Form Setup (Attendee/Registration Form)

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Keywords: registration form, form setup, attendee registration, page layout, advanced settings

Document ID: https://platform-support.certain.com/hc/en-us/articles/30686938433303#split1

Introduction

A registration form is an online form that enables attendees to register for an event, submitting their information into the registration and profile database tables.

Each form must belong to one event, but an event can have any number of forms.

Examples include Attendee Registration form, Exhibitor Registration form, Appointment Preferences selection form, and more.

> Note: By default, all Certain forms and websites are “private” (invisible to engines). For information about changing this for all or some events, see the PDF guide, .

Security Note: If the event has an Access Token (generated on ), then anyone going to any forms or websites in the event would have to enter the token before proceeding.

The Sections of a Registration Form

A form consists of one or more sections.

You can group sections into one or more pages.

You can select the sections, their order, and the number of sections per page, as needed.

The following is the list of Sections available: (These links open the detailed topics for those pages)

\* You can have multiple , , , , and . Each one is only listed here once you have added and named it on its configuration page. That custom name is what you see on this Form Setup page.

Note: Every form must include a section. Recommended: Accommodation and Travel sections should be on separate form pages. Suggested order: Accommodation Entry > Accommodation > Travel Entry > Travel, across four consecutive form pages. Last page: The last section should be the section. (From which a confirmation email can also be sent.)

Setup Information

Name

Name – (Required) Descriptive name for this form.

Subtitle

Subtitle – (Optional) HTML or text to display online below the event's title.

Set form dates relative to event dates

Set form dates relative to event dates – If selected, you can set the Form Open Date and Form Close Date as relative to the Event Start and/or End Dates instead of specifying fixed dates.

> Note: If this is selected, and the Event Start or End Dates are changed later, the relevant form dates will change accordingly.

Form Open Date

Form Open Date – (Required) Date and time when the registration form opens.

Prior to this, attendees will see the “Not open” message you can configure in the section of this page.

> Note: If the event has a status of “Cancelled”, then the form will not be available to attendees at all.

Unless “Set form dates relative to event dates” is selected, enter the date and time (PT).

Default: Current date at 8:00 AM (PT)

If “Set form dates relative to event dates” is selected, select one of the following options and then the number of months/days/hours to apply.

(Enter the date and time. This option enables you to have only the Form Close Date set relative to the event start or end date.)

Form Close Date

Form Close Date – (Required) Date and time when the registration form closes.

After this, attendees will see the “After Form Close Date” message you can configure in the section of this page.

Unless “Set form dates relative to event dates” is selected, enter the date and time.

Default: Event End Date and Time

If “Set form dates relative to event dates” is selected, select one of the following options and then the number of months/days/hours to apply.

(Enter the date and time. This option enables you to have only the Form Start Date set relative to the event start or end date.)

> Note: If a form close date is set after the event close date, then the event close date overrides the form close date, and the form will no longer be available once the event end date has passed. This avoids the potential risk of registrations being entered after the event has ended. > But if you want to override this, for a post-event survey form, for example, you can select the Allow form open beyond event end date setting described below.

URL

URL – Website address of this registration form.

If you don't specify a URL for the form, the system creates one for you automatically.

Form Status

Form Status – Select one of these statuses:

> Warning: If you are processing credit card payments on the form, and the Form Status is “Test”, payments will be sent to your online processor in Test mode instead of Live mode.

> Note: This status does not affect the status of Registrations, which are only added as “Test” registrations when the status of the event is “Testing”.

An attendee attempting to sees the “Form Closed” message (which you can configure in the section of this page) instead of the form.

> Note: You can set the status to “Closed” regardless of the form's Open and Close Dates (as set above).

Hyperlink Label

Hyperlink Label – Text shown for the link when a form link data-driven field is added to a Confirmation page, or other object that accepts data-driven field links.

For example, “Click here to register as a speaker”.

This is useful if you are creating multiple events (containing multiple forms) using an event template.

Using these data-driven hyperlinks eliminates the need to update hard-coded links to registration forms in your new events.

Google Analytics Tracking ID

Google Analytics Tracking ID – Each form automatically inherits the Google Analytics Tracking ID entered at the event level ( ), if one has been.

You can optionally enter a separate Tracking ID, specifically for this form, in this field.

This is generally used in the case of a “series” event, where each registration form is actually a separate event.

A Google Analytics Tracking ID should look something like this: UA-12345678-1.

For more information about obtaining a Google Analytics Tracking ID, see .

For details of the cookies generated by a Certain form, including for Google Analytics, see the PDF guide.

> Note: By default, form pages are not tracked at the individual level; once a registrant proceeds beyond the entry page, the form URL is the same for all pages. You can change this if you select Enable page-specific, page-level URL .

Settings

Settings – Optional check boxes to enable selected features.

Do not allow edits to existing registrations

Do not allow edits to existing registrations – If selected, registrants may not be able to edit their information after completing their registration.

This is the primary form for the event

This is the primary form for the event – One form per event must be designated as the primary form.

This is particularly useful when you want to view the primary form from an external website, such as an online calendar.

