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

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.

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.

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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.