When creating forms and views for your client, there comes a point (especially when creating more than one form/view for them) that it becomes quite helpful to create a "Landing Page" for the client to access all their content. This is especially helpful when you have created more than one form for the client and also have created a view for each form. This post explains the process of creating a landing page. Requirements: A current form w/ possible accompanying view for viewing data / downloading entries. Landing Page Creation Procedure: Create a new page. Give page appropriate title (e.g. "_Your_Department_" Landing Page) Create a direct link to form (this is helpful so they always know the URL to link to that form) If an accompanying view exists, create a link to view directly below the previously created form link. When creating a link for a view, wrap the URL to the view in the following SSO login link to ensure the user is prompted to log into WordPress if they aren't already (i.e. https://sites.ewu.edu/secureforms/wp-login.php?redirect_to=http://sites.ewu.edu/secureforms/view/your_view_url_here) Repeat steps 3 and 4 for any additional forms/views you wish to create links for. Publish this page and send the URL to your client for them to bookmark. View Functional Landing Page Example A few important points to note: There should be no security roles set for this page so that your client can access the page freely. Ensure that the view is secured appropriately with the proper role so that no unauthorized access can be made to view and/or download entries.

Prerequisite Topics Editing Form Fields   Gravity Form fields can easily be configured to require a user response. (Link to Required Field documentation) Requiring a response in the drop-down field, however, is not quite as straightforward as other field types. The problem is that the drop-down field automatically selects the first option, and the form submission process cannot distinguish between the default selection and the user selecting the first option. Luckily, there is a straightforward fix for this. All you need to do is add a Placeholder to the field. You can add this on the "Appearance" tab of the Drop Down field options (see screen cap on right). This effectively adds a placeholder selection as the very first option in the drop-down list. The difference is that a value behind the selection is not present. This is an essential component to a required field. If the user does not select a new option, the required field will fail and the form will not be submitted until this is corrected. For a working example of this, please see the Required Drop Down Field Example. There are two required fields on this form. The first does not utilize a placeholder. Notice that it passes the required field test even if a selection is not made. The second drop down does utilize a placeholder. This will always fail until the user makes a selection.

Confirmation Note: if you are looking to send a confirmation email, see the Notification section lower down on the page After building a form within gravity forms, it is best practice to give the user a confirmation that their entry has been submitted. How to create a custom confirmation Open the form editor. In the top bar click Settings Then select Confirmations  Click the Add New button (or edit the Default Confirmation if desired), Then choose which confirmation type you would like for the users Text: which you can customize the message for the users Page: will allow you to redirect your users to another WordPress page on your site Redirect: will allow you to redirect your users to any public URL Make sure you click Save Confirmation when you are happy with your message Test the form Notifications After building a form within gravity forms, you may want to send the submitter (or someone else) an email notification that their entry has been submitted. How to create a custom notification Open the form editor. In the top bar click Settings Then select Notifications  The screen you see at the step allows you to specify which notification the user will receive. This is the default notification. It emails the contents of the submission to the website admin email. Click the Add New button (or edit the Admin Notification and rename it accordingly). Fill out the with the information needed to send the email confirmation. You can populate the body of the email (and the subject)  with information collected in your form by clicking the "Insert Merge Tag" tool - {..} Click Save/Update Notification Test your form and publish when ready!

