcanbesenttotheuserthatfilledouttheform.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 AdminEmails Whentheendusercompletestheform,anoptionalemailcanbesenttotheadministrator.Thisscreenhandlesthe configurationoftheemailmessage.

Figure16

BelowisascreenshotoftheUserEmails.Thefollowingfieldsareforediting: From.Thisistheemailaddressthatthesender. FromName.Thisisthenameofthepersonthatissendingtheemailmessage. Replyto.Thisistheemailaddressthatreplieswillbesentto. To.Thisiswhothemessagewillbesentto.ThiswilltakevaluesfromtheQuickAddsothatitcanbesenttothe userthatfilledouttheform.Multipleemailaddressesareseparatedbycommas. CC.ThisiswhereCarbonCopiedemailaddressesareadded.ThiswilltakevaluesfromtheQuickAddsothatit canbesenttotheuserthatfilledouttheform.Multipleemailaddressesareseparatedbycommas. BCC.ThisiswheretheBlindCarbonCopiedemailaddressesareadded.ThiswilltakevaluesfromtheQuickAdd sothatitcanbesenttotheuserthatfilledouttheform.Multipleemailaddressesareseparatedbycommas. Subject.Thisisthesubjectoftheemailmessage. Mode.ThisisthemethodthattheemailwillbesentPlaintextorHTMLformatted. Message.Thisisthemessagethatwillbesenttotheuser.ClickingEdittheEmailtextwillproduceaWYSIWYG editor.

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Figure17

Theeditor(picturedbelow)willallowyoutoconstructtheresponsethatwillbesenttotheenduser.Youwillbeableto usealloftheelementsfromtheQuickAddpanelinthiseditor.

Figure18

2.1.6 Scripts TheScriptstabwillallowyoutorunPHPscriptsatvarioustimesduringtheloading,processingandpostprocessingof theform.ThescriptsrequireknowledgeofPHPprogrammingtobeeffectiveanduseful.

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Figure19

Figure20

Figure21

Figure22

2.1.7 MetaTags TheMetaTagstabwillallowyoutoplaceMetaDataintheheadofeachform.ThisisusedinSearchEngine Optimization.AttheveryleasttheMetaDescriptionshouldbeincludedforeachformsothatitwillshowupinsearch results.

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Figure23

Figure24

2.1.8 Mappings Mappingsareaspecialpluginthatisoptionallyinstalled.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 Configuration
TheConfigurationsectionallowsyoutosetuptheconfigurationinformationforRSforms!andforanypluginsthatare 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 thatcancauseissueswithyourform.

4.2 GoogleAnalytics
GoogleAnalyticscanbeusedtotrackhowfarpeoplegetthroughyourforms.EnteringinyourGoogleAnalyticscodewill allowyoutouseGoogleAnalyticsforyourforms.Thisisanoptionalplugin.

Figure32

Figure33

4.3 PayPal
ThisPluginwillallowyoutointegratePayPalintoyourformsforquicksetupofsingleandmultipleitemsales.

Figure34

Figure35

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

4.4 ReCaptcha
ReCaptchaisanoptionalpluginforRSFroms!thatusesGooglesReCaptchaAPI.YouwillneedtohaveaGoogleaccount inordertousethistool.

Figure36

Figure37

InGoogle,youwillneedtocreateanewinstanceofReCaptchathatwillprovideyouaPublicandPrivatekey.Youwill copyandpastethosekeysintothePublicKeyandPrivateKeyfieldsunderReCaptcha.Nextyouwillchooseatheme Red,White,CleanorBlackglass.ThemostcompatibleoftheseistheCleantheme.

5 Backup/Restore
Inadditiontobeingabletocreatetheseforms,youareabletobackupandrestoreformstouseonotherinstallationsof Joomla.

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Figure38

UnderBackupyouwillselecttheformsyouwanttobackup,selectifyouwanttobackuptheformsonlyortheforms andsubmissions,andthenclickGenerateabackupfile.Thiswillcreateafilefordownloadforyou. UnderRestoreyouwillbeabletobrowseforaformbackupfileandrestorethatform.

6 CreditsandContactInformation
ThistrainingmanualhasbeendevelopedanddeliveredbyStrudellStudios,theCreativeDivisionofCourtland Consulting.Someofthecontentforthismanualisbaseduponand/ortakenverbatimfromhttp://www.joomla.com 20072010,allrightsreserved.Forupdatesorquestionsregardingthismanual,contacttheStrudellStudios/Courtland Consultingsupportteam. StrudellStudios CreativeDivisionofCourtlandConsulting 1500WatertowerPlace,Ste200 EastLansing,MI48823 support@strudellstudios.com www.strudellstudios.com (517)9083950direct (517)3717810main (517)3717815fax

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