#1477 open
peters@slx-online.biz

Trying to create a form

Reported by peters@slx-online.biz | March 29th, 2023 @ 10:33 AM | in 3.5.0

Hi Dave. I've been asked to create a membership application form on britishtrolley.org.uk but I am not getting very far.

I've added a forms module and experimented with settings. The administrator help at this stage tells me what I could do, but not how. e.g. http://docs.exponentcms.org/help/show/version/2.7.1/title/forms-and... . Form control topics says what is available, like text boxes and areas, drop downs. But not how to put them onto a page. Lots of help just says "this tab contains details about..." but no details.

If I click on Design Form in the form module or on forms manager, I get an unformatted screen with logo and an unordered listing all the items in the top menu. At the bottom it says I need to upgrade the website and database needs upgrade from v0.0.0 to v2.7.1 .

In the Forms module there's a button to add records. It's not clear what records or why.Clicking Manage Forms I see a list of forms. If I click edit one of them it's just a text module with no obvious way of adding form functions.

Looking further at Help, I try to get designer help rather than admin. This results in a long unordered list with Exponent Docs header logo. If I start to scroll down the following screen is displayed on top of the previous page and is illegible.

As you have still not reset my upload quota I will send you screenshots by separate email.

Thanks for some guidance!
Peter.

Comments and changes to this ticket

  • peters@slx-online.biz

    peters@slx-online.biz March 29th, 2023 @ 12:45 PM

    Many thanks, I'll go through this in the next day or so and hopefully make some progress. First I need to put the committee straight on what is and isn't possible with a membership application form on the website. I think they are not understanding the relationship between the membership management system and the website! I can't imagine the nightmare trying to combine filling in and emailing a form, and providing PayPal for 20 different membership options. The problem that you have answered is me trying to evaluate what can and can't be done with the Forms module. Basically the member system does the work already but is a bitch to customise and isn't ideal. Anyway, I'll see if I can crack creating a form on the website before I help them make a decision.

    Just a thought on uploads, if you can't control this I guess it might be an idea to include something that tells people why and offers an email address for sending screenshots.

    Cheers.
    Peter.

  • peters@slx-online.biz

    peters@slx-online.biz March 29th, 2023 @ 01:17 PM

    Hi Dave. Thanks for the additional info. Membership resides in a separate application called Amember, located in a folder alongside the website. It does all of the registration / membership application / PayPal and offline payments / tracking of finances / emailing notifications to filtered email lists/ creating address labels for sending out monthly journals etc. I think I'd lose the will to live if I tried to add all those functions to Exponent!! It's a bitch to customise Amember so I'm exploring if I can engineer some form of overlap between the systems, but I am not hopeful. I'll work my way through your replies and see what drops out as viable or not. Peter.

  • peters@slx-online.biz

    peters@slx-online.biz March 29th, 2023 @ 04:01 PM

    Hi Dave. This is where it grinds to a halt:

    ''When back at the original page you'll note a warning 'This form is blank. Select "Design Form" to add input fields.' since the assigned form is empty, without any controls.

    Click on the 'Design Form' button to bring up the Form Designer''

    There is no warning note on the original page. On clicking Design Form I am now at the screen shown in the screenshot "bts design form screen".

    Peter.

  • peters@slx-online.biz

    peters@slx-online.biz March 29th, 2023 @ 07:20 PM

    I'll have to resume this tomorrow PM. I'll let you know how it goes.

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