Multi-page profile forms with Joomla

[raustin1]

Hello - I know the answer to this no. Civicrm will not do multi-page profile forms in Joomla. You have to have the drupal webforms module.

My question is this - how can I work around the limitations to get to this functionality? We need multi-page profile forms with logic and the ability to pre-populate the forms vis a vis the checksum function.

Here is what I'm thinking might be options. Please let me know what you think:

1. Create a multi-site configuration with Joomla and Drupal and use the Drupal webform just for this functionality. Can joomla and drupal feed off the same civi db?

2. Hire a developer to create a custom form.

3. use an outside form company and connect the api - I'm not sure the prepopulate feature would work here.

We have a decent budget for this and would welcome any and all ideas. It's really important that we find a solution soon.

Thank you,

Ricky

[Jeremy Proffitt]

Hi Ricky,

You're correct that there's no way to natively do the multi-page profiles in CiviCRM.

Using a multi-site configuration introduces a significant maintenance issue into your equation, which is why going native with Joomla would be a better route. This does require a developer. I'm currently building a component that has been deployed for clients in an initial iteration, and am wrapping up the coding for additional code to add form add/edit capability with management by the Civi Profile UI. This works by using the API to get the structure of the profile, and create a JForm that can be managed by Joomla. I'm also working with the x-Editable library to add in-place editing.

An alternative strategy that I've also used is to use the form validation hooks to connect multiple profiles together. This is a bit more clunky, but it uses the existing Civi form system.

I'll be speaking about this sort of integration at CiviCon SF on April 25th. I'd be happy to discuss this with you a bit further and potentially providing you quote to customize this extension for your project.

[raustin1]

Thanks Jeremy,

Your component sounds fantastic. We'd love to learn more and get a quote. We've been in touch with a couple developers for a customized solution, but anytime we can develop something that the entire Joomla/Civi community can benefit from, I'd rather go that route. Who's to say we wouldn't need to do this again ourselves later on?!

Unfortunately, we will not make CiviCon this year, but would be interested in getting the conversation going before then.

[Dan C]

I have created custom forms for clients that utilize the API in Joomla a few times.  I have also created a faux multi page form using Javascript/JQuery to hide and show the elements for each form which was pretty nifty.  Unfortunately with Joomla those are basically the options like Jeremy mentioned.  I haven't tried making any Joomla native components to accomplish this.

[Jeremy Proffitt]

Ricky - My associate, Adreck McDonald will be contacting you to get some information about your project so we can get the ball rolling on a quote. He should be sending you an email or a private message later today.