A report will show the Primary Form Name and Primary Form URL values (if those columns are included in the report).

> Note: To change which form is the primary, select this check box for the new one, which automatically clears it for the original.

Caution: Deleting/inactivating a form does not remove the Primary Form designation.

If you are not viewing inactive forms on the , you may not be aware that a primary form is still set for an event.

Make this form available on the Admin side

Make this form available on the Admin side – If selected, the form is available on the and Registration > Reg Form pages.

Allow access via web service

Allow access via web service – If selected, the form will be accessible via the Certain API.

(The getEventForms method in API 1 can provide the form’s URL.)

Allow form open beyond event end date

Allow form open beyond event end date – If selected, and the form's Close date is set to after the event close date, then the form will still be available once the event end date has passed.

As described above, this makes a post-event survey form possible, for example.

Normally, as described under the form's Close date above, the form is no longer available after the event end.

> Note: If the event has a status of “Cancelled”, then the form will not be available to attendees at all, regardless of this setting.

> Note: This option remains relevant if you've selected “Set form dates relative to event dates” above. > If, for example, you've selected that option and set the Form Close Date to any point after the Event End Date then you must also select this option.

Allow form to remain open when event Registration Capacity is reached

Allow form to remain open when event Registration Capacity is reached – If this check box is selected, and Registration Capacity is set for the event on , then the form will remain open even after registrations have reached that capacity limit.

(Ordinarily, all forms in the event are closed at that point.)

For example, you could close the primary form(s) but leave one open that allows for waitlisting.

> Note: You must select this if you are enabling for the event.

Enable split screen edit mode

Enable split screen edit mode – If selected, you can edit the form while seeing both views at the same time.

When you are logged into the Certain admin interface and viewing the attendee registration form, you see a ‘gear’ icon on the left of each form section header.

Click that to show a split screen view: one frame with the attendee view of the form, and the other with the admin-side configuration screen for that form section.

Disable browser back button

Disable browser back button – If selected, then if a registrant clicks the Back button in a form, it will have no effect.

Reg status

Reg status – The form can automatically change the registration status of the registrant.

Upon entry into this form, set status to – The entry status will be assigned to all registrations on the order (including both Primary and Additional registrations) as the attendee enters the form to.

Select (Do not change) to leave the registration status unaffected by entry into the form.

Upon completion of this form, set status to – The completion status will be assigned to all registrations on the order (including both Primary and Additional registrations) when the registrant reaches the form's confirmation page.

Select (Do not change) to leave the registration status unaffected by exit from the form.

> Note: The registration status selected here will override the default status of the registration's attendee type.

> Note: The list of statuses available for selection includes: > - Custom statuses added on . > - The 11 default registration statuses (New, Requested Invitation, Waitlist Hold, Invited, Request Denied, Invitation Sent, Pre-Registered, Declined Invitation, Cancelled, No-show, Attended) unless the account has the Show Default Statuses option cleared on ; in which case none of those are available. > It is very rare for an account administrator to clear this setting.

User Notes

User Notes – A text entry field for miscellaneous information.

Page Layout

Select the sections that you want to include in the form from the Available Sections list on the left.

Move the selected sections to the Online Form Sequence list on the right.

Video: (2 min.)

(To save scrolling through a long list of sections, you can type any part of a section name in the Filter text box. That's a predictive that limits the list to matching sections.)

(If there are any sections in the Online Form Sequence box that you don't want to include, move them back to the Available Sections box.)

Insert a {Secure Page} break before any section that collects credit card information (such as the Payment or Accommodation sections) or before a section to build a multi-page form.

Either causes the page before it to end with a Continue button.

Three Rules for Building a Registration Form

1. Every form must include the section. 2. The section is optional. If it is not used, then attendees will only be able to request one room. If it is used, then it must be on the page immediately before the section. The Accommodation Entry section serves no purpose other than as an introduction to the Accommodation section. 3. The last section of the form must be a section.

You do not need to add a {New Page} at the end.

Page & URL Titles

You can choose to display a step-by-step navigation bar in this section.

The navigation bar helps attendees to see where they are in the registration process as they proceed through the form.

Each number corresponds directly to a section in the Page Layout section.

Boxes left blank will not display on the final navigation bar.

The registrant's browser will also include this label after the registration site name, confirming the current step.

The forms are by default 508 compliant.

This enables screen readers to identify the page a registrant is currently on.

Keeping in mind that custom HTML added in the events should follow 508 compliance to ensure everything in the page stays accessible.

One example would be adding a banner HTML to keep things 508 compliant double-check that any custom HTML includes aria-labels, which helps screen readers relay information correctly.

Default = ».

The HTML code for the double right-angle quote character, ».

Click the color picker to the right of the text entry field to select a color.

Enter a hex-code directly, for example: #003385.

Font styles can be configured on the page.

Can be plain text or HTML.

Default = ».

Many planners do not wish to show registration form navigation on the entry page if one is used.

This can be important where the attendees may be forced to authenticate with a username or password.

Each one is preceded by a #.

In each field, you can enter an optional text label to be added (preceded by #) to the URL for that page.