Gravity Forms is a plugin that allows you to create forms to collect information from your users. You can use Gravity Forms to create forms for many purposes, such as contact forms, applications, work requests, surveys, and more. If you do not have Gravity Forms, you can request it here. If you do have Gravity Forms activated, you can follow the steps below to create a form. 1. Select Forms in the Admin sidebar While you are logged into WordPress, go to the dashboard of your site. You can find Forms in the admin sidebar. There are two ways to start a new form. You can hover over Forms in the sidebar and select the New Form option, or you can click on Forms and click the Add New button at the top of the page. 2. Fill in Form Title and Form Description After you click on New Form or Add New, a window will pop up and prompt you to fill in the Form Title and Form Description. The title is a required field, while the description is optional. If needed, you have the option to change the title or description at a later time. After you fill in the required fields, click Create Form. 3. Add fields After you click Create Form, you can start building your form. On a form without any fields, in the space where you will build your form, Gravity Forms will display some helpful steps to get started. You can use these steps as a reference in addition to this article. To add a field, select one from the expandable accordions on the right side of the page. Fields are organized beneath these accordions. For a description of each type, hover over the question mark next to the accordion's title. To add a field to your form, simply click on the desired field, and it will appear at the bottom of your form. You can also drag and drop a field from the sidebar to wherever you want it on your form. 4. Edit fields When you hover over a field, it will be highlighted in blue with a bar across the top. Within that bar, you have a few options. You can click the arrow to expand and edit the options for that field. You can click on the pages icon to duplicate the field. You can click the X to delete the field. You can click and hold down on the bar to grab the field, then drag and drop it anywhere on your form to reorder your fields. When you click the arrow, the field will expand to show all options for that field. Here you can edit the field to add your own labels and choices. You can also choose the appearance of the field and configure advanced behavioral options. For more information about editing field options, see our article, Editing Form Fields. 5. Save form When you have finished adding and editing your fields, click the Update button at the bottom of the form editor on the right side of your screen to save your new form. You also have the option to cancel your changes or move your form to Trash. After you save your form, it will appear on your forms list, which means you are now able to add it to a page or post. To edit your form at a later time, go into Forms and click on the name of the form you wish to edit. Next Steps Editing Form Fields Adding a Gravity Form to a Page or Post

Prerequisite Topics Creating a Gravity Form Page Builder Basics  Once you have created a form, you can add it to any page or post on your site. To do so, follow these instructions: Adding a Gravity Form to a Page or Post While logged in to WordPress, go to the dashboard of your site. In the sidebar, select Pages or Posts. Then select the page or post you want to edit or create a new page or post. On the Edit Page or Edit Post page, there is a Text Editor. Within the Text Editor, in the top right, there is a button that says Add Form. When you click Add Form, a window will pop up. From the drop-down, select the name of the form you want to add. Then choose whether or not to display the form's title and description. You can also click on Advanced Options to expand the menu if you want to configure them. After you select the form you want to insert and set display options, click Insert Form. A shortcode will then appear within your text editor. This will appear as the actual form when viewing the post or page. Adding a Gravity Form with Page Builder When Page Builder is active, you may notice that the Add Form button is not available when you edit a page or post. Fortunately, there is a way to add forms even while Page Builder is active. (For more information about Page Builder, check out our article, Page Builder Basics.) First, navigate to the page or post you want to add the form to. Then launch Page Builder in the Edit page or by clicking Page Builder in the WordPress admin toolbar. Once Page Builder is launched, search for WordPress Widgets in the sidebar. If the sidebar is not visible, press Add Content. Click on WordPress Widgets to expand its options. Find the option called Form. Then drag and drop Form anywhere on your page, just as you would with a Page Builder module. A window will pop up where you can edit widget settings. As before, select the title of your form in the drop-down. Click Advanced Options to expand those options, if you wish to configure them. You can also edit the Advanced tab in the module settings, just as you can with any other module. For more information about Advanced Module Settings, see our article about editing modules. When you are done editing your form's settings, click Save. Your form now exists on your post or page. But remember, you still must save your changes when you exit Page Builder. To save your changes, click Done in the Page Builder header. Publish Changes to make your changes visible to the public right away, or Save Changes and Exit to keep them as a draft.  

