Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Disable emails from your feedback form

Your feedback form sends you a new data entry alert by default each time your feedback form is submitted.
This is the most basic thing in an email form, however some users wish to stop receiving these emails (some login regularly and find the emails redundant, some wish to have the emails sent to others by using a 'mailing list' option etc).

The form builder allows you to disable the emails sent to the account owner (you) in a very simple way.

All you need to do is:
1- enter your feedback form in the form builder.
2- go to the 'form settings' on the right.
3- turn on the 'disable emails' checkbox.
4- press on 'apply'.
5- save the form.

the next time someone fills in your feedback form you will not receive an email about it.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Create a chart based on your feedback form

Once data is entered in your feedback form you can view it as a report or as a chart. The chart is a graphic way of showing how the data is distributed, it is an analyzing tool and you can view your data using a chart or let others view it that way.
If, for instance, you have a feedback form with a field called 'feedback type' in it (which has 3 values: thanks, complaint, other).
You may want to create a chart based on this field and see how many people contacted you and complained versus the others who were satisfied.
Steps to create this chart:

1)Choose the 'New Chart' option from the 'Report & Chart' section in the toolbar of the form builder.

2)Choose the field you want to base your chart on, in this case 'feedback type'.

3)Field formula – leave this field empty.
Field formula can be used to create more complex charts, but it requires a numeric field and so if you do not have a numeric field in your form this field will not be useful to you.
In our example there was no numeric field in the form and so choosing a field formula was not possible.

4)Formula- there are three formula options: count, sum and average. Count is a formula which can always be used, as opposed to 'sum' and 'average' which may only be used when a numeric field formula is chosen.
Leave the 'count' formula selected.

5)Style - Choose one of the many styles listed: point, bubble, pyramid, pie, area, etc according to how you want to see the data.

6)3D - checkbox that determines if the chart has a 3d effect or not.

7)Image Type - Choose from one of image types listed. you may view the chart as a static image such as JPG image or as a dynamic flash image.

8)Press 'Apply'.

Please notice that the chart settings may be changed at all times by choosing the 'Edit Chart' option.

Making your feedback form continues

If your feedback form is long may you would like to consider turning it in to a continues form. A continues form is a multipage form. It is made out of separate individual forms and is a great alternative to long forms which have a scroll.
Since the continues form is not created like the regular forms in the form builder, but rather is a combination of several existing forms, you will need to create the forms first. When all separate forms are created all you will need to do is enter the 'continues form' option in the data center and choose the forms that will make up this continues form (and their order).

Steps to create a continues:
1. Give the continues form a name.


2. Choose the forms that will appear in the continues form. Please notice that each form has a number on its left side (starting with #1) – this defines the order in which the forms will appear.


3. Press on the "Save as continues form" button.


4. When your continues form is saved a publish section will appear on the right (publish method : URL). The generated code should be placed in the browser’s address bar to view/enter data in the continues form.


5. Once the continues form has been created it will appear in the data center under “My Continues Forms” and the following options will be available:

edit - Pressing on “edit” will direct you to the continues page again, where you can edit the data or publish the continues form.
Delete- Pressing on “delete” will delete the continues form. Please note that because the continues form is made out of independent forms, deleting it will not delete these forms but only the continues form you created from them.
Export - Pressing on “export” will open all the data collected in the continues forms in an excel sheet.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Customizing your feedback form report table

The data management tool in the form builder displays the entire data collected through your feedback form in a result table. In this table all the fields of the form are displayed by default(as columns).
If you wish to customize this table so only certain fields (certain columns) will appear you can do so using the "new report" or "filter" options.

Following are steps to customize your result table in the data management tool:
1-Press on the 'filter' icon in the 'data' section of the upper toolbar or on the 'new report' icon in the 'report & chart' section of the upper toolbar.
2-Use the filter terms to select the fields you would like to see in the result table and make sure that all of their 'show' checkboxes is turned on.

3-Press on 'apply'.
4-The result table will update and show only the fields you chose in the filter terms.

default results table - before the filter is applied


customized results table - after the filter is applied

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Filtering your feedback form data

When using FormLogix form builder all the data entered in your feedback form is automatically stored in a data management report in addition to being emailed to you.
The data management tool allows you to view all the feedback form data entries- edit them, delete them, add remarks, export and import data as well as open a private forum discussion with your form fillers.
A key feature in the data management tool is the filter option. It is designed to slice the data and enable you to focus on specific entries.

The data management report allows 2 kinds of filters:
1- quick filter
the quick filter, just like its name, is a way to quickly filter the data.



