Form Reform

Reform the way forms are built. Build a form out of blocks. Take control of how forms are processed, where submissions are sent and how the data is stored.

  • No development required - works straight out of the box.
  • Easy to extend.
  • Easy to reconfigure.
  • Tangible data.
  • Repeatable groups of inputs.
  • Easy to add your own integrations.

Reform the way forms are designed

Do you find designing forms unnecessarily complex?  Do you end up compromising the design of forms to the limitations of the form builder? Do you long for forms that are as easy to layout as pages and as easy to style as blocks?

Form Reform re-thinks the way forms are built:

Form Reform implements each input element as a block type.

Concrete CMS provides excellent functionality for block design, layouts and versions.

With Form Reform you create forms by dragging a block for each form input onto the page. Form Reform uses the same system that any Concrete CMS site editor is immediately familiar with and can design with. Blocks for form elements can be arranged with other block types, grouped and reused in stacks, arranged with layouts and containers, fine tuned using block design, copied using the clipboard and managed with block and page versions. Even repeatable groups of form inputs are configured with a block.

Reform the way form submissions are processed

Are you frustrated by fixed form processing? Do you want to save data for some forms, but only send email for others? Do you need to process forms differently depending on what is entered on the form?

Form Reform re-thinks the way form submissions are processed to give you complete control:

Form Reform processes submissions with a configurable pipeline.

Form Reform processes each form submission through a pipeline of handlers you can configure just for that form. Form handlers do things like:

When you configure the submit button for a form, you decide which handlers to add to the pipeline and the sequence in which they are executed. Handlers even support conditional logic so you can process forms differently based on conditions such as what the user enters or where they are located.

Reform the way form data is stored

Do you find form data difficult to use after it has been saved? Have you ever struggled to find and repair broken form data? Are you confused by the storage used by existing form builders? Does complex form data take too long to save?

Form Reform re-thinks the way form data is saved to make it simple and tangible.

The default Save handler for Form Reform saves each form submission into one row of one table.

Modern databases support JSON database columns. The default Save handler for Form Reform utilizes this to serialize form submissions as JSON data and save each form submission as a single row of data. This keeps all the data for a submission in one place.

Saving a form submission involves just one write to one database table. Saving complex form data with Form Reform is robust. No more skewed data spread across multiple database tables. Data saved by Form Reform is tangible - you know exactly where it is.

Form save handlers currently implemented are:

  • Save to the site database in a dedicated table
  • Save to a CSV file
  • Save to a text file
  • Save to an XML file
  • Save to a JSON file
  • Save to user/visitor session data
  • Save to user/visitor browser cookie
  • Save to Express object (requires Form Reform Attributes)
  • Save to User attributes (requires Form Reform Attributes)
  • Save to Page attributes (requires Form Reform Attributes)

Form results can be filtered, displayed and reports generated using Form Reform Display.

Learn with a simple form

While you may have plans to implement some much more complex forms using Form Reform, we strongly recommend you start with a simple form such as our contact form example in order to review the basic principles of using Form Reform before you move onto anything bigger.

  1. Start by submitting the form at Getting Started - Your First Form a few times, even making some deliberate mistakes.
  2. Watch our Getting Started with Form Reform video to see how the form is built.
  3. Read through the rest of Getting Started - Your First Form for more details of how this form is built.
  4. Create a test page on your site to build your own version of Getting Started - Your First Form and experiment.
  5. Develop your test page with some of the concepts introduced by our further examples and experiment with some of the other form inputs.

Form Reform

jl_form_reform - v9.4.1 - resources v9.4.1*

Reform the way forms are built. Build a form out of blocks. Take control of how form submissions are processed and how the submitted data is stored. Easy to extend. Easy to reconfigure. Tangible data. Easy to add your own integrations.