Prerequisite Topics Creating a Gravity Form  After you add a field to your form, you can then edit it. To edit a field, hover over the field you would like to edit and click the upper right-hand arrow to expand the field's options. When editing a field, you will be presented with three tabbed sections: General, Appearance, and Advanced settings. Because different fields function in different ways, they also have different settings. However, there are some options seen on all or most types of fields. These are detailed by section below: General Field Label - The label of the form field. This is the title of the field the user will see when they view your form. Description - The description of the form field. This will provide some direction to the user for how the field should be filled out or selected. Rules - Contains properties that set how data should be handled Required - A required field will prevent a form from being submitted if it has not be filled out or selected. Required fields will be marked with a red asterisk. No Duplicates - Requires that a value entered in that field does not currently exist in the entry database for that field. This is most often used for things like usernames, where the entry must be unique. For the most part, it is unlikely there will be any need for this rule to be checked, so use with caution. Choices - Add choices to the field. You can mark a choice as selected by default by clicking the radio button next to the choice or choices. You can add choices with the plus sign and remove choices with the minus sign. Appearance Placeholder - Displays a hint at the expected output within a field. This is for display purposes only and is not submitted with the form. Description Placement - Determines where the description will be placed, either above or below the field. Custom Validation Method - If you have a custom error message, place it here to override the default. Custom CSS Class - Enter one or more CSS class names (separated by a space) if you would like to override the form's default styling with custom CSS. You can also add CSS Ready Classes here. Field size - Select desired field width from available options. Advanced Admin Field Label - Enter a value in this field to override the Field Label when viewing the form in the Gravity Forms administration tool. Default Value - If you would like to set a value of a field to a default, you can specify one here. Depending on the field type, you can set a static value or select a value from the predefined list. Visibility - Set the visibility for the field. A field set to Everyone will be visible to all users who are viewing the form. A field set to Admin Only will be visible only while viewing the form in the Gravity Forms administration tool. Allow field to be populated dynamically - Check this option to enable data to be passed into the form and populated into the field dynamically. See Gravity Form's article about populating fields dynamically for more information. To see them in action, check out our example form: dynamically populated fields. Enable conditional logic - Create rules to show or hide this field based on values entered in another field. To use conditional logic, you will need to create a drop down, checkbox or multiple choice field. For more information, check out our article or our example form: conditional logic. Other Settings This list covers most of the options you will see, but because many fields have special configuration options, you will likely come across some you are unfamiliar with. Fortunately, there are some resources available to you. If you are confused about a configuration option, you can hover over the question mark next to its title to see a description. To see in-depth explanations of all configuration options for a single specific field, check out Gravity Form's Form Fields. When you are finished editing your form, click the Update button at the bottom of the form editor on the right side of the page to save your form.

Prerequisite Topics Creating a Gravity Form Editing Form Fields   Conditional logic is a powerful tool for making your forms more dynamic and intuitive. Enabling conditional logic allows you to create rules to show or hide fields based on values entered in another field. Essentially, a field will only show if a certain choice is selected in another field. For example, our Request A Plugin form uses conditional logic. If you select I know what plugin(s) I need, then a new field with list of plugins will appear and you can make your selection. That extra field appears on the condition that you know which plugin you want. Otherwise, it remains hidden. Conditional Logic Best Practices Performance issues have been identified in forms that utilize a large amount of conditional logic. To minimize delays while conditional logic fields process, it is best to ensure you use these tips: If you want to show or hide more than one field based on a condition, it is best to group them using a Section and have one condition for the Section itself. That way, only one check must be completed for the section versus a check for each field. You can make the label for the section empty which essentially makes the section invisible. Remember to start a new section after the last field that should be included in the conditional logic group. You can also use conditional logic with pages themselves if that would work for your form. For a more in-depth explanation of how to use conditional logic with Gravity Forms, check out their article: Enable Conditional Logic. To see conditional logic at work, see our example form: Conditional Logic. More resources: Conditional Logic in Gravity Forms Confirmations Setting Up Conditional Payments in Gravity Forms  

Prerequisite Topics Creating a Gravity Form Editing Form Fields  Ready Classes are bits of code that you can add to a field to override the form's default styling. Ready Classes are useful because they allow you to quickly and easily create alternative layouts for your form without having to know or write any code. For example, rather than each field existing on its own line, you can use Ready Classes to create a two- or three-column layout and align fields side by side. Gravity Forms has already created extensive documentation about Ready Classes. To learn more about what Ready Classes are, how to use them, what classes are available and what each class does, check out Gravity Forms' guide: CSS Ready Classes. To see Ready Classes in action, see our Ready Classes example form.