Steps to quick filter:
1) Press on the filter icon in the desired field header.
2) a small section will open under this header containing a filter term:
an 'operator' listbox, a 'where' textbox, and a 'go' button and 'clear' button.
3) Choose the operator (contains/doesn’t contain/=/!= etc.) and fill in the 'where' term accordingly. For example: if you wish to filter for all the entries where the contact purpose was 'Complaint' you can quick filter on the “contact purpose” field and fill in the following information:, operator: “contains”, where: “Conplaint”.
Notice that filling in the terms in the quick filter will also fill them in the main filter section of the “toolbox” above.
4) Press on "go" to apply the filter or press on the "clear" icon to clear the term from the filter rows.

2- Regular filter
the regular filter, like the quick filter, is based on filter terms.
When you open the filter feature in the “toolbox” you will find 3 filter term rows already open.
In order to slice the data you will need to use at least 1 filter term. This filter allows adding endless terms for slicing the data. it also allows you to define the relationship between terms by using a “and” and “or” between them.
For example
(or): you can look for people whose names start with W or start with A.
(and): you can look for people whose names begin with A and are smokers.
Steps to quick filter:

1) Fill in the first term row.
Choose the operator value and fill in the where field. (for example: name contains “a”)
Choose the operand 'and' /”or” to determine the relation between this term row and the next term row (if you use more than 1 term). Choosing 'and' means that only data entries that fit both row terms will be extracted while choosing “or” means that entries fitting either one term row or the other will be extracted.

Leave the show checkbox unchecked if you wish to see all form’s fields in the results.
by checking the 'show' checkbox you can choose to view only specific fields in the results table

2) Fill the second term row in the same way
if you are using only 2 term rows there will be no need to choose an operand on the second row since the relation between the two rows was already set in the first row.
3) Pick the number of rows you would like to see in the result table at once (* will show all rows in 1 page)
4) Press 'go'.

For those who wish to use the same filter again –you should consider saving the filter as a report. Read all about saving the filter in my next post.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Export your feedback form data

Data is constantly being stored in your Feedback form's data management result table and you can export it at all times in order to work in other formats.
The export option is also available for expired forms allowing the form owner to use the data even though the form is not active any more.

There a few available exporting options:Excel
XML
PDF Tabular (entries shown in a table)
PDF Continues (Each entry shown separately)
Report Tabular
Report Continues
CSV
Google Spreadsheet
Google Maps





Steps to export the data:
1- Enter the form builder 's data management tool and Get your data ready for export.
If you need to edit data-do it
if you need to export a slice of the data-filter it
etc.

2- fill In the “number of rows in page” (toolbox>filter> beneath of the filter terms). The reason for this is that the data entries shown on the first page of the report are the only ones that will be exported so you must first ensure that all the Data entries you want to export are displayed on this one page.





3- choose the export option and press “go”. An export window will pop up.

If for any reason the export pop up window doesn't open
If once trying to export your data (using one of our export options) the export pop up window does not open you will need to change your ie browser's security settings. The reason for this is that the explorer browser is set to identify and block a pop up window that tries to open a file.
steps to change this setting:

A- go to :
Internet options --->Security --->Custom level --->settings --->downloads
B - set automatic prompting for file download to enabled.
C - Save setting and close all dialog box

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Adding a textbox mask to your feedback form

Sometimes you need a special textbox in your form, which can only collect a certain kind of data (such as date or time). This kind of element does not exist as a basic
element in the form builder, but it can be created.

If, for instance, the you wish to collect date and time data in your feedback form, but in a different format than the one used by default he can do so by simply using this option. All you need to do is use a regular textbox and define a mask of
dd/mm/yyyy-HH:MM.

This option may also be applied on collection of alphanumeric codes and numbers (examples below).
examples of masks:
Date - dd/mm/yyyy
Time - HH:MM:SS
A code - x-nnnnn
A phone number - nn-nnnnnn

Mask Format:
In order to use the mask you need to use characters and delimiters as follows:
x- character for collecting alpha numeric data (using only lower case letters)
n- character for collecting only numeric data (using only lower case letters)
yyyy – character (made out of 4 chars) for collecting year data (using only lower case letters)
mm– character (made out of 2 chars) for collecting month data (using only lower case letters)
dd- character (made out of 2 chars) for collecting day data (using only lower case letters)
HH- character (made out of 2 chars) for collecting hour data (using only capital letters)
MM- character (made out of 2 chars) for collecting minute data (using only capital letters)
SS- character (made out of 2 chars) for collecting second data (using only capital letters)

Take Note!
Characters may only be used in the format specified above (for example the year character
may only be entered in 4 lower case letters: yyyy).
Only the x and n characters may consist of one or more chars (n or nn or nnn or nnnnnn etc).

Delimiters:
/ - used as a delimiter. For example: the date dd/mm/yyyy (27/11/2009)
: - used as a delimiter. For example: the time HH:MM:SS (12:32:45)
- used as a delimiter. For example: a phone number nn-nnnnnn (09-8871634 or 04-6543378)

How to Create a Mask
Steps to create a mask:
1- Drag a textbox element (in the form builder).
2- Go to the textbox's settings on the right.
3- Fill in the desired mask format.
Mask
4- Turn on the "mandatory" checkbox.
5- Press on "apply".
6- Save the form.

