Creating fields on a form

When you are creating a form through the Form Generator or Calendar of Events module, you will have the opportunity to create one or more fields on the form.  You will see the Manage Form Fields page after submitting and saving a form.  You can also edit fields for an existing form by going to the listing of forms and clicking the number under the "Fields" heading and to the right of the form whose fields you want to edit.

On this page, you will see a listing of any fields you have already created, including the name, field order, and other details about the fields.  To create a new field, click Add New Form Field in the upper right.  To modify an existing field, just click its name.

You will be asked about the following details when you create or modify a field:

• Field Name: Type in the name of the field.  This name will appear above the field on the form.  When you get the form results via email or through a download, each field will be labeled with its name as you type it here.

• Order Number: Choose the order in which the field will appear on the form.

• Field Type: Choose the type of field you wish to create. There are several types that can appear depending on the type of form being created.  Depending on which you choose, other options may appear lower on the page.

• Text Field: This is a simple field type that creates a single-line text field.  It is useful for name, address, and phone fields, along with any info that a person should type in that is intended to be relatively short (usually 100 characters or less).
  
  

• Pull Down: This field type creates a list of options from which a person can choose one option.  This is useful when you want to limit responses to one or more specific choices, like a list of regions or options.

• Multi Pull Down: This field type creates a list of options similar to a pulldown; however, a person can choose more than one option if desired by holding <Ctrl> or <Option> and clicking.

• Checkbox: A checkbox field simply displays a checkbox next to the field name you chose above.  This is the only field that doesn't put the fieldname above the field, but rather displays the field name to the right of the checkbox.

• Radio button: A radio button field displays a series of options with a radio button next to each.  The first option is chosen by default, and a person can choose any other option desired.  Functionally, a radio button group is identical to a pulldown - that is, a person can choose one option from a list of options.  The only difference is that the first option is always selected by default, and it's impossible for someone to accidentally change their choice using the mouse wheel, the way that it's possible with pulldown fields.

• Text Area: This field type creates a multi-line text area where people can type in one or more sentences of information.  It is useful for comment or question boxes, or any fields that might require multiple sentences to answer.

  NOTE: We do not recommend using text areas for addresses.  Instead, create a separate text field for each element of the address (address, city, zip, etc.).  You can use pulldowns for fields like State if you wish.

• Text Area with Editor: This is identical to a Text Area as described above.  However, it uses our Site Editor rather than a plain text box.  It is useful when someone should be able to submit formatted text - for example, if you're creating a job or classifieds submission system through Form Generator.

• Payment-Text Field: You will only see this field type if you chose to include payment when creating this form.  This field type allows someone to type in any amount they choose, which is useful for donation or contribution fields.  Only numeric values are allowed; if the person types in letters, dollar signs, commas, or other non-numeric characters, the system will prompt them to enter a numeric value instead.  (Decimals are okay.)

• Payment-Standard: You will only see this field type if you chose to include payment when creating this form.  This field type can be used for simple payment fields - either a Yes/No choice or a 1-10 quantity choice for purchasing something.

  Example of Payment Standard - single fee

  Example of Payment Standard - based fee

  
  

• Payment-Pulldown: You will only see this field type if you chose to include payment when creating this form.  Use it to create a list of one or more options to choose from, each with its own price.  See Adding a payment field to a form for specific information.
  
  

• Payment-Multipulldown: You will only see this field type if you chose to include payment when creating this form.  Use it to create a list of options that each have a price, and where a person can choose more than one option if they wish.  See Adding a payment field to a form for more information.
  
  NOTE: Multipulldowns can sometimes be confusing to people, so you might consider creating a series of yes/no Payment-Standard fields rather than a single Payment-Multipulldown to make it clearer for people filling out your form.
  
  

• Payment-Radio Button Field: You will only see this field type if you chose to include payment when creating this form.  This field type allows to someone choose a payment amount from a list of radio button options.  It's exactly like a Radio Button field, explained above, but you can assign a price to each option.  The first choice will always be chosen by default, and the person filling out the form must choose one of the options.

• Attachment: This field type allows the person submitting the form to attach a document.  This can be useful when you need a resume, reference, or specs from the person sending you the form.  NOTE: If you do not see this field type in your list, contact Affiniscape to request that we turn it on.

