Check Buttons In Contact Form.

krabydick · 2016-08-13 19:03:52

Is it possible to add check buttons to the contact form? (maybe a feature request) That way I could use a contact form as a questionnaire where the user can just select a button from a list of options instead of having to type a response.

Kind regards

Richard

rod barbee · 2016-08-13 22:53:24

would also like radio buttons, drop-downs, and text areas.

You can create your own via html (or php, I suppose) and insert into the page copy area, though a bit of a hassle.

If you're using WordPress in any part of your site, there are a lot of really good form builders like Contact Form 7 (free) and Gravity Forms

krabydick · 2016-08-13 23:40:45

My site is built entirely in/on backlight+pages add on

I have a questionnaire page at the minute which is a contact form with around 20 fields. It works pretty well, but every question requires a typed answer which I'll I feel is a bit much as a follow up to an inquiry.

Google forms is another option, but it would be better if I could keep the look and feel of my website.

Maybe a backlight add on, Backlight Forms?

Last edited by krabydick (2016-08-13 23:44:47)

rod barbee · 2016-08-14 00:59:19

not sure if dropping the html for a contact form into the copy area will work. I tried simply copying the code from my contact page and pasting it into the copy area of a new page. The form seemed to work but it made weird things happen in the Page Copy area in the page editor.

krabydick · 2016-08-14 02:01:24

This is what I have at the minute http://pretty-flash-photography.co.uk/questionnaire 15 fields but I would like more.

Daniel Leu · 2016-08-14 02:10:51

It works, kind off.... stage.danielleu.com/google-form... as long as you don't want to add or change the styling from the page and are happy with the default styling.

This is what I did:

Created a new Google Form
Switched to the old Google Form editor: The new form editor has a help option on the bottom right corner. There I switched back to the old forms
In the old editor, select menu File -> Embedd...
Copy the iframe text and add it to the copy section of your page

Two things I don't like: the iframe approach is not responsive with the entire form having a fixed size and applying custom styles using CSS is very tricky as it requires some javascript magic.

krabydick · 2016-08-14 03:25:21

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for your input.

Is there a reason that you opted to switch to the old forms? As the new form also has the embed option?

Like you say, it is a workable option with a bit of styling http://pretty-flash-photography.co.uk/? … googleform

But being none responsive is a major drawback

Daniel Leu · 2016-08-14 05:13:32

Is there a reason that you opted to switch to the old forms? As the new form also has the embed option?

Because I didn't find this option with the new forms.....

But now I did: Click on 'send' and then select '<>'. Copy the embedded HTML code and paste it in the page copy section.

dlangan · 2016-11-03 01:14:01

rod barbee wrote:

not sure if dropping the html for a contact form into the copy area will work. I tried simply copying the code from my contact page and pasting it into the copy area of a new page. The form seemed to work but it made weird things happen in the Page Copy area in the page editor.

This is exactly what's happening to me today! Eventhough my customised page looked good, I returned to the page editor & weird things happened & I re-saved (without making any changes) & it broke my page.

Is it an html incompatibility issue? I validated & cleaned up my html code in the hope that it would fix the weird things but to no use.

How can I determine the version/flavour of html that backlight/pages is using? The reason I ask is because I then tested an out of the box backlight/pages page & the validator complained (about propietary usage) & gave errors. So I'd like to be able to use the correct validator for whatever backlight is using & hope to pin point the problem in my (old) html code.

Thanks!
Deirdre

rod barbee · 2016-11-03 01:19:56

Backlight is using the latest HTML5. Not sure what version of php Ben is using to write all the code though.

are you trying to add a customized contact form to a page?

if more form options are not in the future of Backlight (I wouldn't be surprised if they do show up) you can always use a WordPress plug-in and create your own page with whatever you need (Contact Form 7 is free and works great for things like questionnaires and surveys).
For example: http://workshops.barbeephoto.com/worksh … tionnaire/

That would require you get the Backlight WordPress add-on module

dlangan · 2016-11-03 01:29:45

Hi Rod,

Okay, thanks for that. I'm not sure what HTML version my (current/old) website is using but I wrote it 10yrs ago so it won't be HTML5!

Yes I'm trying exactly that here http://www.deirdrelangan.com/TTG-TEST/about/

I'm happy enough with the page appearance & was happily tweaking it & making changes in the page editor & refreshing it on another web browser & all was going well until I exited the page editor to go work on a new page.

But when I came back to make a further change on the page editor of this contact/about page, the buttons from my form & location map are actually showing up in the page editor. When I clicked to save it then broke the webpage.

Any ideas?

dlangan · 2016-11-03 01:40:48

Hi Rod, For some reason I didn't see the second half of your answer first time around.

Thank you, I do have the Wordpress add-on module but I'm developing add-on fatigue. This form works fine for me on my old website so I was really hoping to reuse & recycle rather than having to learn about & download a new plugin every time I want to do something slightly different.

I didn't realise backlight would present such a steep learning curve :-(

Many thanks for your help on all of my issues to date :-) Much appreciated.

dlangan · 2016-11-03 03:21:54

So, it's taken me all day but finally I found the issue & culprit on my contact form (which is using formmail).

This was causing the problem:
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<strong>Comments or query</strong>
</td>
<td valign="top">
<textarea name="comments" rows="6" cols="40"></textarea>

</td>
</tr>

All of my other input fields are very similar so I've narrowed the problem down to either the "rows" or the "textarea" elements. My day here is over so haven't had a chance to research the fix for this but I am just so happy to have found the problem & am sharing in case it helps any of you guys!

:-)
Deirdre

rod barbee · 2016-11-03 04:21:22

I'd suggest waiting a bit for Ben and Matt to chime in before spending too much extra brain power on this. It may be easy for them to add features to the contact form designer. (or not, sometimes the things that seem easiest are actually difficult)

Another option (that could help your brain melt a little) would be to see if an html form could be inserted into a page using phplugins. But let's see what Matt and Ben say first before diving into that rabbit hole.

Ben · 2016-11-03 06:16:48

We target PHP between 5.2 and 7. If anything PHP-specific doesn't work within that range then we consider it a bug.

The Contact Form is just that, and not a questionnaire builder or survey tool.

rod barbee · 2016-11-03 07:05:44

The Contact Form is just that, and not a questionnaire builder or survey tool.

That being the case, I then suggest that if one needs a more sophisticated form (check boxes, radio buttons, drop-downs), to use the Backlight WordPress module to create a theme. Then create a WordPress page that contains a contact form.
A couple of good choices for contact form plug-ins:
Contact Form 7 (free) https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/
Gravity Forms (paid) http://www.gravityforms.com/

they're easy to use and easy to manage.

Community @ The Turning Gate

#1 2016-08-13 19:03:52

Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#2 2016-08-13 22:53:24

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#3 2016-08-13 23:40:45

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#4 2016-08-14 00:59:19

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#5 2016-08-14 02:01:24

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#6 2016-08-14 02:10:51

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#7 2016-08-14 03:25:21

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#8 2016-08-14 05:13:32

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#9 2016-11-03 01:14:01

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#10 2016-11-03 01:19:56

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#11 2016-11-03 01:29:45

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#12 2016-11-03 01:40:48

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#13 2016-11-03 03:21:54

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#14 2016-11-03 04:21:22

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#15 2016-11-03 06:16:48

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

#16 2016-11-03 07:05:44

Re: Check Buttons In Contact Form.

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