Monday, November 22, 2010

Receiving SMS alerts from your feedback form

Once someone fills in your feedback form you automatically receive a new data entry alert via email. This is the essence of an email form, but what if the email is not enough for you and you are not online a lot? you can use additional alerts - SMS Alerts.

FormLogix offers a great feature in its form builder - sms alerts - straight to your cellphone.
It is really easy to use this feature. all you need is:
1- to purchase an SMS Bulk.
This bulk is "per account". this means that you can be applied on any email form in the account (on several or even all the account email forms).
*You need to remember that this feature works only in active forms.
2- enter the form you wish to get alerts from.
3- go to the form settings on the right side.
4- Enter your cell phone number in the "SMS Alerts Cell Phone Number" field.

5- press on "apply"
6- save the form.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Feedback form emails

Once someone fills in your feedback form there are 3 types of emails which are sent:
1- a new data entry alert sent to the account owner
2- a carbon copy of the entered data sent to the form filler
3- a carbon copy of the entered data sent to specified mailing list addresses

1- A new data entry alert sent to the account owner
Once a form filler submits an entry in your feedback form you (the account owner) automatically receive a new data entry alert via email. This email is sent by default and its layout may not be customized.
If you no longer want to receive these emails you can turn on the “Disable Emails” checkbox in the form settings in order to stop them.

2- A carbon copy
of the form sent to the form filler

This option allows the form filler to receive a copy of his/her submitted data. This option is not active by default but rather depends on the use of an “email element”.

In order to activate this carbon copy all you need to do is:
A- select the email element in your form (if you have no email element in the form you will need to add one)
B- go to the “element settings” on the right
C- turn on the “send copy” checkbox
D- press on “apply”
E- save the form


The email sent to the form filler has a standard layout and looks like the one sent to the account owner, but you may add a message to it by using the Email User Message” option or customize it altogether by using the "Custom User Email" option.
*Please note that the customized email message will be applied on both form filler email and mailing list email.

3- A carbon copy sent to specified mailing list addressesThis option allows the form owner to share the data he is receiving by having it sent to other specified email addresses in addition to himself.

In order to use this option you need to:
A- enter your form in the form builder
B- go to the “form settings” on the right
C- enter email addresses in the “mailing list” textbox
D- press on “apply”
E- save the form

The email sent to the mailing list recipients, same as the one sent to the form filler, has a standard layout and looks like the one sent to the account owner. You may add a message to it by using the ” Email User Message” option or customize it altogether by using the “Custom User Email” option.
*Please note that the customized email message will be applied on both form filler email and mailing list email.

Add an email validation to your feedback form

It can be terribly frustrating to have someone fill in your feedback form with his wrong email address . These kinds of mistakes are common since we are all human. usually, email elements include a check to see if the email address is valid (if it's syntax is correct: if it has a @ sign in it, if it has a dot etc.) but this is not enough, since the form filler may have a typo in his entered address and it will still be valid (only the carbon copy will be sent to someone else).

The email validation is a great solution for making sure that the email address entered in your email form is correct (not fake or a typo). This proceedure is done in real time, forcing the form filler to validate his address prior to submitting the form.
This kind of solution might seem complex, but it is actually really easy when using a form builder.

How do you use the email validation feature - following are the steps to add an email validation:

1- Enter the form builder
2- Select your email element.




3- Go to the "element settings" on the right and turn on the "email validation" checkbox and the "mandatory" checkbox as well. The reason for turning on the "mandatory" checkbox is that in order for the email validation to work the field must be mandatory.



4- Press on "apply".
5- Save the form.
6-When a form filler will try to submit your form a window will appear, asking him/her to validate the email address.
The user will have to click on the link to send himself a validation email. Once this email arrives in the user's mailbox he/she will need to copy the key number in it to the validation textbox in the validation window.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Add a radio button to your feedback form

The radio button is an element which is designed to give the user a choice between a few options. It is very similar to the listbox element and is very useful in a feedback form.

Here are steps to use the radio button element:
1- enter the form builder and drag a radio button element.
The element will appear with 3 default values (radio o, radio 1 and radio 2) in a horizontal layout.


2- Select the radio button and go to its element settings on the right.

3- Change the element's caption text and tab index number.


4- Add the radio button items by pressing on the item picker button ()


5- you can change the radio button's horizontal layout to a vertical one by turning on the 'Vertical' checkbox. This will place the items one on top of the other.


6- You can also determine the space between the radio items by using the 'Width/Height' textbox. This option applies to horizontal as well as vertical radio buttons. Simply enter the space in pixels (for instance 50) and press on 'apply'.

