We are excited to announce the release of Gravity Forms v1.6 Beta 1. This turned into a much bigger release than originally anticipated with a lot of great new features and enhancements, both big and small, being introduced to Gravity Forms.
We are looking forward to receiving feedback from users who want to help us test out the new features. Please provide beta feedback and bug reports on the Support Forum and make it clear you are referring to the 1.6 Beta 1 release when doing so. Thanks!
We will be releasing v1.6 via automatic upgrade once it has undergone beta testing. Own Gravity Forms and want to give it a try and help us test? Grab a copy on the downloads page!
Please note that documentation for these new items is in progress. Some of the new hooks and filters have been added to the Developer Documentation, however we are still in the process of working on documentation.
Here is a quick rundown of what is new in Gravity Forms v1.6:
The List Field is an entirely new field type that has been added under Advanced Fields in the form editor. The List Field allows users to enter a list of information into the form. It supports both a single column as well as configurable multi-column lists for capturing more complex data. Users can add additional rows to the list to add additional data when submitting a form.
We have added a new Multi-Select field with an option for an enhanced jQuery interface that makes using Multi-Selects easier for end users. We have also added an enhanced jQuery interface to the standard Drop Down field which allows user to search available options when using a drop down field.
Be sure to check the "Enable enhanced user interface" option to see the new jQuery interface when editing a Drop Down or Multi-Select Field. It is not currently turned on by default.
The Single Input Field has been enhanced to include a Javascript Mask option. This allows you to use Javascript to automatically format text entered into the field. There are some predefined masks to choose from, or you can choose to create your own custom mask.
The Multiple Choice field has been renamed to simply Radio Buttons and we have added an option to the Radio Button field to enable an Other option. If selected, the Radio Button field will give the user the option of entering their own value if one of the available options does not meet their needs.
The Date Field has been enhanced to now support entering the data via Month, Day and Year drop downs. We have also enhanced the Time field so that it now has a 24 hour time format as an available option.
We have added a new advanced form setting to require a user be logged in to view the form, or display a message if they are not logged in. The message also supports short codes so you could insert a Gravity Form short code to display an alternative form if they are not logged in.
We have also added additional options to the Limit Entries functionality. You can now limit entries based on time: Per day, Week, Month or Year.
The Form Editor now supports duplicating fields when editing a form. If you select Duplicate when editing a field you can immediately duplicate that field and it will insert a new field with the same values directly below the field you are duplicating.
We have enhanced several post fields to add new capabilities. One of the most useful new enhancements is Featured Image support for the Post Image field. There is now an option on the Post Image field to set that image as the Featured Image for the post that is created.
The Post Title and Post Body fields now have an additional Post setting to set the Post Format. This is useful for themes that support multiple formats so you can configure the Post Format that is set for the post that is created.
We have added 2 new available field types to the Post Custom Field. You can now use Checkboxes as well as the brand new List Field with the Post Custom Field. This makes storing complex data with Posts easier. Please note that values are stored as multiple custom field items so you must know how to loop through to display custom fields that use the same name to make use of these field types on the front end of your site.
Gravity Forms can now integrate with the Akismet anti-spam service to automatically protect your forms from spam. All you need to do to enable Akismet integration is install and activate Akismet and the integration will happen automatically. With Akismet activated there is a new area to the Entry List that allows you to view entries marked as Spam and you can manually mark entries as Spam or Ham (not spam).
We have added Trash functionality to form entry management. Now you can add an entry to Trash which does not delete it permanently. If you would like to delete an entry or entries permanently you can view the Trash and delete items permanently or choose to empty the trash. Once an item is deleted permanently so are any files that are associated with that entry.
You can now add, edit and delete predefined choices to the Bulk Add/Predefined Choices menu. This allows you to easily manage predefined choices you want to use in Drop Down, Radio Button, Checkbox and Multi-Select fields.
When viewing entries on either the entry detail or entry list page you can now choose to resend notification emails or print multiple entries at once using the bulk print action.
Congratulations, that is quite a list!
Thanks Donnacha! We are pretty happy with the enhancements we've made. Another one that wasn't mentioned is refinements to the form editor itself. The save/update button was positioned in a fixed position under the field toolboxes so it's visible at all times, etc.
I've been watching the thread regarding the reservation system. It's still something we are interested in doing. Now that Gravity Forms 1.6 is in beta we are going to get back to work on our new WordPress product but a reservation system is something i've always wanted to do and we actually already own domain names and a product name we'd use if we develop a product for that space.
All I can say is WOW.
What a list. Gravity Forms certainly has listened to it's user community! Many of the items have been requested by users.
Thanks GF for a GREAT product!
Any chance the additional variables for the notification emails were snuck in?
I found a weird bug with Lists. The three columns you get when you Enable Multiple Columns don't update when you change the titles. They stay Column 1, 2 and 3 on the backend. If you add a 4th column it seems to fix itself but otherwise it isn't updating on the back end. Everything on the client side is right but with a Beta I thought I'd pass it on.
Thanks for an awesome update!
Kiko Doran
http://www.ingroupdesign.com
The only new merge tag changes that are in this release is the ability to pass Checkbox fields with one merge tag as a comma delimited list instead of individually, and some additional options to the All_Fields merge tag to set some options.
I'm unable to reproduce this on my end. 3 column List Field works fine for me, I can update and change the column names without a problem. I will contact you via Twitter to get additional details from you.
