Form module

The Form module allows you to create Web forms that visitors can fill in. The module provides pre-configured form templates for easy creation of standard forms, such as a contact form, and allows customization. Multiple form elements that belong together, such as address fields, can be grouped visually. Form data can be validated using configurable validators. By default, data is sent via email in HTML or plain text or logged to the file system. Form data is processed using pluggable data processors which allow customization without changing the Magnolia core system. For information on working with components to create forms, see Form components.

Download

Download the Form module from Magnolia Store or Nexus repository.

Installing

Form is a community module included in the Standard Templating Kit bundle, and typically already installed. Go to Magnolia Store > Installed modules in AdminCentral to check. To install the module individually, please see the general module installation instructions. In order to use this module, the STK needs to be installed.

Uninstalling

See the general module uninstalling instructions and advice.

Mail configuration

The Form module uses the Mail module to send form data in email. See Configure SMTP protocol to enable sending of mail.

Creating a form

1. Create a new page.
2. Assign a form template to the page. STK ships with two sample templates: Contact Form which sends the collected data to an email address you specify and Public Users Management which is a collection of forms for registering, authenticating and updating public users. Double-click the template column to select a template.
3. Open the page and edit the form settings.
4. Add a field set component on the form. You can have multiple field sets in the one form. This helps groups them visually, for example contact details in one set and feedback message in another.
5. Add a field set.
6. Add fields inside the field set.

Creating a multistep form

1. Create a new page. This will be the master page (first step) of the process.
2. Assign the Contact Form template to the page.
3. Open the page.
   1. Edit the form settings.
   2. Add a field set component on the form.
   3. Add fields inside the field set.
4. Create as many new pages under the master page as you have form steps.
5. Assign the Contact Form Step template to the pages.
6. Add field sets and fields on the substep forms.

Field validation

Validators are used to ensure that form data is entered in correct format and length. For example, an email address should adhere to an established syntax where a local part is followed by the @ character and a domain: john.smith@example.com. Validators are configured in /modules/form/config/validators/. The validation is performed by a Java class referenced in the class node.

The Form module provides the following validators out-of-the-box:

• none: No validation is performed. Any value entered into the field is accepted.

• empty: No validation. Used for Honey pot field only.  

• email: Value needs to be a valid email address. Validity is checked with regular expression ^\S+@\S+$. This validator uses the ValidateExpression class which evaluates a regular expression configured in the expression property.
• number: Value needs to be a number, specifically an integer. No decimals separated with period or comma or fractions are accepted. Validity is checked with regular expression [0-9]*
• noHTML: Value cannot any have HTML markup. This ensures that users can enter only plain text. Creating links and formatting text is prevented. Validity is checked with the custom NoHTMLValidator class which checks for the presence of angle brackets (< >).
• password: Validates that a password typed into the user profile update form matches the one typed into the confirmation field. Used to eliminate typos.
• username: Verifies that the entered username does not exists in the system. The Java class for this validator is in the Public User Registration (PUR) module.

Configured validators are displayed as options in a the Field dialog when fields are added to the form.

When field validation passes, the value is submitted.

When field validation fails, a message is displayed to the user identifying the problem field.

Creating a custom regular expression validator

The easiest way to create a custom field validator is to use the ValidateExpression class and write a regular expression.

For example, to validate a U.S. ZIP code:

1. Go to /modules/form/config/validators.
2. Create a new content node zip under validators.
3. Create two data nodes under zip:
   • class: Set the value to info.magnolia.module.form.validators.ValidateExpression.
   • expression: Set the value to ^\d{5}(-\d{4})?$. This regular expression validates ZIP codes of type ZIP+4.

Assign the validator to a field:

1. Open a page that has a form, such as the Contact page at /demo-project/service/contact.
2. Add a new text field on the form.
3. Select zip from the Validation dropdown.
4. Save.

Test the validation:

1. Fill the ZIP code field with an invalid code such as 4321A.
2. Fill other mandatory fields on the form.
3. Submit.

The form tells you that the ZIP code was invalid and highlights the problematic field. This is the expected outcome.

Creating a custom validator class

To validate field values against an external source you need a custom Java class. Look at the API documentation:

• Validators in Form module
• Validators in PUR module

Form processors

Form processors are responsible for sending the submitted form data in email or storing it in the repository. Processors are configured in /modules/form/templates/components/form/formProcessors and executed when the corresponding form is submitted.

The following configurable processors are provided out-of-the-box:

• SendContactEMailProcessor sends form data in email to the address specified in the To field. The processor extracts values from the From, To, Subject and Text fields and creates an email message in plain text or HTML format depending on form settings. Any uploaded files are sent as attachments.  
• SendConfirmationEMailProcessor sends a confirmation email. The processor first verifies if the Send confirmation checkbox is checked and sends a message to the address specified in the To field. By default, this processor is not enabled. This is the case even if the Send confirmation checkbox is checked in form settings. To enable it, add an enabled data node under the processor and set its value to true.
• TrackEmailProcessor writes the content of the submitted form to magnolia-form.log file if the Track Mail checkbox is checked. By default, this processor is not enabled. This is the case even if the Track Mail checkbox is checked in form settings. To enable it, add an enabled data node under the processor and set its value to true. API

Creating a custom form processor

The three example form processors above send the form data in email. If you need to store the data into a database or process it in another way, write your own form processor. See Storing form data in the Data module for an example.

See also these examples:

• Form processors in the Form module
• Form processors in the PUR module

Logging

To log data sent in the contact form:

1. In form settings, check the Track mail checkbox in the Submit settings tab.
2. Create a new data node enabled under /modules/form/templates/components/form/formProcessors/trackEmail and set its value to true.
3. Submit the form.
4. To view the log:
   
   • Go to Tools > Log Viewer. Select the magnolia-form.log and click View. OR
   • Open webapps/<webappName>/logs/magnolia-form.log on the file system.

For logging mail errors, see Mail > Error logging .

Disabling cache

The Form module keeps the internal state on the server. It is kept in session using a unique ID for each user interaction and this makes it possible to have simultaneous form interactions in a single session, for example in multiple tabs. A unique ID is rendered within the page as a hidden input field. This is the reason the page needs to be excluded from caching; otherwise different users would be able to use the same ID that was used when the page went into the cache.

Pages can be excluded from the cache in the Cache module in /modules/cache/config/default/cachePolicy/voters/urls/excludes. The screenshot below shows the exclusion of the first page of the multi-step form in demo-features.

Form settings

Form settings define the title and name of the form and where the collected information should be submitted. Settings are configured in the Form Settings dialog. You can access this dialog by clicking the Edit icon on the Form component toolbar.

Form tab

Submit settings tab

Email tab

Confirmation email tab

Field sets

The purpose of a field set is to group fields that logically belong together.

Before you can add any fields on the form you need to add at least one field set:

1. Click New Field Set in the green bar on the form.
2. Enter a Title, a common nominator for the fields in this set such as "Address" or "Your message". The title is displayed above the fields.
3. Click Save.

Fields

See Form module components for fields that you can add into a field set.