By Lee Sykes
January 2009
In this tutorial we provide a quick start guide for DataSprings Dynamic Forms module. The Dynamic Forms module is a very powerful module for quickly building forms and collecting data from the visitors on your website and it also allows you to quickly view and export the data into Excel files.
In this tutorial we demonstrate version 2.7.5 of the Dynamic Forms module. You will need to be using the latest version of the module to get the latest functions and any possible bug fixes.
It is possible to get a simple form up and running in Dynamic forms in a matter of minutes thanks to the form setup wizards and drag and drop functionality. From there you can build very complex forms by using the modules configuration menus.
There are so many functions available in this module that it will be impossible to cover them all in a single tutorial so this quick start guide will show the basic principles of the module and from there you can follow the additional Dynamic Forms tutorials on DNN Creative.
To give you a quick overview of some of the functions in the module, you can:
- Build forms with textbox, dropdownlist, radio buttons, checkbox, checkboxlist, hidden fields, HTML, etc.
- Select a sort order for the form elements
- Setup redirection pages after submission of the form
- Fire events based on the users response, ie. Send an email, redirect to another page, execute a SQL statement as well as HTTP post events where you can complete an HTTP post to any URL, for example post the form results to another form
- Import / export data from the forms
- Question events – these provide many interactive events based on a fields response. Similar to the form completion events however question events can be fired off whenever the user answers a form field instead of after form submission. For instance you can display hidden fields that the user previously did not see. For example 'Question A' might be "Do you own a car?". If the user chooses yes you can display additional fields such as 'What year?', "What make?"
- Extensive validation features
- Process payments where it can integrate with Authorize.net and PayPal and this also integrates with the Dynamic Events where for instance you can send an email or add a user to a DotNetNuke Security Role.
Dynamic Forms is available to purchase from
Datasprings.
The videos contain:
Video 1 - Introduction, Question Wizard for Quick Setup
- Introduction to Dynamic Forms features
- How to install DataSprings Dynamic Forms module and add it to a page
- The Setup Question Wizard
- How to quickly create common form fields in your form
Time Length: 7min 49secs
Video 2 - Drag and Drop Functions For Quickly Building Forms
- How to preview a form
- Dynamic Forms Quick Menu
- Drag Drop Menu
- Quick Add
- How to drag and drop form fields
- How to change the order of form fields using drag and drop
- How to copy a form field using drag and drop
- How to quickly add a form field using quick add
- How to quickly change the form label of a field
- The form field drag and drop icons
- How to use the drag and drop recycle bin to remove a form field
Time Length: 6min 25secs
Video 3 - Editing Form Fields, Creating a Combo Box
- How to re-order the form fields and edit the form fields
- How to edit the properties of a form field
- Question, Short Name, Help Text, Sort Order
- Question Type
- How to create a combo box for the Title field: Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms
- Advanced Field Options
- Default Value
- DotNetNuke User Default
- Example Text
- Read Only Field
- Client Side Events
- Hide / Show Fields By Role
- Hide from anonymous users
- Hide until forced visible by question event
- Retrieve / pass values from querystring / session
Time Length: 8min 35secs
Video 4 - Editing Field Properties, Using the Advanced Wizard
- Question Look / Feel for fields
- Question Header and Footer
- Question Validation
- Required Field
- Required Field Text
- Required Field Error
- Advanced Wizard
- How to set multiple fields to be required using the Advanced Wizard
- Required Field
- Required Field Text
- Required Field Error Message
Time Length: 9min 06secs
Video 5 - Module Configuration, Validation, Sort Order and Styling Text Field
- Display of Validation Errors
- Setup Module Configuration
- Validation Configuration
- ASP.NET Error Message Location
- Validation Summary Location
- How to add additional fields to the form
- How to quickly change the question sort order - Manage Configuration
- How to add a Title section
- Using ‘Manage Your Dynamic Form Fields’ to create a new field
- How to create a Text / HTML field
- How to style the field text to appear as a title section
Time Length: 8min 51secs
Video 6 - Styling Text Field, Copying Fields, Additional Information
- Module Configuration - Stylesheet
- How to add a headingbox class to the stylesheet
- Viewing the Text / HTML field with headingbox class styling
- How to copy fields using ‘Manage Your Dynamic Form Fields’
- How to add additional informational text to a field using the field footer
Time Length: 8min 31secs
Total Time Length: 49min 17secs