Use elements in more then 1 form

[miratecgroep]

Hi,

i'm building a site with multiple forms. Most of the forms have the same elements. F.e. the name, adres, telnr. etc. are all the same. So is it possible to 'reuse' the elements in the other forms?

Regards,
Patrick

 

[rob]

Hi

Its possible to reuse groups, so a group can be attached to as many forms as you like. So put the elements you want to repeatedly use in the same group and you should be ok

 

[rdbean]

That's what I thought....is there a reason why I just added a new form but there weren't any additional groups I could insert other than the one group I had just created?

 

[sitebuildernow]

I'm having the same trouble

That's what I thought....is there a reason why I just added a new form but there weren't any additional groups I could insert other than the one group I had just created?

I created elements in "groups" thinking I could just apply the group to multiple forms but once I use the group in one form it is no longer available for other forms ... is there a setting somewhere that is supposed to be ticked? Thanks!
Harmony

 

[cheesegrits]

Are you using Fabrik 1.0.x or 2.0?

In Fabrik 1.0.x, it is possible to re-use groups on multiple forms.

In Fabrik 2.0 it isn't.

-- hugh

 

[sitebuildernow]

multiple forms 1 group...

That's a bummer - any special reason why this changed? Thank you for the quick response.

Are you using Fabrik 1.0.x or 2.0?

In Fabrik 1.0.x, it is possible to re-use groups on multiple forms.

In Fabrik 2.0 it isn't.

-- hugh

 

[cheesegrits]

Basically, because allowing re-use of groups on multiple forms was making the Fabrik 2.0 code insanely complicated (even more so than it already is!). And it turns out that this isn't a very often used feature, which was kind of a surprise to us. In fact, we were already a year into testing of 2.0 before anyone even noticed we'd taken that feature out, and you are only the second person to ask about it.

I've responded to your Feature Request post, and move it into the Feature Request forum. As per my response on that thread, we'll look at adding 'copy group with elements' (or "clone group") as a feature in 2.1.

-- hugh

 

[rdbean]

Man...that kinda bites! I've actually been designing forms in my head thinking that I should group more efficiently so that I could re-use them.

Never Mind...I'll go back to wine now!

 

[grey666]

I noticed and I use that feature... what I do is:

Add a new table in fabrik - call it something else, but use the same MySQL table. This adds a new group. Then you have to remove the elements you don't need from the new table.

Next, edit every element for the new table and disconnect them from the original elements... Fabrik will prompt you when you edit the element.

Now you have two groups for the same MySQL table... you just have to remember that if you change something in an element, you have to change it for both elements.

This allows you to create multiple views for one table and even change the way some elements work in different views.

 

[cheesegrits]

Next, edit every element for the new table and disconnect them from the original elements... Fabrik will prompt you when you edit the element.

Now you have two groups for the same MySQL table... you just have to remember that if you change something in an element, you have to change it for both elements.

Why do you break the link for every element? The point of the 'link' is so you don't have to change both elements ... the 'child' will inherit changes from the 'parent', unless you break the link.

You should really only break the link for child elements you actually want to set different options for.

Or have you found some issue with linked elements which requires breaking the link to resolve? If so, can you let us know so we can fix it?

I know there are some issue with database join elements which are 'children', I've just never quite managed to nail that issue down, it seems to be intermittent. The issue I sometimes see is SQL errors, with select statements where the table or element name for the child join is missing, like ``.`element_name`. In those cases I've found it necessary to break the link and resave the child element. But that's the only linked element issue I'm aware of.

-- hugh