Tutorial 1.4: Inserting webforms

During the course of this tutorial, you will become familiar with how to generate and insert custom Web Forms, and how to capture data using them.

Getting Started

1. Login to your your site's control panel. You should see the dashboard page with a menu bar at the top.
2. Hover your mouse over the Modules tab at the top, then click the Web Forms link on the 2nd level to bring up the Web Forms List.
3. Click on Create a New Web Form.

Creating the Web Form

First, we'll need to give the form a name in order to identify it. Fill in the Web Form Name, and click Next.

Now, select some system fields. The information that is filled into these will be captured into your contact records. You can also choose which fields to make mandatory. There's also the option to subscribe the submitting contact to a newsletter, an affiliate program, or a secure zone. When you're done, click Next.

Now we'll create a couple of custom fields. We'll create a "How did you hear about us" field, with Field Type as Radio List. List your values by typing them in the List Items box, separated by commas. Here's a list of what everything does:

1. Date. For this field type, the customer will be presented a date picker to allow them to choose a date
2. Checkbox List. The customer can choose from a list. They can choose multiple options from the list.
3. List box List. The customer can choose from a list. They can choose multiple options from the list.
4. Dropdown List. The customer can choose from a list. They can choose only one option from the list.
5. Radio List. The customer can choose from a list. They can choose only one option from the list
6. Number. A text box that must have a number entered in it
7. Text (Multi-line). A text box that accepts multiple lines of text
8. Text (String). A text box that accepts only one line of text
9. True/False. A check box for yes/no answers.

When you're done, click next.

The Auto Responder is an email that the customer is sent upon submission of the form. You can alter this as you like. When you're done, hit save. Now we're ready to insert the web form to a page.

Inserting the Web Form

In the action box to the right, Select "Add Web Form to a web page". You will be prompted to choose a page, from which you can insert the form using our one-click-insert. You can also insert the Form using the Module Manager.

Contacts and Cases

When a contact fills in a webform, the data is stored against the contact's record. Let's go and look at that now. First, head over to Customers tab, then select the Cases subheading. You'll be able to see your newly submitted Customer Case.

Click on the Case to display the contents. Note that all custom fields are recorded. This is what gives webforms their amazing flexibility - they can be used to gather all sorts of information.

Check out these additional topics for some more detailed and advanced information.....

• Web Forms - Detailed article on web forms
• Cases - Explains Cases in more detail