Please notice that you will probably need to stretch the element's border once you use this option.

7- Save the form.

Related topic:
Read about the differences between a FormLogix form and a FormLogix gadget

How to purchase a feedback form

Once you finished creating your feedback form you will need to purchase a subscription for it in order to have it published and accessed by others.

The formLogix form builder has a free trial version . However, after 30 days this trial period a your feedback form will become inactive.

Purchasing a feedback form (or any other form) is really easy and is divided in to 2 steps:
A- making a form or bulk form order in the FormLogix 'Payment Center'.
B- Making the actual payment in PayPal. FormLogix does not handle its purchase transactions, it does not collect credit card numbers and such, but rather has a third party company – PayPal - do it for her.

There are 3 types of FormLogix subscriptions – you will need to review them in order to choose the most suitable for you:

1- Pay Per Form If you are interested in paying for only one or several forms (while leaving the rest of them in the free version) then this is a suitable option for you.

* Please notice that the 'per form' subscription enables you to purchase a basic subscription (for the chosen forms) and add these 3 special features: SSL, File Upload, Custom mailing (custom mailing is not available currently).
If you wish to include one, two or all of the above features you will need to turn on their checkboxes in addition before pressing on the "Buy Now" button.


2- Pay Per SubmissionIf you wish to base your subscription on a fixed number of submissions instead of on a certain time period than this is the option for you.
Once you choose this option all the forms in your account will function under the paid version. Each time someone fills in one of your forms the number of submissions will reduce by 1.
Please notice that this type of subscription does not include these 3 special features:
SSL, File Upload, Custom mailing.


3- Pay Per Account - VIP Subscription
If you wish to purchase an all included paid subscription for your entire account than this is the option for you. All you need to do is choose the period of subscription and all your forms will function under the paid version for that period of time.
* This subscription includes the 3 special features: SSL, File Upload, Custom mailing.


Steps to make a purchase:
1- Enter the 'Payment Center'.
2- Choose your subscription:
per form – choose the period of subscription for the form/s (6/12 months) and turn on the SSL, Uploads checkboxes if necessary.
Per submission- Choose the number of submissions (100/200/500).
Per Account- Choose the subscription period (1/6/12 months)
3- press on the 'buy now' button in the relevant subscription section.
4- Once you press this button an order confirmation email will be sent to you from FormLogix – This is only an acknowledgment that your order was received (remember – payment was not even made yet).
4-you will then be redirected to PayPal where you will be required to login and pay.

In addition to the 3 subscription types there is an option to purchase a bulk of SMS's in order to receive SMS alerts as well as emails. Read more about SMS Alerts.

The current/previous orders made are all stored in the payment history.

Monday, November 15, 2010

How to create a field template in the form builder

sometimes you create your feedback form and you know that you will need to use parts of it again in another form/s.
In such cases you can save these parts for future use as field templates.
Field templates may consist of a single element or several elements which are placed inside a container element.

Once you save your field template it will appear in your field template list for future use. Your field templates will not appear in other users' lists and their templates will not appear in your list.

Following are steps to create a field template:
1- drag a container element from the upper toolbar – elements section
2- drag the elements in to the container and place them in a layout of your choice.
3- Once the area is ready select the container by clicking on its handle on the side.
4- Press on the 'add a field template' icon in the upper toolbar – tools section.

5- You will then be asked to give the template a name – do so and press on 'ok'.

6- The template will now be saved and will appear in the 'template list' (open the list form use by pressing on the 'field template' icon).

7- If you wish to delete the field template you can press on the 'delete field template' icon.

Limit access to your feedback form with access management

Some users want their feedback form to be limited to certain people. For example a certain company wants to collect the feedback of its workers and not have the feedback form open to everyone.

The feature that deals with the form access is called 'access management'.

This feature allows you (the form owner) to limit the access to your form/public reports by creating a list of users who are permitted to access. Only the permitted users will have access to the feedback form. Once a user tries to reach your form, the FormLogix login page will appear instead of the form and the user will need to login in order to access the form.

Following are steps to limit the access to your form in the form builder:
1- Press on the 'access' icon of the relevant form in the 'data center'.

2- Once the access window opens you will need to enter the users who will be permitted to access one by one (their names and email addresses).

3- When you press on 'add user' his name will be added to the users list and a turned on checkbox will appear in the 'enter data' column (meaning that you are inviting him to access your form and fill it in).
4- In addition, when you press on the 'add user' button an email will automatically be sent to this person, informing him that he was granted access to your form. If this user is a FormLogix user then he will be able to login using his username and password. If the recipient is not a formLogix user an account will be set up for him and he will need to activate it in order to login.