This article is brought to you by EWU's Department of Education: Maxine Holden Step Type Function Use Case Approval Step To allow for review of a submission with the options to refuse, return for revision or accept. This step is used when a submission needs to be reviewed. For example, the EDUC 420 Candidacy Confirmation Form uses the approval step for faculty advisers and education staff to review and approve a candidate's submission. The approval step grants two options to the reviewer: to approve or reject the submission. When used with the user input step, a third option is introduced provide feedback and request the form be revised. User input To allow a user to revise a submission. This step is used when more than one user needs to access and provide content for a single form, such as the Application for Admission. The form, once submitted by the prospective candidate, can be accessed by the designated faculty or staff to revise the form and provide feedback before the submission process is closed. This step can be used in conjunction with the Approval Step to allow the original user to make revisions to their submission based upon feedback. This set up is used for the EDUC 420 Candidacy Confirmation. Endorsement advisers and EDUC office faculty or staff have the option to revert the form to the candidate. Once revisions are made, the candidate returns the form to the faculty or staff who made the request and the workflow can continue once the changes are approved. Notification To notify a user when an action has been completed, when a condition exists (i.e., a low score) and to provide records of saved and submitted forms to users. The notifications are used on all forms. In addition to sending copies via email for record keeping and verification of completion, conditional logic enables the system to send a notification when specific conditions exist. For example, the Performance Verification Assessments (PVAs) are set up with a condition to notify supervisors and the Director of Assessment if a candidate scores below 60%. New Entry To move data from one submission to a new form. This step is used to transfer data from one submission to another by linking workflows. The Educational Leadership Daily Time Log uses this step in order for the hours reported by an intern to be separated from the additional information provided for program use, enabling the mentor principal to review relevant information, solely. This step is also used when a condition is specified in a form and a second form is provided based upon that condition, utilizing ^is step to save the user the time of needing to replicate information that has already been provided. Update an Entry To move data from one submission to an existing form. This step will be implemented on the Program Plans for the 2017-2018 academic year. This will allow for a candidate and/or there adviser to resubmit a plan and update the course sequence/schedule and the other information collected. PDF To generate a PDF copy of a submission with the option of formatting the content. This step is combined with the notification function to send a PDF copy of a submission to the appropriate user, with the option to tailor the content and format the template. The Application for Field Experience is generated as a PDF copy and sent to a staff member to be stored in the Department Share-Drive. From the shared location, the PDFs are sent to partnering schools when searching for student teaching placements. Form Submission To hold progression of a workflow until the submission of a required form is complete. This step will be implemented in the Application for Admission Process. Three faculty members will provide feedback on a prospective candidate’s application and their review forms must be submitted before the workflow can close. This step will allow for two separate forms to connect the workflows processes. Parent-Child Forms To allow for a child submission to be linked with a parent submission. This will be in use the 2017-2018 academic year for the Admission Application to enable faculty and staff to complete a rubric for a prospective candidate's application process, which can be visible to other faculty staff, but not alter the original submission by the prospective candidate. Permissions To grant users permission. This is used to restrict or enable functions by a user or user group. Confirmations To inform the user that they have successfully submitted their form, redirect to a page or to move data via query string. Confirmations are used to inform the user that they have successfully submitted a form. Query strings are also used to move information from one submission to another and are used in the Education Department for running totals. The Educational Leadership Daily Time Log carries totals the hours from each submission so that interns can track how many hours have been completed. Confirmations are also used to redirect the user Status Updates To inform users of their submission's progress through the workflow. We send notifications to provide updates on forms that have multiple review steps. The Program Plans as well as the EDUC 420 Candidacy Confirmation Form are set to inform users when their form has been reviewed and who the next person in the workflow will be. This enables candidates to contact a faculty/staff member and inquire about their submission or inform their course instructor of the form's progress. Reminders To remind a step assignee to complete a task. Reminders are sent at pre-set time frames (we generally opt for one week after a submission and one time a week, subsequently) to prompt an assignee. We have found this to be especially helpful for advisers who often request to meet with a candidate before approving a submission. Timeline To track the entire process of the form from submission to the completion of the \workflow. This includes documentation of dates and times when actions are completed, notes that are added to the timeline, and feedback that is given to a candidate. The Timeline is utilized primarily by faculty and staff, although it is available to candidates, and it is left visible to users. The feedback that is given to a candidate can be documented in the Timeline. Faculty frequently choose to provide feedback to candidates on the Plans and this feedback can be submitted to the instructor of a class as well as serving as guidance for the candidate, for example, suggesting an alternate class for the candidate's coursework. Since the Gravity Flow fields can be displayed in the data table view, the feedback is easily accessible. Note Field To add documentation to the Timeline or to include a note to another user in a notification. The note field enables a user to provide feedback or to comment on a submission. This note is added to the timeline, but we utilize the note field for faculty and staff to send feedback and requests to candidates; in particular, meeting requests and revisions to the submission. Inbox To view submissions and interact with the workflow. The inbox can be accessed by site administrators through the site dashboard, or by using the shortcode to embed the inbox in a page for site visitors or members with limited access. From the inbox, users can view all submissions pending review and interact with the workflow. Instructions To provide guidance on completing a workflow step. Instructions are provided for ail forms with workflow steps to inform users of what is requested of them and to direct them on working within the interface. Field Editing To control which fields are editable by an assignee.  When assigning a workflow step, the field editing option allows for fields to be displayed, without enabling the assignee to alter their content, in addition. Gravity Flow offers the option to highlight editable fields in the user's view. The Education Department uses this on most Gravity Flow steps to ensure that information such as a name, email, or scores, are not altered. Additionally, it directs the user's attention to the fields they can edit. Short Code and Admin View To display a Gravity Flow function, such as the inbox, through the user's interface or within the administrator view. The shortcode is utilized for all assigned workflow steps for the Education Department, as few faculty who complete the assigned steps are also site administrators. Additionally, users who do have administrative access have indicated a preference for receiving the link to view the submission in the page view, rather than working within the administrator view. This also allows the majority of our users, candidates and their mentor teachers, to interact with the workflows. Visibility To select which fields will be visible to a step assignee. All form fields can be displayed or hidden in the workflow as users complete various steps. In the Education Department, the visibility of fields is limited to reduce the amount of content displayed to ease a user's experience, or to provide privacy. Gravity Flow features can also be displayed or hidden; examples include the timeline, the note field, etc. Workflow Reporting and Tracking To track the progress of a single submission or to have a large scale view of the performance of a form, step, assignee, or the overall system. Tracking enables an administrator to see where a submission is in the workflow process. The reporting function is utilized for programmatic review, to evaluate the overall performance of a form and evaluate the practices and procedures around the form. Additionally, this feature is beneficial for reporting purposes to show the progress the department has made._

