Newbie Question: Setting up custom fields page for visitors

[waizen]

Okay, I'm sure this is a basic thing but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do this:

I have a site in Drupal 6.2 that is being set up for an up-coming sporting event. There are multiple running events (a half marathon, a 10K run and more) that I need to have site visitors sign up for online (yes, they are paid events). There will be separate pages for each event. Each page needs to have a form with customized fields for site visitors to fill in. Each page will have the same form format (the same questions being asked) but just targeted to the individual event.

I feel foolish asking this, but I cannot figure out how to set up the form. Here is what I've tried so far:

1. Followed the tutorial on this page: wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC33/Online+Registration
2. Within CiviCRM, I went to Administer>Customize>Custom Data, selected 'Add Set of Custom Fields' and filled in the blanks. The set is enabled, I chose 'Events' as what it's used for, the type is 'Any' and style is 'Inline'
3. I went to Administer>Customize>CiviCRM Profile and added a profile called 'Half Marathon'. Nothing else done there.
4. Went to Events>New Event and created a series of events, each representing each sporting event

I don't see how to get the form fields I created to show up on each individual sporting event page and have them interact with CiviCRM.

What am I missing? Am I even in the right ball park with what I'm trying to do? How do I get the fields I created in the Custom Data area to show up in the individual pages? Is the 'Custom Data' area even where I'm supposed to create the custom fields in the first place?

Sorry to be asking for a hand-holding here, but I'm in a time crunch here. Please be specific since I am new to CiviCRM.

FYI: I'm using:
CiviCRM 3.3.3
Drupal 6.2
PHP 5.2.10
MySQL 5.0.67

Thank you in advance.

[petednz]

If the info is about Participants rather than the Event - then the Custom Data group of fields needs to be set for Participants.
Then create a Profile and pull those fields in to it to make the 'form' that will be filled in.
Then set that Profile to be used for Online registration in the Event Configuration.

Hope you can follow that v brief explanation.

[Dave Greenberg]

Also check out the Events section of this online book:
http://en.flossmanuals.net/civicrm

[waizen]

If the info is about Participants rather than the Event - then the Custom Data group of fields needs to be set for Participants.
Then create a Profile and pull those fields in to it to make the 'form' that will be filled in.
Then set that Profile to be used for Online registration in the Event Configuration.

Hope you can follow that v brief explanation.

Thank you, Peter: definitely another piece of the puzzle solved, but I'm still having issues. Okay, here is where I am:

1. I did the steps you outlined and I now have a profile with the fields I created in the custom data area (custom data fields now set to 'participant'), the profile is set to online registration.
2. I noticed, in Events>Manage Events>(Event Name)>Configure>Online Registration, there are a couple of drop-downs that are labeled "Include Profile (top of page)" and "Include Profile (bottom of page)", each having, as one of the selections, the name of the profile I created. I selected that name in the "(top of page)" one, thinking it might help make the form appear on the site.
3. Unfortunately, when I visit the online registration page, I still see only the abbreviated signup form with Event Fee listed... not the form I created.

I feel I'm getting close but still missing something.

[waizen]

Also check out the Events section of this online book:
http://en.flossmanuals.net/civicrm

Thanks, Dave. When I checked out the manual, I came upon a section that had me visit some pages within the CiviEvent module. This showed me that I might have another problem, which I ask about in this thread:

http://forum.civicrm.org/index.php/topic,18924.0.html

Could my two problems be related?

[petednz]

Hi - not sure - do you have a role that doesn't have 'all permissions'? You may need to check these, esp re 'access all custom data' and whatever the permission is relating to Profilles.

When in doubt, do an equivalent set up on the Demo site. If it is different there they you know your set up is incorrectly configured most likely

[waizen]

Thanks again, Peter.

Okay, I got the fields to show up and take information. Here is what I did:

I noticed the permissions were not right. I made sure the following had checks in the anonymous and authenticated user columns:

'access all custom data'
'access CiviMail subscribe/unsubscribe pages'
'access uploaded files'
'make online contributions'
'profile listings and forms'
'view event info'
'register for events'

I left 'view event participants' unchecked for now. Not currently sure what that would do.

All of the above I got from under Number 6 of this page:
http://wiki.civicrm.org/confluence/display/CRMDOC33/Drupal+Installation+Guide

[waizen]

Can multiple events (in my case, different forms for different sporting events on different pages on the site) reference the same profile? I'm using one profile with a custom set of input fields for all my forms on the site. Or, do I have to create a different profile for each of my forms?

I'm actually trying to troubleshoot multiple problems with this CiviCRM installation, in this case, trying to track down the error messages I outline in these two threads:

http://forum.civicrm.org/index.php/topic,18925.0.html
http://forum.civicrm.org/index.php/topic,18924.msg78588.html#msg78588

I apologize for for the cross-thread references, but I cannot figure out what is going on and can only imagine they might all be related.

[petednz]

A profile is just a form to enter data in to, and if you want the same set of Contact and Participant Fields to be collected when someone registers for an Event then yes you can use the same Profile for multiple Events.