CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

As I wrote in my first post, I need to be able to create an Event and link it with the Contribution Page, so when someone registers for this Event, the PCP is automaticaly created for him.

What I did so far was to modify the Event details screen by adding new tab called Contribution Page, where user can link the Event with Contribution page. I've also modified the events table to store information that event has a contribution page and to store the page id. That's currently done by modifying the CiviCRM codebase, but I'd like to move it away (e.g. to plugin), so I can safely upgrade to a new versions. I'm pretty sure most of it could be done using hooks and custom templates, but I don't know if it's possible to modify the data object, so the screen will know what data have been saved previously. Or maybe I should just use a simple query in the hook? Anyway, I'll try that later if I have time. For now, getting the second part done is my priority.

The second step is to modify the registration process, so when someone registers, he can provide the details for PCP and it's being automatically created after registration. This will be fully done in the plugin. Could you please let me know ff you have any suggestions how to do it? I guess I could use the CRM_Contribute_Form_PCP_Campaign methods? If yes, how can I call those methods from the plugin? I'm working on it at the moment, so any suggestions will save my time.

Thanks a lot!

Thanks Lobo. As I said I might have another look at the first part later if I have time. Thanks for suggestions.

About the CRM_Contribute_Form_PCP_Campaign methods - could you give me some more details here? I had a quick look at this class and it looks like it requires a few objects to be created (e.g. following call in the postProcess method: $params  = $this->controller->exportValues( )). Should I call some functions/methods first? If you have some example of how the PCP is being created, it would be great.

One more question - as far as I understand when participant registers for an event, the contact record is created, right? If yes, how can I get the participant contact_id in the postProcess hook?

Thanks Lobo, I tried that yesterday, but I think I'll have to use the post hooh instead. Is the postProcess hook executed before all the inserts to the database? If yes, then I can only get the id of the existing contacts, but if it's a new contact, I'll need to wait for the insert to get the id, right?

If I do have to use the post hook, how can I access the form data? It looks like they're not in the request at this stage anymore...

Tom - I think there is general interest in connecting PCP's to event registration. I saw that you tried to take the Switchback's code and test-drive it (http://civicrm.org/blogs/scolson/extending-personal-campaign-pages and http://issues.civicrm.org/jira/browse/CRM-8534) but got a bit stuck with it. A few comments:

1. I'm not clear from either "specification" (yours above or steve's blog post) what the PCP's are actually tracking in these new use cases - and where a visitor goes if they click onward from a PCP (i.e. to an event registration form OR to a specified contribution page)?

2.  If we push to an event registration page ... are we ultimately still tracking the contributions ("soft credits" entries) that have come in as a result of folks using a PCP "portal" to register for an event? This would mean the thermometer and honor rolls on the actual PCP's can still be driven off the contribution_soft table with no changes.

OR

... are we really wanting to track the number of event registrations that came in via a PCP portal?

3. You say (#4 below) "create a PCP for the related contribution page on event signup" - which raises a few questions:
- Is the PCP really for a contribution page, or is the constituent promoting and sending folks onward to an event registration.
- It sounds like you want to create the PCP automatically - which we currently don't do. Current flow for creating a PCP allows constituent to make a explicit decision that they want to create a PCP, forces them to get a user account if they're not already authenticated, and then gives them a form to customize their personal "portal" with their "sales pitch" for the campaign. Do you see all of this happening automatically somehow???

A model that makes sense to me (and may be indeed what Switchback's code does ??) is:
- PCP "block" can be enabled for an event (as shown in Steve's blog screenshot) if it's a paid event
- Constituents can be given a link / button to "Promote this Event" (language configurable) on registration thank-you page
- They build their PCP as today, selling the event to their network
- PCP visitors are linked from the portal to event registration (or perhaps first to event info) - and the pcp ID is carried through into the registration process
- Event reg form can expose the honor roll message and nickname fields
- When the event fee is recorded (contribution record), a soft credit (contribution_soft) is created with the fee amount, nickname, honor roll msg
- PCP's display progress (as total fee amounts), honor roll as today by reading contribution_soft table

But I'm not clear if that's what you / your client is looking for.

Ideally you can hook up w/ Steve Colson via email or IRC and try to determine if there is substantive similarity in the requirements, and clarify some of the above issues in a blog post or wiki page, and THEN we can help figure out the best way to achieve it.