• If you chose Text Field, Text Area, or Text Area with Editor as your field type, you will get the following field:

• Would you like this field auto filled with a field from the member's profile? Choose Yes if you would like this text box to be automatically filled in with a value from the user's database profile.  This will work if the person is logged in when filling out the form.  If you choose Yes, another field will appear that lets you choose a field.

• Please select the Member Profile field that should auto fill this field: If you chose Yes above, then choose the field from the database that should auto-fill this text field for logged-in people.  For example, if you are creating a "Company Name" text field, you can choose "Company" from this list so that any logged-in person will have the field filled out for them.  (The value auto-filled can be changed by the registrant, but it does give them a starting point and expedites the filling out of the form.)

• If you chose Payment-Standard as your field type, you will see a gray box saying "The following two choices are only used if the field type is Payment-Standard..." with the following choices underneath:

• If this is a Payment-Standard type field, is this a single fee (yes/no) or based upon a selected quantity (1-10)? There are two fee types:

• Single fee: The field on the form will be a Yes/No field.  If the person chooses "Yes," they will be charged the fee you put in the next box.  If they choose "No," they will not be charged a fee.

• Based fee: The field on the form will be a dropdown from which the person can choose a quantity to purchase.  The fee you put in the next field will be multiplied by the quantity the person chooses.  The quantity will either range from 0-10 (if the field is not required) or 1-10 (if the field is required).

• What is the fee to be charged?  Enter the fee with no dollar sign.  For a Single Fee, the form will have a Yes/No field that charges people that amount if they choose Yes.  For a Based Fee, the form will have a 1-10 quantity pulldown and will charge the amount you enter multiplied by the quantity chosen.

  NOTE: The system will not automatically display the price you select.  Thus, it is your responsibility to type the price into either the Field Name or the Field Description.  Otherwise, the person filling out your form may not realize they have been charged for the option they chose until they reach the payment screen.

• If you chose any payment field as your field type, you will see the following option:

• Do you want this field to be used as the unique identifier for this form on the Payment Transaction page? If you want to use the value of this field to help identify this email form submission on the Payment – Admin page, check the box.

  NOTE: Most groups never need to check this box.  Payment records will be identified with the name of the person who filled out the form.  For most groups, the only time this checkbox is helpful is when you don't automatically include the first name, last name and email on the form.  In that case, check this box for the field on your form that is most likely to help you identify the person submitting the form.

• (Click here to enable payment fields): You will only see this option if you did not choose to secure the form and enable payments for the form. If you decide you would like to include a payment field, clicking this link will enable you to do that and secure your form.

• Are registrants required to enter this field? Select Yes or "No".  If you choose Yes, the field will display on the form with an asterisk * in front of it.  If it's a text field, a person must type something in it, and if it's a pulldown, a person must make a choice.  Otherwise, the person will get a message when they try to submit the form indicating that a required field was not filled out.

• Should this field be included in the email being sent to the form submitter? By default, this is set to "Yes," which means that this field will be included in the automatic email sent to the registrant (assuming you have enabled such an email for the form).  You can change this to "No" for any fields with sensitive information that should not be sent via email, such as a Social Security number.  For the majority of your fields, you will leave this setting as "Yes."

• If this is a Form Generator field, and you have chosen to enable the dynamic results display (see Displaying form entries on a web page), then the following option will appear:

• Should this field be included on the result display page as a possible sort field for use by the user to sort the result view? This allows you to set this field as a sort field for the dynamic display.  See Sorting the results display for more information.

• Field Description: If you desire, you can enter a description for the field. It will display above the field name.
  
  HINT: Field descriptions can be a useful way to add verbiage within your form.  Just keep in mind that whatever you put in the description will go above the field you are editing; that should help you determine which field or fields to add introductions to.
  
  NOTE: If you find that your form has unnecessary spacing between fields when viewing it on the front end, or you want to more exactly control the spacing between fields, please see the FAQ on line spacing in the editor.

When you are finished filling out the details of the field, click Save and Add Another Field to add more fields to your form, or simply click Submit to save it.

NOTE: If Pull Down, Multi Pull Down, Payment-Pulldown, or Payment-Multipulldown were chosen for your field type, scroll down and enter the pull-down selections after clicking Submit. When finished, click Submit again to go on and create your next field.  For more details on choosing payment amounts, see Adding a payment field to a form.