ChronoForms 3.1 for Joomla! site Cookbook

Book Image

ChronoForms 3.1 for Joomla! site Cookbook

By : Bob Janes

Book Image

ChronoForms 3.1 for Joomla! site Cookbook

By: Bob Janes

Overview of this book

Joomla! is a fantastic way to create a dynamic CMS. Now you want to go to the next step and interact with your users. Forms are the way you ask questions and get replies. ChronoForms is the extension that lets you do that and this book tells you how. From building your first form to creating rich form based applications we will cover the features that ChronoForms offers you in a clear hands-on way. Drawing on three years daily experience using ChronoForms and supporting users there is valuable help for new users and experienced developers alike. We will take you through form development step by step: from creating your first form using ChronoForms’ built-in drag-and-drop tool; validating user input; emailing the results; saving data in the database, showing the form in your Joomla! site and much more.Each chapter addresses a topic like ‘validation’ or ‘email’ and the recipes in the chapter each address a different user question from the beginners’ question ‘How do I set up an email?’ through to more advanced questions like using some PHP to create a custom email Subject line.Over eight chapters and eighty recipes we cover all of the ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ that new users and developers have about using ChronoForms. The recipe structure allows you to pick and choose just the solution that you need.

ChronoForms 3.1 for Joomla! Site Cookbook

ChronoForms 3.1 for Joomla! Site Cookbook

Credits

About the Author

About the Author

About the Reviewer

About the Reviewer

Preface

Free Chapter

Creating a Simple Form

Creating a Simple Form

Downloading and installing ChronoForms

Creating a simple form with the Form Wizard

Sending the form results by e-mail

Showing a "Thank You" page

Editing your form with the Wizard Edit

Redirecting the user to another page

Backing up and restoring your forms

E-mailing Form Results

E-mailing Form Results

Replying to e-mails

Getting your e-mails delivered safely

Sending a "Thank you" e-mail to the form submitter

Choosing e-mail addresses from a list

Attaching uploaded files to the e-mail

Attaching a "standard" file to the e-mail

Creating a "dynamic" subject line using info from the form

Styling your Form

Styling your Form

Using ChronoForms default style

Switching styles with "Transform Form"

Adding your own CSS styling

Putting several inputs in one line

Adding your own HTML

Saving Form Data in the Database

Saving Form Data in the Database

Creating a table to save your results and linking your form to it

Viewing your saved form results

Updating and changing DB Connections

Exporting your results to Excel or a CSV file

Form Validation and Security

Form Validation and Security

Making "required" fields

Specifying the types of input that are allowed — text, numbers, dates, and so on

Customizing validation error messages

Adding extra security with "server-side" validation of submitted information

Getting the user to confirm their data before submission

Adding an ImageVerification captcha / anti-spam check

Adding a reCAPTCHA anti-spam check

Limiting form access to registered users

Showing your Form in your Site

Showing your Form in your Site

Including your form in an article using the ChronoForms plugin

Showing your form on selected pages using the ChronoForms module

Linking to your form from Joomla! menus

Using a form to create a Joomla! article

Redirecting users to other Joomla! pages after submission

Adding Features to your Form

Adding Features to your Form

Adding a validated checkbox

Adding an "other" box to a drop-down

Sending an SMS message on submission

Signing up to a newsletter service

Adding a conversion tracking script

Showing a YouTube video

Adding a barcode to a form e-mail

Adding a character counter to a textarea

Creating a double drop-down

Uploading Files from your Forms

Uploading Files from your Forms

Adding a file upload field to your form and setting the allowed types and sizes

Saving files to different folders

Linking files to e-mails

Resizing and copying image files

Displaying images in e-mails and articles

Troubleshooting problems with files

Writing Form HTML

Writing Form HTML

Moving an existing form to ChronoForms

Moving a form with JavaScript

Moving a form with CSS

Creating a form with Wufoo

Creating a form in Dreamweaver

Creating Common Forms

Creating Common Forms

Creating a simple newsletter signup

Creating a form to link to Acajoom

Creating a form to publish a Joomla! article

Creating a "Contact us" form

Creating an image or document upload form

Creating a multi-page form

Using Form Plug-ins

Using Form Plug-ins

Controlling form access by user group, day, and/or time with the Watchman plug-in

Creating multi-lingual forms with the Multi-Language plug-in

Showing and editing saved information with the Profile plug-in

Registering users with the Joomla! Registration plug-in

Creating a PayPal purchase form with the ReDirect plug-in

Adding Advanced Features

Adding Advanced Features

Using PHP to create "select" dropdowns

Using Ajax to look up e-mail addresses

Getting information from a DB table to include in your form

Show a form in a light-box

Tracking site information

Controlling e-mails from form inputs

Building a complex multi-page form

Troubleshooting problems with forms

Customer Reviews

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Adding your own CSS styling

Many users will want to add their own styling to their forms. This is a short guide about ways to do that. It's not a guide to create the CSS.

Note

To add your own Form CSS, you will need to have a working knowledge of HTML and CSS.

Getting ready

You need nothing to follow the recipe, but when you come to it out, you'll need CSS and a form or two.

How to do it...

1. Adding CSS directly in the Form HTML:
The quickest and least desirable way of styling is to add CSS directly to the Form HTML. The HTML is accessible on the Form Code tab in the Form Editor. You can type directly into the text area. For example:
```
<input name="text_2" type="text" value=""
title="" class="cf_inputtext cf_inputbox"
maxlength="150" size="30" id="text_2"
style="border: 1px solid blue;" />
```
The only time when you might need to use this approach is to mark one or two inputs in some special way. Even then it might be better to use a class and define the style outside the Form HTML.
2. Using...