Any good form extension?
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- Terp
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I was using Fabrik 2.0 on live sites for the last 1,000SVNs, and would have no reservations using it on a 'real site' in its current RC stage. If you found an issue, I can assure you that Rob and Hugh would fix it right away, but after beta testing since SVN 1 and now nearly at 1,500, I think it's as polished as it's going to be...so much added and perfected over the last 6 months.
I only use RT templates and have never had a conflict...had a tool tip issue once, but Rob added some workaround CSS to take care of it...
Now I always caveat my advocacy by saying that if you are merely looking for a 'form engine' or something to do a contact us/invite a friend/something like that, perhaps Chrono or RSForms would serve you better, as there is a lot of overhead for Fabrik...lots of calls/queries/css/js/etc/etc, but that goes with the territory and is the trade-off for that much data power.
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- MatthewSchenker
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Terp,
Thank you for your reply. I really appreciate it.
I downloaded and used Fabrik for a while today, and I have to admit I am totally lost in how to use it to..well, create a simple form.
I also tested Jforms, which is very simple and easy to use to create the forms. However, for some reason, the forms in Jforms come out on a totally white screen instead of my terrific Rocket Theme colors. Even worse, the Jforms outputs are all scrunched.
So my search for a simple but working forms extension continues!
I'll take a look at Chronoforms and RSForms next.
Thanks,
Matt
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- JEM
- Preeminent Rocketeer
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RSForms! generates the script for the basic form which can then be edited in your favorite HTML editor and placed back in the form generator.
You can also place forms in Articles using loadposition {rsform1}, 1 being the form ID, or in Modules with one of their plugins. - Thanks,
jim
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- Terp
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MatthewSchenker wrote:
I downloaded and used Fabrik for a while today, and I have to admit I am totally lost in how to use it to..well, create a simple form.
There is a learning curve, but the basic steps would be:
1.) setup an external connection if using a seperate db, or just use the main site db
2.) Create a new table (table -> new)
-creating a new table will also create the form, the groups,and the elements for you
3.) go to elements, new, add the elements you want to use (i.e., dropdown, text field, etc)
4.) assign the new elements to the group
5.) publish the form.
If you do go this route, I could help you out if you want...just PM
But I do agree...takes a few laps around the track to run full speed with Fabrik, as there are a plethora of settings/controls you can play with.
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- Terp
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- ...and if you don't plan to do much work with the data and just need a simple form, I really like Phil Taylor's new form extension...looks slick, too. I hear his support sucks, but the component seems pretty polished, too....just no frontend data table displays and options to join tables/search/filter/query/etc.
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- MatthewSchenker
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Good Morning,
Thanks again Terp! This is such a friendly community here -- glad I went with Rocket Theme!
I see the capabilities of Fabrik, and I understand that something with those kinds of powers takes some learning. But I think I don't need something that powerful anyway. I just want simple forms for people to submit materials to me. I don't need too much database support behind it.
I'm taking a closer look now at Chronoforms, and trying to get Jforms to work.
But I am still searching for the right one!
Thanks again,
Matthew
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- Terp
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MatthewSchenker wrote:
But I think I don't need something that powerful anyway. I just want simple forms for people to submit materials to me. I don't need too much database support behind it.
I'm taking a closer look now at Chronoforms, and trying to get Jforms to work.
In that case, I yield to JEM and like his RSForms choice or Joomla Form (Phil taylor's form engine).
I also tried Chrono, but I didn't understand why I needed to add the component overhead, since Chrono doesn't do any of the form/element/field code for you; you merely cut and paste it into Chrono and then work with it...said to myself, "If I am building the form code in DreamWeaver and pasting in Chrono to display, ummm, why not just use some basic form html in a custom html module and save the overhead?"
Here's one of my sites using Fabrik in the most basic sense...a form where users submit data to an external db, then a filter/query/advanced search table to narrow the information down to what precisely what the user is looking for:
www.bidlesstravel.com/search-winning-priceline-bids.html (just click on, say, California or NY to fire the query...and can play with the table filters/advanced search)
The 'add' menu item takes you to the form that drives the data train...
But it sounds like you are doing your due diligence and trying them all...very nice. Let us know which way you go and have a 'show and tell' session. As you can probably tell, I have an affinity for all things data and form-related toys.
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- MatthewSchenker
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Terp,
Thanks again!
The search for a form manager seems like the most difficult task I've had so far since working in Joomla! Seriously.
OK, I have Jforms working pretty well, and I love how simple it is to create straightforward member-submitted material. Hover, I cannot figure out how to find the URL for the forms so I can just link to them in articles. Better yet, I don't see how to embed the form in an article.
Luckily, I often can link to a Jform directly in a menu (it shows up as a choice). To put a link into my articles, I created an unpublished menu that contains links to my Jforms, and then I link to the menu from my articles. But this is clunky. I'd rather just refer directly to the forms from articles.
Am I missing something?
I posted a help question to the Jforms forum about this, but there was no answer. It's not a very active forum.
Thanks,
Matthew
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- Terp
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Don't they have a plugin to allow you to put the form/fields directly in content? ..been awhile since I played with anything other than Fabrik, so not sure...this one is above my pay-grade, sir.
Now if you needed help with the Fabrik plugin that allows you to do this, I could push you in the right direction...but not well-versed with jForms anymore.
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- JEM
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MatthewSchenker wrote:
Terp,
I cannot figure out how to find the URL for the forms so I can just link to them in articles. Better yet, I don't see how to embed the form in an article.
Matthew
www.rockettheme.com/forum/index.php?f=11...form}&rb_v=viewtopic
JEM wrote:Check the documentation or post in the developer's forum.
Most form components offer the option for both.
For example, in RS!Forms, by placing the code {rsform 1} in an Article, 'form 1' is loaded into the Article, using {rsform 2} loads 'form 2', etc. - Thanks,
jim
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