At this point, if you have any public reports/charts they will appear in the 'public report' column and you will be able to turn on their checkboxes and send an invitation to view them as well (by pressing on "Send Invitation" after editing the access authorizations). You will also be able to turn off the 'enter data' checkbox if you wish, and grant access to view data and not submit it.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Creating a public report or chart based on your feedback form data

Some users want to make the data accumulated in their feedback form public. They either want to send people a link to their report/chart, or embed it in their web site for all to see.
Using the form builder you can externalize your feedback form data, in a similar way you externalize your form. Whether it be the result table or a chart it is possible to make them public.

Steps to share you public report or chart:

1- Enter the form builder “data management” report

2- Get the data you wish to make public ready:
if you want to show all the data make sure that you choose the “*” option in the “rows in page” list box (situated on the bottom of the 'filter' window) – this will show all results in 1 page.
If you want to show only a part of the data use the filter to slice it before you save the report/chart.

3- once the data in the result table/chart is ready press on “save” in the 'report & chart' section of the upper toolbar.

4- Give your saved filter/chart a name. Be sure to turn on the “share” checkbox since you cannot make the data/chart public without it. Turn on the “create shortcut” checkbox as well – this will create a direct shortcut to this filter/chart from the data center.

5- Press on “share”. (also situated in the 'report & chart' section of the upper toolbar). If you wish to send someone a link to your data/chart simply copy the “share url”.
If you wish to embed the data/chart in your website simply enter the width and height of the iframe and copy the generated code in the “iframe url”.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Determine when your feedback form will expire

Sometimes form owners want to limit the form, so it will close on a certain date or after a certain number of submissions.
There are 3 attributes in the form builder which enable the form owner to control the feedback form ’s expiration:
1- Max Rows
2- close form on
3- Force single row per user

With each of these options the form owner can make the form expire under different conditions.

Max rows
Using this option the form owner may enter the maximum number of form submissions allowed to be entered in the form. After this number is entered the form will expire and will not be available for entering data.
This option is suitable for forms which require a pre defined number of submissions that should not be exceeded (like polls, for instance).

max rows

Steps to use max rows:
1- Enter the email form in the form builder
2- Go to the “form settings” on the right side
3- enter the maximum number of desired submissions in the "max rows" textbox
4- Press on “apply”
5- Press on “save”

Close form on
This option allows the form owner to determine a date on which the form will expire.
The date entered should fit the following format: mm/dd/yyyy
This option is suitable for forms which should only be active until a certain date (such as invitations to an event which should not be active once it is over).

closeformon

Steps to use max rows/ close form on/ force single row per user:
1- Enter the email form in the form builder
2- Go to the “form settings” on the right side
3- fill in the form’s expiration date in the "close form on" textbox
4- Press on “apply”
5- Press on “save”

Force single row per user
Using this option the form owner can determine that each user may fill in the form only once. This is suitable for surveys and questionnaires, in which you do not want one person to fill in the form more than once.

FORCESINGLEROW

Steps to use max rows/ close form on/ force single row per user:
1- Enter the email form in the form builder
2- Go to the “form settings” on the right side
3- turn on the "force single row per user" checkbox
4- Press on “apply”
5- Press on “save”

Export the feedback form's data

When you receive a new data entry email from your feedback form the data is also stored in a data management tool, allowing you to manage it: edit, delete, view, import and export data.
The export option is also available for expired forms allowing the form owner to use the data stored up to the form’s expiration data.

There are a few export options and they are:
Excel
XML
PDF Tabular (entries shown in a table)
PDF Continues (Each entry shown separately)
Report Tabular
Report Continues
CSV
Google Spreadsheet
Google Maps

Steps to export the data:
1- Get your data ready for export.
If you need to edit data-do it
if you need to export a slice of the data-filter it
etc.

2- fill In the “number of rows in page” (Press on the 'filter' icon in the 'data' section of the upper toolbar nad choose the number of rows in page from the listbox on the bttom - * will choose all entries). The reason for this is that the data entries shown on the first page of the report are the only ones that will be exported so you must first ensure that all the Data entries you want to export are displayed on this one page.
3- Press on the 'export' icon in the 'data' section of the upper toolbar and choose the wanted export option. press “ok” to export. An export window will pop up.

If for any reason the export pop up window doesn't open
If once trying to export your data (using one of our export options) the export pop up window does not open you will need to change your ie browser's security settings. The reason for this is that the explorer browser is set to identify and block a pop up window that tries to open a file.
steps to change this setting:

A- go to :
Internet options --->Security --->Custom level --->settings --->downloads
B - set automatic prompting for file download to enabled.
C - Save setting and close all dialog box

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Protect your feedback form from spam

You created a feedback form? great. Sometimes web forms are showered
with entries (by an automatic/human entity) and your email and data management table can get filled with spam. In order to prevent this from happening you can use a feature called "spam protect".
The 'spam protect' feature prevents the spamming in this manner:
Once the form filler presses on the 'submit' button he/she will be asked to fill in characters in the captcha box. If the characters are not entered correctly the form will not be submitted. Since the charachters are presented as an image an automatic entity could not "read" them and fill in the form. Also, if someone wants to submit the form many times he will need to fill in the changing characters each time, which will discourage him from doing so.

