[Resolved] multiple fields of information on one row, multiple questions

[Author]

Posts

[davidK-17]

Hello, I'm fairly new to Toolset so forgive me if my questions are a novice-like. I've tried to search the community board but was unable to find solutions to these questions so I've decided to try to reach out and see how the community is.

I have a website: hidden link of which I am trying to use Toolset to create a workflow to enhance our customer's experience in shipping items.

Originally I went with Gravity Forms but realized I outgrew it's functionality fairly quickly .

If you go to hidden link you will see the Gravity Forms form that we currently use. This is a shipping request form that customers fill out to request their packages be sent through us. For one time users, it is fine, but we have customers that come in and want to ship 5 or 10 packages and they must fill it out each time.

I am hoping to use Toolset to create a user login area where they can update their address, and also keep track of a contact address book of previous shipments. This contact address book would be visible only to the logged in user (and Admins). Customers could edit / add / delete addresses from an address book page.

Should a customer be logged in, the form should automatically add their (sender's) address and then allow them to either look up previous addresses stored or create a new address (which can be stored for future use. I'm thinking somehow this could create an "address book" custom post within the "SF Express" custom post.

The customer can add multiple items within a row for each item type, and enter the quantity and declared value, etc.

Once the form is submitted, it then alerts our team via email as well as provides a "reference number" to the customer.

Our staff would then enter this into our back end system (although later I hope to put together a connector to the back end system to auto fill the information the customer provided). Once the staff has a tracking number, I am hoping to have a back end admin field that the staff can enter in the tracking information and then have the system email / text the customer with this information so that they can track it.

There are a few other tweaks and enhancements that I would want to do but basically that's the general idea and from what I saw with the examples on Toolset, it seemed to be the best match for me. Incidentally I was recommended by a developer to not go with WordPress but build a custom site, but for me, I want to use WordPress and Visual Composer to quickly and easily update the static pages (as well as WPML to do translations). A custom built site would lose my ability to create pages quickly, therefore, my going to Toolset.

----------
So what are my questions?

1) I am currently trying to make the form in Toolset. I have been able to create the general fields, and used the content wizard to drop them onto a page, but it shows the Post Name and Post Description fields. I can see that I can delete them but how do I actually name the post when the user submits it? I'm thinking the sender's name would suffice but if I had a combination of the Sender's name / Receiver's Name would be the fastest way for our staff to locate the submission in the post view on the back end.

2) I need to generate a "reference number" that is unique for each posting. I saw one comment saying that this is not possible to do but that they recommended using the Post ID which is unique. I'm okay with this, but how do I show on screen on the submission page as well in the email notification?

3) On the form, how do I create a multiple line of information (Item Description, Item Qty, Item Declared Value), where it is one add button for each row? Also can I make a computed field on the right that calculates the Qty and Value?

4) Is there a page that explains how to do calculated fields? I have several other fields I would like to add. Basically we have to determine the weight of the package which is either the actual package weight or the dimensional weight (Length x Width x Height in inches / 166). It would be very nice to add those fields to the form and then have a computed field show the customer the final weight (whichever is higher) as well as an estimated price (basically $6 per pound).

5) Is there a location where I can possibly get bids from Toolset developers on implementing all of this? I eventually would like to learn Toolset myself as I have other projects I think Toolset could be useful, but I'm finding the learning curve a bit complex and the time it will take to do what I need to do, I may need to try to pay for instead. We don't have a large budget ready for this as I intended on doing it myself, but I'm open to looking for developers to help.

6) In general, based on what I'm trying to do, is Toolset the right way to go? I research for quite a while and yet I'm not that experienced in WordPress plugins so there could be something more suitable for workflow and user interaction.

7) About Me: I used to be a Lotus Notes developer and really miss those days of being able to have a IDE that I can build quick forms and workflow interaction between different groups / departments. I always hoped to find a quick system to build similar workflows but via a web interface, where I could have really easy controls. I do not know CSS or PHP very well at all. As a business owner now, I unfortunately don't have time to get too deep into programming so I am looking for something as close to plug and play as possible. The less code manipulation the better...

Thank you very much for those that took the time to read this. I'm really hoping I can use Toolset as it sounds really like the best option out there, but definitely have a long way to go.

[Christian Cox]

Hi! Welcome to Toolset - I'll do my best to answer your questions one by one. Here in the support forum you'll typically get the fastest support by asking individual questions in separate tickets, for future reference.