Awesome, I can't wait to try out the new release. I love how Gravity Forms continues to evolve with new features and gets better every release. Good job guys!
Thanks Chris! We appreciate the kind words. We love making Gravity Forms better and better and are glad our users appreciate our hard work.
awesome Carl!
GF rocks is good to know that it's improving a lot!
Quite a list. I'm consistently impressed by GF plugin and support.
I hope that new WP product you're referring to is membership system!
Many thanks to Carl and the rest of the gang for listening to their clients. GF was already a great product, but now it's even better.
Kuddos on an impresive feature list. Keep on improving! Dowloading now and will start testing tomorrow.
So far I am loving the beta, things are much easier! One thing however, in Lists, can you DISABLE users to add rows? I tried inputting "0" but still get the option to add as many as I wish. Lists is super handy, and I can see the potential going very far in future updates. Oh Yeah, where should we report "bugs"?
That is indeed a bug. While you can't set the maximum rows to "0" which would be none, you should be able to set the rows to "1". Setting it to "1" should basically not show the plus/minus icons and just allow one row entered. But it doesn't appear to be doing so. We'll look into this and get it corrected in the next beta release.
[...] Gravity Forms v1.6 Beta 1 Released [...]
Hi there,
I love this plugin and how it gets better and better! The list field is great. One possible addition to it would be the ability to define the list field(s) as dropdowns. Like in the following screen shot: http://flic.kr/p/agu1qd
Is there anyway to achieve this or is it planned to be implemented?
As a matter of face this is possible with the List Field right now. While it isn't configurable in the UI, there is a hook you can use to target and transform a specific column in a List Field into a Drop Down field. This allows you to have a column (or multiple columns) in your list field that are drop downs rather than text inputs. This hook is documented here:
http://www.gravityhelp.com/documentation/page/Gform_column_input
Currently it only supports transforming a column input into a drop down. But we have plans to enhance this functionality in the future to support more functionality such as email field validation, datepicker, etc. Field types that make sense when used in this manner. Not all field types will such as Radio Buttons which won't look right in a datagrid format when a drop down would be more appropriate and provides the same functionality.
We've made the hook for this functionality simple to use so that it's easy to replace an input in the list field with a drop down.
Hey Carl,
Thanks for your swift and informative response! I'm glad it's possible already. You guys always have something up your sleeve! Hope the storm isn't hitting you too hard.
Re: Radio Button: other option feature
Is it possible to have that functionality in a dropdown field too? I could use conditional logic, but would be nice to have it built in. Could the other option functionality also be implemented with the category field, so users could suggest categories? Condtional logic does not work there? Can conditional logic be enabled for category fields too?
Some fantastic enhancements here that I'll definitely be able to use -- thanks! Did the slider input field (http://www.gravityhelp.com/forums/topic/sliding-fields) make it into this release?
Kind of sad to not see anything related to SSL support on this release; I got the impression it was in the works.
SSL support [and various options related to secure forms] would go a long way to help adoption rates in more enterprise settings.
We haven't considered adding the Other option to the drop down, but it's something we can look at doing in the future. Conditional Logic does not work on Post Category fields right now due to the fact the Post Category field is populated dynamically at runtime. However, we can look into how we can do this as I know it's a hot button for a lot of users.
The 1.6 release does not include a slider field. But rest assured it is still on our to do list so it will make it into a future release. Maybe we can work it into the 1.7 release.
Gravity Forms already supports SSL. It's not a function of Gravity Forms itself, you need to apply SSL to your WordPress site and the page you call the form on. Gravity Forms submits forms properly be it http:// or https:// so it's up to you to install and configure an SSL certificate on your WordPress site. If you have an SSL certificate installed on your web server, here are some plugins that can help you implement the SSL on pages and posts:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wordpress-https/
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wpssl/
If you want to force SSL on the admin, here is a plugin that can handle this... it may also let you force it on specific pages and posts also:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Administration_Over_SSL
So ultimately it's up to you to implement SSL, it's not a function of Gravity Forms itself but Gravity Forms is compatible with SSL if you implement it.
Yes, ofcourse I could use https:// as links to content whenever I wanted SSL, but that is not the same thing as having just the action of a form secure.
If I insert a gravity form onto a post or page, my menu will not link to that page/post as HTTPS. If others visit that page and leave out the HTTPS URL, now it is no longer secure.
A more consistent method would be a "form requires SSL" setting on each form, that when checked, changes the action of the form to SSL. This way the submitted data is always transmitted in the clear, regardless of any potential mishaps made by users or web content editors in generating links.
A force SSL option is one we plan on adding as we will be introducing a Credit Card field down the road. However, as mentioned in my previous comment the plugins I referenced allow you to do this now. They let you force SSL on a page so if the page is loaded without http:// it reloads with https:// to force SSL on the page.
I am still trying to find out if I can create a form that will do calculations on Gravity forms. I don't want to purchase them if they will not do it. Thanks
Gravity Forms v1.6 did not introduce calculation functionality. Performing basic calculations is a feature currently on the internal roadmap for the v1.7 release.
Can't wait to give this a try
Good job guys!
This looks to be an awesome list of new features... radio "other" option and post featured image are two things we will be implementing for clients right away now that it's available. Keep up the good work!
Thanks @gbengston! We are excited about the new features also. Those that haven't used the 1.6 beta release are going to love all the new features coming when we release 1.6 via automatic update.