Please note! In Safari/IE6/IE7 or in forms smaller than 220x220 pixels the spam protect prompt (in section 3) will appear in a regular pop up window.

Steps to activate the spam protect option:
1- enter your form in the form creator.
2- check the "Spam Protect" checkbox situated in the 'Settings'.

3- Save the form.

This is what the spam protect window looks like when a user tries to submit the form:

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

How to publish my feedback form

Once you finish creating your feedback form in the form builder you can start using it publically. embed it in your website, send others a link to it, etc. All you need to do in order to use it publicly is “publish” it.
publishing a form means externalizing it. Generating its code and using it in order for other to fill data in it.
There are 5 different publishing methods in the form builder. Choosing the right publish method depends on your needs – whether you want to embed the form to look like an integral part of your site or blog, or you want to use its url as is or as a link. Once you choose a method (by selecting the radio button value) a generated script will appear and you will only need to copy and paste it.

The 6 publishing methods are:
URL - this is the url of the form. This url can be placed in a link or sent to others so they can enter the form. O simply given as is to enter in the browser’s address bar.
IFRAME - this code is used to embed the form in blogs.
LINK - this code is used to add a link for others to enter the form through.
SCRIPT - this code is used to embed the form in a website.
MAIL – when you choose this option a your mailing system window will open, allowing you to send an email, containing a link to the form.
read more about the publish option.

Add a file upload element to your feedback form

A feedback form is a way to communicate with your users. Allowing them to attach a file could sometimes be very helpful.
The file upload element enables the form filler to attach a file to the data he enters in the feedback form.
It should be noted that in order for the file upload to work you will need to purchase a FormLogix subscription, which includes the file upload.
The option to upload files is not included in all FormLogix subscriptions since it is a special feature.

The file upload is limited to certain files and a certain size as follows:
File upload Size is limited to 1.5mb.
Following is a list of the allowed file types There are certain types of files which are not allowed to upload (due viruses and other worms):
gif, jpeg, png, jpg, tiff, pdf, xml, htm, html, txt, doc, xls, pff, rtf, zip, mp3, avi, wav, wma, rar, xlsx, docx, dwg, skp.

How do I add the 'file upload' element to my feedback form?
1- purchase a subscription, in the payment center, that includes the file upload in it (either a 'per form' subscription+file upload or a VIP subscription).
2- in the form builder: drag and drop a 'file upload' element on to the design area.

3- Save the form.

Monday, October 25, 2010

How to change styles in the Feedback Form

The form builder allows you to create a feedback form with a very flexible design.
This is due to the "drag & drop" feature with which you can place your elements wherever you like and the style attributes you can change.
Style may be changed in fonts, borders, backgrounds.

Fonts:
changing style in fonts is really easy, all you need to do is select the element and choose another style fron the upper menu. The font styles include:
font family
font size
font color
font background color
font bold/italic/underlined
find out how to change the style of the font

Borders:
changing the border in the form means that you can change the form's border, a label border, an input element's border or a container border.
it includes:
border width
border style
border color

Learn more about how to change the border style
Backgrounds:
Backgrounds may be changed in elements, labels, in containers and forms.
You may change the background color in 2 places:
1- through the upper menu – "element style" section. You need to press in the "Bg color" icon and choose a color from the listbox. If you select an element/label/container- it's background will change. If not than the form's background will change.
2- Through the "form settings"/"element settings on the right.
In the settings you can choose whatever color you wish by entering a specific color number or name (for example:" #000000" or "red").

if you wish to change the form's background you need to do it through the "form settings". if you wish to change the element/label/container's background you need to do it through the "element settings" – simply select the element/label/container and go to its settings on the right.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Redirect your feedback form to another URL in a new window

After your feedback form has been submitted a small window will appear in which you can add a message like "thank you for filling in the form"...
If you wish to have the form redirect to another URL once it is submitted then the "post submit url" is the feature for you.

The new URL always opens in the same page and dimensions as the original form (this means that the post submit takes up the same 'screen space' as the form itself).

This is fine in most cases, but in forms that are published as 'iframe' or 'script' this may sometimes pose a problem. The reason is that the 'iframe' and 'script' have a certain size, and if the post submit url content is larger than this size it will appear cut.

In order for the user to view the post submit url properly you will need to make sure it opens in a new blank page.