1) ...how do I actually name the post when the user submits it?
You may use our CRED API and some PHP code to intercept the data before it is saved and modify it as you would like. Here's some information about how that works:
https://toolset.com/documentation/programmer-reference/cred-api/#csd

2) I need to generate a "reference number" that is unique for each posting. ...how do I show on screen on the submission page as well in the email notification?
Accessing the Post ID on the submission page isn't going to be possible, because WordPress does not predefine IDs before a post is created. It simply does not exist yet, and it is not possible to reliably determine what it will be. You may be able to generate some unique identifier using another plugin or custom code, which could be used as a custom field value by Toolset.

With that being said, once the form is submitted it's possible to access the Post ID, and you could display it to the user as a reference number. There are several options for what to do after a CRED form is submitted, and it's possible to show the reference number in a message, or redirect the user to a custom page with the full submission and reference number available.

You can access post ID, or any custom field value, in an email notification. More information about CRED notifications here:
https://toolset.com/documentation/user-guides/automated-email-notifications-with-cred/

3) On the form, how do I create a multiple line of information (Item Description, Item Qty, Item Declared Value), where it is one add button for each row? Also can I make a computed field on the right that calculates the Qty and Value?
Fields can be repeated in CRED forms, but sets of fields cannot. This is a bit tricky to accomplish but may be achieved using child posts and custom post types. Each "row" of fields will be essentially a new child post of the parent post. Here's a document about child posts and CRED:
https://toolset.com/documentation/user-guides/cred-forms-for-child-content/

Computed field - see below.

4) Is there a page that explains how to do calculated fields?
Are we talking about front-end calculations, that update as the user makes changes? On-the-fly value calculation based on custom field entry isn't something Toolset is designed to do well. This type of front-end data manipulation would require custom code, and unfortunately falls outside the scope of the support we provide here in the forums.
If we're talking about showing these numbers after the form submits, this is something that can be accomplished with the CRED API and custom fields. The link from above is helpful for this as well:
https://toolset.com/documentation/programmer-reference/cred-api/#csd

5) Is there a location where I can possibly get bids from Toolset developers on implementing all of this?
If you need professional help with this code, you can contact one of our certified partner contractors. Here is the list of our contractors:
https://toolset.com/consultant/

6) In general, based on what I'm trying to do, is Toolset the right way to go?
I think Toolset is perfect for about 80% of what you want to do. Storing addresses, notifying people automatically when forms are submitted, notifying people when post fields are changed, and allowing people to create content on the front-end of the site is all well handled by Toolset.

The ability to quickly and efficiently create multiple rows of data is a concern. The way to accomplish this in Toolset is centered around creating posts for each row of data, which requires hitting the server and database each time you add, remove, or modify the contents of a row. This might be slower than a custom solution where all the manipulation happens on the front-end (like a JavaScript app), and then changes are bundled up and passed to the server in one chunk.

Front-end calculation of values based on user input isn't supported, so you won't get that immediate feedback about each package until after a form is submitted.

7) I always hoped to find a quick system to build similar workflows but via a web interface, where I could have really easy controls...
I think Toolset excels at setting up custom post types, fields and taxonomies, defining relationships between them, allowing you to create Views and custom searches of these posts, and displaying the content of those posts on the front-end of the site. In most cases, you don't need any code knowledge to do these things. I don't think Toolset excels as a robust form builder, and at the moment creating groups of repeatable data is a bit of a limitation.

Let me know if I can help clarify any of this further - I'll be glad to help!

[davidK-17]

Hi Christian, Thank you so much for your full explanation on each of my items. I will be sure to send out separate questions next time.

I have been going through the tutorials (paired with a short nap while going through the first tutorial. It was really good but my brain was getting full so I had to get a few zzz's).

Right now, I'm going through the CRED tutorial and I'm seeing how I can make forms a bit better. I think I can use the Post ID as I only have to show the "reference number" after the submission.

I'm going to try out children posts for the addresses and also for the line items of products. I'm not fully sure if this will be a many to many relationship but I think I should be able to make three kinds of posts: addresses (Parent), product items (Child) and drop them into the shipping request form (Child). The reason is an address can be used on multiple shipping requests, and product items must be entered each time for the shipping request. It's a little weird to conceptualize for me because I see the shipping request form as the main source for gathering all of the information, but as address will be used over and over I think that is correct. I am not sure though what would happen if a customer tries to delete an old address, whether they will be restricted because the parent is tied to other posts... Yikes.

As for the total calculations, yes that is going to be a problem, I will have to see if I can find a javascript workaround somehow.

I will continue to try to scope through all of this and peruse the list of developers.

Again than you much for the responses, it is very helpful.