Introduction

Record Controller is the plug-in for Smart Former Gold component. It provides the full management of forms submissions from both front-end and back-end. Users can come back to the form and edit it. Admin can permit or discontinue permissions for editing.

The plug-in can be purchased here. After the payment is made you will receive the email with your login details. Please use them to log in to //www.itoris.com and download the Record Controller and save it on your PC.

 

Installation

To install Record Controller you should have Smart Former Gold installed and activated. Please open the admin area and select Smart Former Gold (SFG) from the menu (Components –> Smart Former Gold -> SFG Plugin Manager). You will see the page with all your SFG plug-ins and the ability to install new plug-ins.

Under the list of plug-ins there is the ability to browse and upload the new plug-ins. Please click the Browse button to find your version of Record Controller on your PC and upload it. After it is uploaded – you will see it in the list of SFG plug-ins.

If you see the Record Controller – then it is successfully installed and activated. Now it is ready for use.

If you do not see the Controller or got an error during the installation – please contact Support Department. You will get the contact details in the email together with the login details.

To make Record Controller work correctly please make sure that when you create a form it saves data once only (on the last step normally). I.e. if your form has several pages – you tick Save Data checkbox in the properties of your buttons only for the last Submit button.

 

Usage - Records

After the Record Controller is installed – please set it to suit your needs. To set and use it please Open the main page of SFG (Components –> Smart Former Gold -> Form Manager). In the top bar you will see the additional button RecordControl.

Please click the RecordControl button. Here you will see all submissions (records) of all your forms. The records are sorted by default to newest first. Please use the filer above the records to select the ones from one form only. The following data is available here:

 

Submission Time

Date and time when the form has been submitted (this current record created). If the plug-in has been set after the form has been submitted, the previous records will have the empty filed here. The data is added here one time and is not changed any longer.

 

Last Edit Time

Date and time when the record has been edited last. This filed will be changed with every editing of the record.

 

Status

Status of the record (published/unpublished). If the record is unpublished, then it is not editable from the front-end any longer.

 

Form name

The name of the form this record belongs to.

 

Form ID

ID of the form.

 

Username

The name of the user who has added the record (submitted the form). If your form is available to non-registered users and the user has not been logged in while submitting the form - then you will see “Site visitor” here.

 

Preview

This link allows viewing the record via the back-end.

 

Link to the form

The direct URL of the form – front-end.

 

Hash

This is a unique link for each record. It will open the filled form (it should be used for editing from the front-end the previously submitted form). If you want your users to edit the previously submitted form – you can email this link.

To email this link you should set your form so that your users receive notification email after they submit the form (please see Smart Former Gold’s manual for more details). In the email template please add the dynamic variable (selectable from the drop down menu in email templates) {return_url}. Your user will receive the direct link to the form which will be used for editing later on.

The records submitted before you install Record Controller will not have Hash link.

 

Settings

The settings of Record Controller can be made and changed if you click Settings button on the main plug-in’s page (see the image above).

When the button is clicked – you will see the list of your forms and all settings available for them. Different forms can have different settings.

To check which properties your form has for now – put your mouse over the property near the form. You will see the hint with explanation.

The following settings are available for the forms:

 

Registered users access only

By default the form can be submitted by both logged in user and visitors. This setting allows form’s submission/editing for the logged-in users only. If the not logged-in user tries to open the form – he/she will see the error message “Only registered users can work with this form”.

If you need this setting for one form only – please click the default red cross icon () of the appropriate column near the form. If you need this setting for several forms – please tick them and press Registered only button in the top bar.

- all users can submit/edit the form

- logged in users only can submit/edit the form

In the image below Form 1 and Form 3 can be submitted by logged in users only. Form 2 and Form 4 can be submitted by all users:

 

Limit one record for one user

By default the logged in users can submit the same form as many times as they wish. If you need that each user can submit the same form one time only – please use this setting.

Here we deal NOT with editing, but with initial submission. E.g. if you have a Contact Us form, each user in your system can contact you as many times as he/she needs. But if you have a Survey form – you can allow your user to submit it once only, though he/she can edit later on the submission. But he/she can not start a new survey with the same form.

- the number of submissions per one user is NOT limited

- a user can submit the form once only

 

Allow editing form records

By default users can not edit their previously submitted form. This setting allows to edit the submitted forms from the front-end. Each user should have a unique URL to the form (Hash). When he/she opens the previously submitted form using this URL – the form will be filled in with the previous data.

- users can NOT edit their previously submitted form

- users can edit their previously submitted forms

Please make sure your users have the unique URL (Hash) to their previously submitted form is you want the form to be editable. Either include this URL to the email or provide it to your users in some other way.

If the form is not allowed for editing, when a user tries to open the form using the Hash – he/she will see the following error message “This form is not available for editing”.

 

Status of record after submitting

By default the status of the record is unpublished after submit. It provides the admins with the ability to check the record before allowing it to be visible on the front-end.

- record is unpublished. It is not visible from the front-end

- record is published. It is visible from the front-end

Please make sure the status is published if you want the ability for your users to edit their submissions later on.

This can be used is you use forms to add the content to your site.

 

Disable access after X days ("0" - no limitation)

Here the number of days during which the record can be edited from the front-end is set. After the time is over – if users try to open the form using the Hash – they will see the following error message “Time for editing of this form is out”.

If "0" is set here – the form can be edited with no time limitations.

To set the limitation please add the number of days to the forms and use Apply/Save buttons from the top bar to save the change.