ConcreteCMS Marketplace v9.4.1

Block Types Single Pages
  • Form Reform /dashboard/​system/​form_reform Reform the way forms are built. Build a form out of blocks. Take control of how form submissions are processed and how the submitted data is stored. Easy to extend. Easy to reconfigure. Tangible data. Easy to add your own integrations.
  • Form Handler Plugins /dashboard/​system/​form_reform/​plugin_list Plugins for Form Handlers.
  • Form Reform Blocks /dashboard/​system/​form_reform/​form_reform_blocks Blocks for Form Reform.
  • Form Reform Global Settings /dashboard/​system/​form_reform/​global_settings Edit global settings and defaults for Form Reform Submission.
  • Form Reform /dashboard/​reports/​form_reform Reform the way forms are built. Build a form out of blocks. Take control of how form submissions are processed and how the submitted data is stored. Easy to extend. Easy to reconfigure. Tangible data. Easy to add your own integrations.
  • Form Submissions /dashboard/​reports/​form_reform/​form_reform_default Default storage for Form Reform submissions.
  • Advanced Configuration /dashboard/​system/​form_reform/​advanced_config Advanced Configuration for Form Reform including adapting styles for non-Bootstrap 5 themes.
Form Handler Plugins
  • Address Geocode
  • Clear Data Category
  • Clear Errors
  • Clear Quarantine Files
  • Comment
  • Condition Else
  • Condition Else If
  • Condition End
  • Condition If
  • End
  • Extend Form Data
  • Extend From List
  • Extend From Page
  • Extend From Table
  • Extend With Text Item
  • Fail
  • Fire Event
  • Generate ID Code
  • Generate QR Code
  • Import Quarantine Files
  • Iterate Data
  • Iterate Data End
  • Iterate Repeatable Group
  • Iterate Repeatable Group End
  • Log Errors
  • Log Handler Results
  • Log Pipeline
  • Log Submission
  • Log Submission Data
  • Magic Tabs Jump
  • Merge From Cookie Store
  • Merge From Default Store
  • Merge From Session Store
  • Message
  • Next Form State
  • None
  • On Error
  • On Success
  • Query Default Store
  • Redirect
  • Remove From Default Store
  • Save to CSV
  • Save to Cookie
  • Save to Default
  • Save to File
  • Save to Session
  • Send Email
  • Set Error
  • Set Error Conditional
  • Sort Form Data
  • Spam Detect
  • Transform Error
  • Validate ID Code
  • Validate Input Fields
  • Wait

Form Reform Display

jl_form_reform_display - v9.1.10

List and display form submissions from Form Reform.

ConcreteCMS Marketplace v9.1.10

Block Types Single Pages
  • Form Report Generator /dashboard/​reports/​form_reform/​form_reform_report Report generator for default Form Reform submissions.
Content Source Plugins
  • Form Reform Default Store

Form Reform UTM

jl_form_reform_utm - v9.0.3

Not just Form Reform and not just UTM! Capture and hold incoming UTM (or other) tags and make the tag values available to Form Reform and/or Conditional Redirect as {{place_holders}}. You don't need Form Reform to use this.

ConcreteCMS Marketplace v9.0.3

Single Pages
  • UTM configuration /dashboard/​system/​form_reform/​utm Redirects to UTM Configuration in SEO settings.
  • UTM configuration /dashboard/​system/​seo/​utm Capture and hold incoming UTM (or other) tags and make the tag values available to Form Reform as {{place_holders}}. Also integrates with Conditional Redirect. You don't need Form Reform to use this!

Form Reform Attributes, Express and Users

jl_form_reform_save_to_attributes - v9.0.18

Save submitted forms to Express objects and user attributes. Add and remove users from groups.

ConcreteCMS Marketplace v9.0.18

Block Types Form Handler Plugins
  • Merge From User Textarea Attribute
  • Remove From User Textarea Attribute
  • Save to Current Page Textarea Attribute
  • Save to Current User
  • Save to Current User Textarea Attribute
  • Save to Express
  • User Groups
  • Validate User

Form Reform Image Picker

jl_form_reform_image_picker - v9.0.4

Form Reform Image Picker provides an image picking input block for Form Reform. The Image Picker Input is preconfigured to connect to most Omni Gallery gallery and slider display widgets, the core gallery block, and thumbnail showing templates for the core page list block. Advanced settings allow the Image Picker Input to be configured to pick images from other galleries and sliders.

ConcreteCMS Marketplace v9.0.4

Block Types Form Handler Plugins
  • Extend From File Properties

Form Reform Data Picker

jl_form_reform_data_picker - v9.0.5

Form Reform Data Picker provides data picking input blocks for Form Reform. The Table Picker Input is preconfigured to connect to Universal Content Puller table display widgets. Advanced settings allow the Table Picker Input to be configured to pick data from other HTML tables.

ConcreteCMS Marketplace v9.0.5

Block Types Form Handler Plugins
  • Delete From Default Store
  • Read From Default Store
  • Update Default Store

Form Reform Dynamics

jl_form_reform_dynamics - v0.2.2

Form handlers for querying Microsoft Dynamics, forwarding and updating form data to Microsoft Dynamics.

Form Handler Plugins
  • Forward to Dynamics
  • Get From Dynamics
  • Update to Dynamics

Form Reform Macros

jl_form_reform_macro - v9.0.0

Extends Form Reform with form handler macros. Provides a new dashboard page at System & Settings > Form Reform > Form Reform Macros to manage macros, and form handlers to run macros.