Steps to open the post submit URL in a new blank page:
(In this example the form will be redirected to a 'thank you' webpage you will create).
1- Create a new blank web page in your website from which you will refer to the new page. (Name this webpage, for example: gateway.html)
This page should remain blank apart from the following code which should be placed between the HTML 'Head' tags:


<script>

window.parent.location.href = 'http://www.yourdomain.com/thankyou.html';

</script>


For example: Gateway page


2- Go to 'Form Setting' in the form builder and fill the 'Post Submit URL' textbox with the url
of the gateway page
- http://www.yourdomain.com/gateway.html

3- Create a thank you page on your website that will appear after the form is submitted (Name the page: thankyou.html)
The outcome of this may be summed up like this:
your form (directs to)-> gateway (directs to)-> thank you page


If you wish to redirect the form to a URL which is not of your making (for example: http://www.nbc.com) you must simply change the location URL in bullet 1 and skip bullet 3 altogether.

feedback form data management

When you create a feedback form using a form builder and collect data through it, the data is stored in a data management tool.
The data management tool allows you to view all the entries in your form, create charts, edit them, filter them, delete, export etc.
Following are all the things you can do in the management tool:

Data operations

1-Add new entry.
Sometimes you need to enter data privately (some people create forms for private use and fill them with data themselves).

2-Delete selected entries
once you select the entries in the result table (by turning on the checkbox in the left column) and press on "delete" these specific items will be removed from the result table.

3-Restore entries.
Entries that are deleted from the result table may be restored by pressing on the "restore entries" icon.

4-Export entries.
you can export several/all entries from the table to:
Excel, XML, PDF, REPORT, CSV, Google Spreadsheet, Google Maps.

5-Import Entries
Allows you to import data to the result table from an .XLS file.

6-Filter data
you can slice the data in the result table according to the existing fields. In addition you can determine how many entries will appear in 1 result page.

7-Cancel filter
you can cancel the filter terms and show all entries in the result table.

Report and Chart operations

8-Create new report
once you press on this icon you actually get the filter window, with which you can determine what data you want to appear prior to saving it as a report.

9-Edit Report
once you create a report you can edit its properties using this option.

10-Create new chart
you can create a new chart on the basis of the data in the result table (all data or sliced data). All you need to do is choose the field according to which the chart will be created, the formula (count, sum or average) and the chart style. There are many chart styles to choose from (bubble, pie, bar, area, line etc).

11-Edit chart
once you have a saved chart you can edit it by using this option.

12-Open report/chart
an option to view/work on a saved report/chart.

13-Save a report/chart
once you create a new report/chart you can save it for future use.
To save the report/chart you will be required to give it a name, a description and turn on the "share" and "create shortcut" checkboxes.

14-Properties
enables you to view and edit the report/chart properties (which were filled in the previous item – while saving)

15-Share
you can create a public report or public chart, enabling others to view the data, by using this option. In order to use this option report/chart must be saved and the "share" checkbox must be turned on in the "properties".

16-Print.
Enables you to print the data in the result table.

Tools Sub Menu (inside the result table)

17-info
view the entry in the form layout

18-Info mail
view entry in the email layout

19-Edit
enables to change the data entered in the entry.

20-Delete
enables to delete this specific entry

21-Remarks
allows you to attach a remark to this entry

22-Private forum
This option enables a form owner to reply to a specific entry and create a documented conversation with the specific user.

find out how to customize your data management result table

Read more about the data management work area

Thursday, October 14, 2010

How to embed your feedback form in the website?

Creating a feedback form using a form builder is really easy, and once the form is done it is even simpler to embed it in your website.
Once your feedback form is finished and saved you will need to publish it. "Publish" is the operation which allows you to use the form publically. When use the publish option the form code will be generated for you (depending on how you would like to use the form) and you will be able to copy the code and paste it in your website.
What you need to do (in a nut shell) in order to embed your feedback form is:
1- press on the "publish" icon
2- choose the publish option which suits you most from the options on the left.
3- copy the code
4- paste it in your web page HTML code

Read more about how to embed a form

Keeping in touch with your users

A feedback form is created in order to communicate with users. In the last post i discussed one of the basic ways to respond to a user who addresses you (by an auto reply email).
In this post I would like to talk about the option to reply to a specific user. Once a user sends you a message you can of course copy his email address in to your mail application and send him a reply from there, But if this discussion grows long and emails are sent back and forth than it may be hard to track (especially if you have this type of discussion with several other users).
The form builder offers a great solution for this – a "Private Forum". This option allows you to send a user a response from within the data management result table. In addition, each response (from the user or yourself) will be stored in the discussion tree.

How do you use the "private forum"?
1- enter the data management result table.
2- go to the entry row you want to reply to and open the "tools" sub menu in this row.
3- the private forum window will open and you will be required to enter your message.
The discussion tree will appear on the left, showing all the communication between you and the user up till now.