(Caution: The examples you see are just placeholders, with suggested text. To use this feature you must enter your own text.)

This enables each page of your form to have a unique URL, so that form progress can be tracked via embedded web tracking codes.

That title is available as a Dynamic Data Field (DDF) in the Advanced Display and can be included in your display shell.

Registrants see it as the name in their browser tab.

Web analytics programs can pick it up for reporting.

Global Display Settings

Global Display Settings determine the default display behavior for the entire form.

The labels may be displayed to the left of the input fields or above them.

The default is Left / Right.

You would usually change this to Top / Bottom if you use the Insert Row button on to create a multi-column profile section layout.

Note: Does not apply to quite all sections at the moment.

Does apply to Registration Details, and to these sections of the Verify and Confirm pages: Accommodation, Appointment, Attendee Type, Questions, Registration Details, and Travel (V.1).

Default = Text.

Default = Text.

Default = Subheader.

This inserts slightly more space around form sections.

These are configured on .

Required Fields Settings

Certain optionally displays an image next to each field on a form page which is required.

If this field is set to blank no image will be displayed.

Default is an asterisk = <span class="error"> * </span>

Default = “Please correct the following errors:”

This is only required to make forms 508-compliant.

A screen-reader user can click the hyperlinked error message to focus the cursor on the associated field.

Required Fields Messages

You can customize the error messages displayed to the attendee when what they have entered fails validation.

The should be enough to explain each one.

Agenda Item Error Messages

You can customize error messages related to agenda items.

The should explain their use.

Labels for Registration Assistance Link

You can customize the message shown to an attendee if they click the link for registration assistance.

You can include HTML tags in the text.

The should be enough to explain each one.

Labels for Buttons and Links

Here you set the messages that appear on standard links and buttons that can be automatically displayed on the form.

If no text is entered in a field, the button will not be displayed (except that the Continue button is Required).

Default = “Continue”.

Default = “Add Another Registrant”.

Default = “New Registration”.

Default: “<br /><br />Email Registration Assistance”.

This is to avoid fake form submissions and subsequent spam emails generated by web ‘bots.

> Caution: If you clear this option, the form will not include a CAPTCHA check box.

Creating and Editing Registration Forms (ADVANCED SETTINGS)

Click the Advanced button on this Form > Setup page to edit messages that are displayed automatically when triggered by circumstances.

Each message contains default text which you can change or delete.

Each one of these settings includes the following fields:

1. Append – If required, select a dynamic data field (DDF) to append to the Header of the Message. 2. Header Text – The text to be displayed in the header bar.

Example: “Important Notice”. 3. Message HTML – The text of the message displayed when triggered.

For each one, you can accept the default or customize it as necessary.

4. Enable Editor? – If selected, you edit the Message HTML in a WYSIWYG editor, with the usual controls for formatting it.

If left clear, you enter the message in plain twext (which can still include HTML tags).

5. Show the Registration Assistance Link – If selected, a link opens a pop-up window that enables potential attendees to contact the primary Registration Contact for the event.

Customize Entry Page Message (Before Form Open Date)

Message HTML – This message is displayed if anyone tries to access the form via the form's URL before the form's open date.

Customize Entry Page Message (After Form Close Date)

Message HTML – This message displays if anyone tries to access the form via the form's URL after the form's close date.

Customize Entry Page Message (After Event End Date)

Message HTML – This message displays if anyone tries to access the form via the form's URL after the event's end date, or if the event’s Status is set to ‘Cancelled’.

Customize "Closed Form" Message

Message HTML – An attendee sees this message if they try to register when the Form Status is 'Closed'.

Customize "Event Registration Capacity" Message

Message HTML – An attendee sees this message if they try to register after the number of active, complete registrations has reached the level set as Registration Capacity for the event on .

Similarly, if that level has been reached then an attendee with a “Cancelled” status sees this message if they try to log back in (using their , , or ).

> Note: This message is not displayed in either of these situations: > > 1. If Registration Capacity is blank, meaning there is no limit. > 2. If the option is selected to Allow form to remain open when event capacity is reached.

(See under , above.)

That includes when Automatic Event Waitlisting is enabled, since that requires the latter option to be selected.

Customize "Maximum Concurrent Registrations" Message (Based on active sessions)

If an event is anticipated to be in high demand and will have a spike of registrations upon going live, contact Certain Product Support with the name of your event, your go-live date and time, and the anticipated number of registrations within the first hour.

Certain Product Support can then make a recommendation on the maximum number of concurrent sessions (registrations) that can be reached before a custom message is displayed.

This feature works in conjunction with the ‘Incomplete registrations count against capacity/inventory for ‘X’ minutes after their last modification ’ value that is defined under > Global Settings section.

This value defines the number of minutes that a registrant has to complete their registration before their session is timed out.

When the maximum number of registrants is reached, the custom error message will appear.

The page will refresh every 15 seconds, allowing in new registrants as other registrants complete the form.

An image will appear below the custom message, indicating the page will automatically refresh in ‘X’ seconds.

If you would like to extend the length of the refresh interval, this value can be modified by Certain Support.

Default: “Online registration is currently unavailable for this form. Please try again later.”