spotlight
Member
I was hoping to use this plugin in place of TDO Mini Forms, but, from what I can tell, it doesn't offer an option for a reader-submitted post to be previewed. And there doesn't seem to be an option to make reader logging in a requirement in order to submit a post.
Have I missed something? I was really hoping this plugin was going to the worth the money I plunked down for it, but if it can't do these two things, then I can't use it. Which means it's back to TDO.
There is no option for a reader-submitted post to be previewed by the user because they do not have access to the dashboard to do so. Once they submit the form it is processed on the backend and a form is created.
Forms don't require a reader to be logged in because forms themselves are not pages, they are embedded on a page (or post). If you don't want a form accessible unless a user is logged in, you will need to make the page it is embedded on only accessible by users who are logged in.
The form relies on whatever page it is embedded on to handle the security. This provides for much more flexibility and control and avoids functionality bloat within the plugin itself.
The 1.2 release, which will go into beta next week, will have support for Justin Tadlock's role management plugin. Using his plugin you can easily make content only visible to users with a certain role. You could use his plugin now to do so, but the 1.2 release will also provide granular control over Gravity Forms access.
spotlight
Member
I'd been searching for a role management plugin, but I hadn't come across Justin Tadlock's. Thanks for the tip for that.
TDO Mini Forms does offer a preview of the information submitted by the reader. I don't know where it's processed, but the preview is available to let the reader know what is being submitted. And if my readers aren't able to see exactly what they're submitting, then I have a feeling that I will be weeding through quite a few upload mistakes -- ones the readers could correct themselves before submission. I just don't have the time for that.
Gravity Forms is so pretty and so easy to use, and TDO is so clunky, but it offers so many features.
Without the preview, I just can't use the GF plugin.
Sorry to hear that. Hopefully in the future it will meet your needs, it is only v1.1 and we have no plans to stop adding features and releasing updates.
takemura
Member
Oh, I didn't realise Gravity doesn't offer a preview function. I feel that's pretty basic and fundamental to any decent form submission.
Spotlight is right, I wouldn't want to sit here weeding out errors because the submitter wasn't given the chance to preview their post, especially with Gravity also not having a Paypal functionality enabling me to charge people to post.
I wouldn't mind correcting errors if people were paying to post, but not for free.
Gravity has a slick UI over TDO but TDO beats Gravity hands down on many features, and it's free.
I think you need to keep in mind a few things:
1) TDO is a plugin for a specific purpose. Gravity Forms is first and foremost a general form creation tool with post creation abilities. TDO is a post creation tool only.
2) Gravity Forms is a brand new product that is just getting started. It isn't going to do everything that TDO or CFORMS does simply because they have been around for a much longer period of time. That being said neither CFORMS or TDO do everything Gravity Forms does either.
3) Features are meaningless to the average user unless they are easy to use. We don't add features to the plugin for the sake of adding features, nor do we add features to the plugin without thinking through usability.
We are constantly adding new features and functionality to Gravity Forms and the plugin will mature and continue to get better.
Here is a good example of things we have to think through when adding functionality using the Preview functionality as an example.
- Form contains image upload fields
- User fills out form, and selects images he wants to upload
- User clicks preview button
What do you do with the images? You can't preview them because the form data hasn't been fully submitted yet. You can't show the preview without the images because then they won't get uploaded because they aren't selected via the file dialog box for the form at that point.
These are the type of issues that we have to think through when adding new features and functionality to the plugin, even features that initially sound quite simple like Preview functionality.
It has to be implemented in a way that is easy to use, scalable, and flexible. Even the simplest feature can quickly become complex from an implementation standpoint.
We do plan on adding Preview functionality to Gravity Forms, but it has to be done right.
