In our last article, we finished the Fabrik Member Registration form and matched its elements to the default Joomla Registration form elements so that we can replace the Joomla Registration form with our custom Member Registration form. In this article, we will create our Service Provider Info form.
Here are the steps to become approved as a Fabrik Friends Service Provider.
Here are the steps for creating the Fabrik Friends Service Provider form:
Create a Service Provider Info List
To create our Service Provider list, go to Fabrik Lists and click New. For Form Label, type Service Provider Info. Then click on the Data tab. For Table name, type: afc_service_provider_info Then click Save. Then Save and Close.
Add an Intro to the Service Provider Info Group
Rather than having the Service Provider Intro text at the beginning of the Service Provider Info form, it is better to place it inside the Service Provider Info Group. This will make it easier to hide this text on our Service Provider Profile Page. Here is the Service Provider Intro text:
Most of the fields are required as they are using by our Network Search Engine. For Provider Name, please indicate either the name of your business or your name and the name of your service. For provider email, please indicate your business email or your personal email. Service Provider categories include Fabrik Instructors, Fabrik Website Designers and Fabrik Application Developers. You can select 1 2 or all 3 categories. To select more than one category, hold down the Control Key. After your listing has been activated, you can use the Service Provider Profile Page to provide more details about the service you are offering including images and videos if you wish. To add an image, simply click on the Image Icon in the editor. To add a link to another web page, click on the link icon. You can also change the font family, font size and font color. Please read our article on how to create your own Provider Photo before you upload your Provider Photo.
Click Save. Because we do not want to show this description, and several other elements on the Service Provider Details page, click the Layout tab. Change Show in form/details from Yes to Yes but hidden (details only). Then click Save and Close.
Create a Fabrik Group called Provider Details
We need a separate group to hold our Service Provider Name element, Provider Email element and Provider Website element. Go to Groups, click New. For label, type Provider Details. For name, type provider-details. For form, select the Service Provider Info form. Leave the Intro box blank. Then click Save. Then click on the Layout tab. Note that Show in form/details is set for Yes. Leave it at Yes and click Save and Close.
All elements in the Service Provider Info form except the Service Provider name, email and website elements, will be in the default Service Provider Info group.
Add Service Provider Name Box
Go to the Service Provider Info form and click Add. For Label, copy paste: Service Provider Name For Name, copy paste: service_provider_name. For Plugin, leave it at field. For group, select Provider Details. Then click Save and New.
Add a Service Provider Email Box
For Label, copy paste: Service Provider Email. For Name, copy paste: service_provider_email. For Plugin, leave it at field. For group, leave it at Provider Details. Then click on the Advanced tab and for Input type, select Email. Then click Save and New.
Add a Service Provider Website Box
For Label, type Service Provider Website. For Name, type service_provider_website. For plugin, leave it at Field. For Group, select Provider Details. Then click on the Advanced tab and change Input type to URL. Then click the Guess Link Type tab and change Guess Link Type to Yes and change Link Target to Open in a new window. Then click Save and New.
Add a Service Provider City box
For Label, type Service Provider City. For Name, type service_provider_city. For plugin, leave it at Field. For Group, select Service Provider Info. Then click Save and Close.
Add Service Provider Continent and Service Category Forms
We still need to add 3 more elements to our Service Provider Info form. These are Provider Category, Provider Continent and Provider Profile Page. However, because they have several options and we want these to be searchable, we first need to create special Provider Continent and Provider Category forms. Because the Provider Continent and Provider Category need their own custom form, we will add the Provider Continent and Provider Category elements to our Service Provider Info form AFTER creating these two special forms.
Create your Provider Continent Form
Go to the Fabrik Lists screen and click New. Then for Label, type Provider Continent. For the Table name afc_provider_continent. Then click Save. Then Save and Close. Then go to Fabrik forms and open the matching form. For Intro, copy paste: This list of continents to be used by our members when doing a search for Providers.
Then click Save and Close.
Click Add to add an element to this form called Provider Continent. Change the group to Provider Continent Then save and close. Then hide the time and ID elements from the List and show just the Provider City. Then go to Forms, Provider Continent, View Data, Then click Add to add 6 continents.
Add a Provider Categories Form
We want to have the ability to add a new Provider category if needed. The easiest way to do this is to create a Provider Categories List which will also create a Provider Categories form. The Provider Categories form will only have one default group called Provider Categories. We will then add only one element called Provider Category Name using a normal field element. Then in Forms or List, click View Data to add the Provider Category Names.
To add the Provider Categories List, click on Lists, New. For Label, type: Provider Categories.
Then click on the Data tab and for Table name, type: afc_provider_categories. Click Save. Leave the Content Type at Default and click Save and Close.
Then click on the Provider Categories form. For Intro, copy paste: This is a list of our Service Provider categories that can be searched by members looking for services.
Click Save and Close. Add an element to this form called Service Provider Category. Place it in the Provider Categories group. Then click Save and Close. Then hide the time and ID elements from the List and show just the Service Provider Category. Then go to View Data Add to add all three of our Service Provider categories.
Add a Database Join Element to Connect our Service Provider Info Form to our Provider Continent form
Go to Forms, Service Provider Info form. Then click Add to add a new element. For Title, type Provider Continent. For Name, type provider_continent For plugin, select database join. For group, select Service Provider Info. Then click on the Data tab.
For Table, select afc_provider_continent. For Value, select id. For Label, select provider_continent. Then click on the Add option in front end tab and change Add option in front end to Yes. Leave Link to joined record to No. Then click Save to confirm that the correct Pop Up form was found (Provider Continent). Then click Save and New.
Add a Database Join Element to Connect our Service Category
For the next element, for Label, type Service Provider Category. For Name, type service_provider_category. For plugin, select database join. For group, select Service Provider Info. Then click on the Data tab. Change Render As from Drop Down to MultiSelect DropDown. For table, select afc-provider-categories. For Value, select ID. For label, select Service Provider Category.
Then click Add option in front end. Change Add option in front end from No to Yes. Then click Save to confirm the popup. Then click Save and New.
Add a User ID element
For Label, type UserID. For name, type userid. For plugin, select User. For group, Service Provider Info. For Show, change Hidden. to Yes. Then click Save and Close.
Select the elements to display in the Service Provider List
Click on Fabrik Elements. Then filter for the Service Provider Info form. Move the Provider Continent to the top of the list. For show in list, leave everything unchecked except Provider Continent, Provider Name, Provider Category and Provider Website.
View the Service Provider Info Form
To View the Service Provider Info form in the back end, click Forms, Service Provider Info form View Data. Then click Add. Here is the top of the Service Provider form:
Note that Service Provider Continent is a Single Select Database Join element while Service Category is a Multi Select Database Join element. The Plus signs allow us to add new Categories on the back end but the plus signs are not present on the front end. So folks need to email us if they want to add a new category.
Congratulations! You have now completed your Service Provider Info form.
What’s Next?
In the next article, we will set up front end menu items so we can add our Demo Members to test how well our new Service Provider Network works.