Read a detailed post about how to use the private forum.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Add an auto reply to your feedback form

A feedback form is all about communicating with your users, receiving information from them. A very important part of this communication is your response. Sure, some users require a more in depth reply to their feedback, but all are entitled to an auto response , as if saying "we got your feedback and it is very appreciated…".
Adding an auto reply to your feedback form using a form builder is really easy.

All you need to do is:
1- Make sure you have an "email element" in your form to collect your user's address (how else will you be able to reply?)

2- Go to the element settings on the right and turn on the "send copy" checkbox and the "mandatory" checkbox.
That's it. This operation will send the basic email to the user, containing all the data he/she entered in the form (a carbon copy of the email you will receive).

If you wish to add a short text at the top of this email you can do so by using the "email user message" option in the "form settings".
If you wish to change the auto response layout all together you can use the "custom user email" option.
Read more about auto response.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Renewal of SSL certificate

we have just renewed our SSL certificate for the next 2 years, issued by COMODO High -Assurance Secure Server CA.

Web form essentials

There are a few important things to remember when creating any type of web form using a form builder:

1- form name

When you create a new form it is not mandatory to change the default name but it is highly recommended since it helps to distinguish between the forms in the future. In addition the form name appears in the emails sent to you and your users in the subject field.

2- form width and height
If you intend on embedding the form in your website/blog then this feature will be really important in order to make the form fit perfectly.

3- element caption
The element caption is basically the element name. The caption appears in many places (emails, data management result table, filter listboxes, etc) so if you do not provide it with a unique name you will not be able to tell it apart from the other elements.
when you drag a new element to the design area it already has a default name, however this name is general and will not help you identify the element in future use.

4- element tab index
The tab index is an attribute that each element has, which defines the order or fields. This order will be applied when the user tabs through the form, it will also be applied in the emails sent to you/users and in the data management result table.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

How to create the feedback form?

Let’s get practical – Following are a few simple steps to help you create your feedback form using a form builder:

1- Make a plan. Decide on the data you wish to collect and the way you want your form to look and make a written plan. What data is important to you? Do you want to collect the form fillers name? is important for you to get his address? Do you want the user to categorize what the contact purpose is or will you be satisfied with him describing the purpose freely in a multi row free text field?
What would you need to do in order to nicely embed your form in your website? Would you want the form to have a certain background color? Font family and size? Would you want to add an image to the form?
These questions are important in order to decide on the fields you want to create.

2- Enter the form builder and set the form name and size in the form settings on the right.
on to the design area:
3- start dragging the elements:

Name field – Textbox element
- Drag a textbox for collecting the form filler’s name. Go to the element settings on the right and change its caption to “name”. Set the tab index number to “1″. Press on “apply”.
- Drag a label element and place it next to the textbox. Change its text in the label’s settings to “name”. Press on “apply”.

Email field – Email element
- Drag an email element for collecting the form filler’s email address. Place it below the name textbox you dragged earlier. Go to the element settings on the right and change its caption to “Email”. set the tab index number to “2″. Press on “apply”.
- Drag a label element and place it next to the textbox. Change its text in the label’s settings to “Email”. Press on “apply”.

Feedback Subject field – Textbox element- Drag a textbox element for the subject. Change its caption and tab index as you did in the previous elements.
- Drag a label element and place it next to the textbox. Change its text in the label’s settings to “subject”.

Feedback description field – Textarea element- Drag a textarea element for the message field. Change its caption and tab index as you did in the previous elements.
- Drag a label element and place it next to the textarea. Change its text in the label’s settings to “description”.

4- Add a submit button to the form
5- Save the form
6- Press on “preview” (in the general tobar-5th icon from the left) in order to check the form.
7- Publish the form in order to embed it in your website/direct people to it.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Feedback form - DIY

Let's face it, Most of you website owners are not technical people; you simply want to get your content on the web and that's fine. In order to do so you usually hire professionals to do it for you. Only thing is...each change or addition you want to make costs money and takes time to implement so if you want to add a form to your website, for example, it may be a good idea to do it yourself. Yes - exactly what you heard - "Do It yourself".

How can a non-technical person create web –forms? Quite easily, actually…
All you need is:
1- to know exactly what you want to build . Get it all on paper: the layout, colors, what information you want to collect etc.
2- use a form builder. The form builder is an easy to use platform which allows you to create forms by a simple drag & drop motion.
All you need to do is login and start working. You can create your own unique form or use a ready-made template to base it on.
In the following posts you will find relevant information on how to actually create the form – so stay tuned.

Welcome

Hi everyone,
Whoever has a website nowadays needs a feedback form of some sort. Staying in touch with your users is highly important in order to provide the best product.

This blog will discuss aspects in feedback forms creation. Not only that, but this blog will also talk about how to create the forms yourself.
We will try to provide you with the best ways to create your forms accompanied with specific instructions how to get it done.

Stay tuned.