Tendenci gives you the option to use the standard Events Registration form or to add a Custom Registration form. These are Tendenci's out-of-box features to cover your event registration needs!
By default, your site will launch with our standard Events Registration form and this Help File is going to show you how to update the Event Module's default site settings to include the option for custom registration forms. Then, we'll show you how to set up and use custom registration forms.
What Are Custom Event Registration Forms?
Custom Event Registration Forms are something we added as an option for you in case you want to collect more specific and personalized information from your event attendees compared to our standard event registration form.
Part 1: Creating a Custom Registration Form in Tendenci
Adding Custom Registration Form Location
The admin backend is the best way to create a new registration form. To access the admin backend, go to the admin menu tab at the top of the site and click on Apps -> 1.Admin -> Admin Backend.
The admin backend is organized in alphabetical order so it is pretty simple to look for topics. In this case, the topic we are looking for is Event Custom Registration, so let's proceed with looking for Events which is located in box number 20.
You have the option of directly adding a custom registration form by clicking on +Add or to see the full list click on Custom Registration Forms. On this page, you can see a summary of what the form contains: what event it is attached to, a summary of what it contains or notes, the status of the form (active, inactive, draft,) the name, and ID. You can also add a new custom registration form by clicking + Add Custom Registration Form. If you click on the name of the form, it will let you edit the form.
Adding Custom Registration Form
This page will allow you to add or edit custom registration forms. The first section is important as the name and notes will help you identify what the custom form is for. Status has three options:
- Draft - It can be used but needs edits
- Inactive - will remove the custom registration form from the options in the events
- Active - it can be used as a custom registration form
Now you can see this looks much like our other custom forms, in the backend. Your custom registration form will be tied directly to the event.
Tendenci provides a preset of fields that are added as the boxes are checked. This automatically gets populated in the field sections. To remove the preset fields, just uncheck the box that you would like to eliminate. These fields can always be edited to your convenience.
You can add as many fields as you need by clicking on at the bottom. These can be eliminated by clicking on the Delete column. It is important to take notice that a preset field can only be deleted using the checkboxes and an added custom field is deleted directly using the delete column. You will notice that the cursor turns into a four-arrow widget as you scroll through. This lets you rearrange the order, so you can change the order of how the items are displayed on the event roster.
The Map to User Field is automatically populated so there is no need to worry about that. As I mentioned before if you check the box on one of the preset fields for example it will automatically populate the field.
The Type field provides several options that permit you to adjust the field according to your needs.
- Text
- Number
- Paragraph Text
- Check Box
- Single Select - Radio Button
- Single Select - From a List
- Multi-Select - Check Boxes
- Email
- Date
- Date/Time
- Description & Section Heading
If you would like to add various options to any of these types, you must insert those options in the Choices column. To add multiple choices you, separate each section with a comma "," for example: purple, green, blue, red.
The Choices column can also be used to place the exact name of the group you want your members to automatically join as part of the registration process. Please Request a Help File we'll retrieve your answer right away if you need guidance on how you can automatically have your members join a group as part of the registration process. A help file from the TendenciDEV team should be available soon.
You can have a Default option if you'd like and that's what would be displayed just by default if they register. If you leave it blank it will just pick the first option by default.
To keep track of the Custom Form for the event, you have to checkmark the box that says Show on Roster per field. This is used for report purposes since once the box is checked, every time you print the roster, the checked file will appear in the list.
There are other functions for the Custom Event Registration form such as:
- Special Functionality: is used for organizational purposes, you can group them by groups, members, or organization. etc...
- Required: this means that to submit the form every field with this box checked must be filled.
- Visible: this one is used to temporarily hide the field until it is unchecked. This field can be used in case an item runs out and instead of deleting it, just hide it. That way the roster will still keep track of this field, instead of erasing it that will erase all information regarding this field and will not appear in the roster.
Now that we have finished setting up the custom registration form, you can see it shows special menu options in the name of that custom form.