What is Gravity Forms? It’s a way to build forms on WordPress. It has user-friendliness that comes by having drag and drop buttons to make the form. What can I do with Gravity Forms?       Secure Forms EWU provides 3 different ways to have forms online. One is through Microsoft 365, one is an EWU one and the last one is Secure Forms through Gravity Forms. You can find links for all three here. This page had more information and some TOS on Secure Forms. Below is a table comparing the 3 form options and the features they have. This can help you determine what is best for your use.  Feature Office 365 Forms Gravity Forms Full Service Forms Standard Fields ✓ ✓ ✓ Mobile Ready Forms ✓ ✓ ✓ Email Notifications ✓ ✓ ✓ Conditional Logic ✓ ✓ ✓ Field Validation ✓ ✓ Name Field ✓ ✓ Address Field ✓ ✓ Multi-page Form ✓ ✓ Email Field ✓ ✓ Calculations Fields ✓ Anti-Spam ✓ ✓ File Upload ✓ Styles & Layouts ✓ ✓ Polls ✓ ✓ Data Export ✓ ✓ Reporting Dashboards ✓ ✓ Web Analytics ✓ Workflow ✓ Simple Approval ✓ ✓ Advanced Survey ✓ Save & Continue ✓ WordPress Integration ✓ Database Storage Answers to forms can be stored with Gravity Forms and be exported so you can view them in something like Microsoft Excel Conditional Logic Logic can be set up so that if a particular answer is picked, other options show up. For example, in a form someone answers ‘Yes, I live in student housing’ then the form can be set up to show (or hide) another question. Another question that could show up in response to the first answer is Which dorm do you live in?” Notification Routing Notifications can be sent out and modified for each individual form. For example, if you would be notified when the form gets filled out or when someone marks a certain answer or if something on your end needs to be completed. It can be set up so that you get an email. Or the user can have an email sent to them to notify them of their answers Anti-Spam Features Uses tools such as Akismet (a preinstalled plugin) and ReCAPTCHA to prevent spam forms from being submitted. Advanced Calculations This can be used for calculations (like adding up items) as well as to create dynamically populated forms. An example of a dynamically populated form is to have one contact form for the whole office but setting it up so that form gets send to who the person wants to contact.