ConcreteCMS Marketplace v9.0.0

Single Pages
  • Form Reform Macros /dashboard/​system/​form_reform/​macro Extends Form Reform with form handler macros. Provides a new dashboard page at System & Settings > Form Reform > Form Reform Macros to manage macros, and form handlers to run macros.
Form Handler Plugins
  • Macro

Form Reform Developer

jl_form_reform_developer - v9.0.14

A growing suite of resources to assist those developing blocks, handlers and more complex forms for Form Reform.

ConcreteCMS Marketplace v9.0.14

Single Pages
  • Plugin Dialogue Explorer /dashboard/​system/​form_reform/​plugin_dialogue_explorer A reference copy of all plugin dialogues. They won't save and may only partially work. Just here for browsing.
  • Block Dialogue Explorer /dashboard/​system/​form_reform/​block_dialogue_explorer A reference copy of all form input block dialogues. They won't save and may only partially work. Just here for browsing.
  • Find My Forms /dashboard/​system/​form_reform/​find_my_forms Locates Form Reform forms and the pages they are on.
Form Handler Plugins
  • Dump Added Static Handler Categories
  • Dump Form Data
  • Dump Post Data
  • Dump Query Data
  • Dump Static Data Values
  • Log Added Static Handler Categories
  • Log Static Data Values
  • Post Data Review
  • Validate Form Structure

Additional Pages

Reform the way you add new input controls

If you need a specialized template or a custom input element, you can design new templates  or new block types for form elements as you would any block type.

Blocks are easy for third party addition or extension. Block templates and are the first thing any Concrete CMS developer learns to code. They are one of the easiest things to code. The underlying mechanisms are well established and reliable.

Reform what you can do with form data

Form handlers are built about the same extensible plugin system as many of my other addons (Universal Content Puller, Omni Gallery, Extreme Clean ...).

The whole system is aimed at easy extension within Form Reform, by third party addons, by agencies and by site building developers.

Handlers can be easily added to do whatever you want with the form data.

Reform where you can save form data

Saving form data with Form Reform is simply a handler in the processing pipeline. You can save to multiple locations or just one location.

If you need to save data elsewhere, such as to a dedicated table, a table provided through another addon, to another database, send it to an API, forward it to another server, or anywhere you can imagine, you can adapt or develop a form handler to do so.

The complexity of the code depends on where you are saving or sending the data, but wrapping that into a form handler plugin for Form Reform is straight forward.

The Form Reform handler plugin system is designed for easy extension.

Form Reform

Reform the way forms are built. Build a form out of blocks. Take control of how form submissions are processed and how the submitted data is stored. Easy to extend. Easy to reconfigure. Tangible data. Easy to add your own integrations.

Form Reform Display

List and display form submissions from Form Reform.

Form Reform UTM

Not just Form Reform and not just UTM! Capture and hold incoming UTM (or other) tags and make the tag values available to Form Reform and/or Conditional Redirect as {{place_holders}}. You don't need Form Reform to use this.

Form Reform Dynamics

Form handlers for querying Microsoft Dynamics, forwarding and updating form data to Microsoft Dynamics.

Snapshot

A suite of advanced image capture and upload tools. Enhanced drag and drop file uploading. Make screengrabs from within Concrete CMS. Capture images directly from device webcams. Edit images before uploading.

Form Reform Attributes, Express and Users

Save submitted forms to Express objects and user attributes. Add and remove users from groups.

Form Reform Image Picker

Form Reform Image Picker provides an image picking input block for Form Reform. The Image Picker Input is preconfigured to connect to most Omni Gallery gallery and slider display widgets, the core gallery block, and thumbnail showing templates for the core page list block. Advanced settings allow the Image Picker Input to be configured to pick images from other galleries and sliders.

Form Reform Data Picker

Form Reform Data Picker provides data picking input blocks for Form Reform. The Table Picker Input is preconfigured to connect to Universal Content Puller table display widgets. Advanced settings allow the Table Picker Input to be configured to pick data from other HTML tables.

Form Reform Macros

Extends Form Reform with form handler macros. Provides a new dashboard page at System & Settings > Form Reform > Form Reform Macros to manage macros, and form handlers to run macros.

Form Reform Developer

A growing suite of resources to assist those developing blocks, handlers and more complex forms for Form Reform.

Learn with a simple form

While you may have plans to implement some much more complex forms using Form Reform, we strongly recommend you start with a simple form such as our contact form example in order to review the basic principles of using Form Reform before you move onto anything bigger.

  1. Start by submitting the form at Getting Started - Your First Form a few times, even making some deliberate mistakes.
  2. Watch our Getting Started with Form Reform video to see how the form is built.
  3. Read through the rest of Getting Started - Your First Form for more details of how this form is built.
  4. Create a test page on your site to build your own version of Getting Started - Your First Form and experiment.
  5. Develop your test page with some of the concepts introduced by our further examples and experiment with some of the other form inputs.