Part 2: Setting Up Custom Event Registration Forms in Tendenci
The first thing you need to do is turn on custom registration forms and the way you do that is using your top menu admin bar, you navigate to Apps -> 3.Events, then click on Calendar or Events List. Once in the Events Module, go to the admin bar and click on the Events drop-down next to Reports. You'll click on your Settings and that will bring you to this page that we're looking at here which is your events settings.
You'll want to go to the custom registration form hit true for enabled and update the settings.
Now when you go to add events or edit events you will see a new option (for a Custom Registration form).
Let's proceed to create a new event or edit one. If you need to view how to create a new event, you can use this help file: Adding a new Event in Tendenci
If you create a new event, fill in all the necessary information for the event. You have your title and everything else down here. You'll set your dates, times, location, and those types of details for your event. When you scroll down here underneath registration, there's a new box that wasn't there before, and that's the custom registration form. Now, if you want to edit an event and add a custom registration, select an event you want to edit from the Event list or Calendar view and click on the Events drop-down. Then, go to Edit Event. Once on the Event Edit page, look for the tab called Registration and scroll down until you see the Custom Registration form.
Note: If you don't see any of your custom registration forms in the drop-down menu, or if you only see one, this most likely means that your custom registration form(s) need to be renamed. Custom registration forms are automatically named "Default Custom Registration Form," so ensure that each custom registration form has its unique name.
If you want to use a custom registration form you'll check that box. After checking the box, click on the drop-down under Use one form for all pricing to select the registration form for this event. The custom form will be applied to all pricing levels so make sure the prices are correct and precise. Tendenci provides a custom registration form that can guide you in creating your own.
Once the custom form has been added to the event, click on Save Changes or Add Event to make sure the edits are saved. This will redirect you to the event's main page and you will see the registration on the right side of the event page. For example: The image below is an event for a fund-raiser and you can choose what you want to donate:
If you want to verify what custom form this event is using, you have to go to your admin menu tab at the top and look for the Events dropdown. Click on it, then navigate to Manage Custom Registration Form.
As you can see, it demonstrates the event and what custom registration form is associated with this event. You can see a preview of what the form will look like to the public or members and also quick access to edit the form.
Part 3 - Custom Registration Forms from the User's Perspective
What Do Your Event Registrants Experience?
Your top priority with online event registration is ensuring your guests don't experience problems when they register.
What it Looks Like From Your Client's Perspective
In this custom registration forms for events help file, I showed you how to enable custom registration forms for events and how to add a custom registration form and customize it for an event coming up for your organization. So now we proceed to show you what it looks like for somebody coming to register for the event on the custom registration form.
This is how the event will look from a user's perspective. You can see the different prices or registrations on the top right of the image and bottom right. Each register has the price and the end date of registration. In this example, the price is $0.00 since this event is looking for donations (whatever people can bring). For this example: after you click register, you will see a list of the pricing; this only happens when there are multiple levels of pricing. If you have only one pricing then it will automatically redirect the user to the registration page.
Then we proceed to click on Register Now to fill out the registration form. The custom registration form for the event will appear and the user will fill out all the necessary information to attend this event. If there is a payment option, the user will choose what method he prefers to pay for the event depending on the available options in the form.
I you wanted to add an additional registrant because you checked to validate for each guest, click on the Add another Registration to have them fill out their own registration for the event.
Once the registration has been finalized, the user will be redirected to a confirmation page. It will list of summary of the registration form and invoice that they are going to owe.
Log in as an administrator to see who has registered for your event. To do this, we must head to the event and in the event module look for Roster Report on the admin menu tab.
So as you can see Tendenci offers you ways to customize and personalize your events, using the custom registration form to collect the type of information you want to know about your guests.
Still Looking for an Answer on Tendenci's Events Module?
Check out some other event help-files for more features!
Request a Help File we'll retrieve your answer right away
We are always looking for ways to simplify your life.
Contact us today with more ideas!
Join the Open-Source Community! Give us a Call at (281)497-6567
We want to help your organization succeed on the web.