Form Setup (Registration Form)

Access: Plan > Forms > (Form) > Setup

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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: Attendee Registration form, Exhibitor Registration form, Appointment Preferences selection form, etc.

Note: By default, all Certain forms and websites are "private" (invisible to search engines). For information about changing this for all or some events, see the PDF guide, Web Crawlability in Certain Events.

Security Note: If the event has an Access Token (generated on  Event Setup Details), 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, which you can group into one or more pages.

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

List of Sections available

* You can have multiple Forms Questions,  Forms Agenda,  Forms Sessions,  Forms Logic, and Custom HTML sections.
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 Registrant Details 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 Confirmation (from which a confirmation email can also be sent).

Setup Information

• Name – (Required) Descriptive name for this form.
• Subtitle – ( Optional) HTML or text to display online below the event's title.
• Set form dates relative to event dates – If selected, you can set the Form Open Date and Form Close Date (described next) 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 – (Required) Date and time when the registration form opens.
  Prior to this, attendees will see the "Not open" message you can configure in the Advanced 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, just enter the date and time (PT).
      • Default: Current date at 8:00 AM (PT)

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

      • Before Event Start Date
      • Before Event End Date
      • After Event Start Date
      • After Event Start Date
      • At a specified time and date (PT)
        • (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 – (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 Advanced section of this page.

  • Unless 'Set form dates relative to event dates' is selected, just enter the date and time.
    Default: Event End Date and Time

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

    • Before Event Start Date
    • After Event Start Date
    • Before Event End Date
    • After Event End Date
    • At a specified time and date (PT)
      • (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 – 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 – Select one of these statuses:

  • Live – The form is available for attendees to use.

  • Test – Best practice is to select this status only if the Event Status on Plan > Event Setup > Details is 'Testing'.

    • 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'.

  • Closed – Usually used if the Event Status is 'Postponed'. (See Plan > Event Setup > Details.)

    • An attendee attempting to register sees the 'Form Closed' message (which you can configure in the Advanced 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 – Text shown for the link when a form link data-driven field (e.g., <Hyperlink to Form: Attendee Registration Form>) is added to a Confirmation page, or other object that accepts the 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 – Each form automatically inherits the Google Analytics Tracking ID entered at the event level (Plan > Configure > Options), 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 About Google Analytics Tracking IDs.

  • For full details of setting up Google Analytics in Certain, see this PDF guide.

  • For details of the cookies generated by a Certain form, including for Google Analytics, see the Certain Cookies 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 below.

• Settings:
  Optional check boxes to enable selected features.

• • 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 – 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 Forms List, you may not be aware that a primary form is still set for an event.

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

  • 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 – 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.
      So 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 – If this check box is selected, and Registration Capacity is set for the event on Plan > Event Setup > Details, 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 Automatic Event Waitlisting for the event.

  • Enable split screen edit mode – If selected, you can edit the form while seeing both views at a 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 – If selected, then if a registrant clicks the Back button in a form, it will have no effect.

• 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 register. Select (Do not change) in order 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) in order 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 Plan > Configure > Custom Statuses.
• 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 Account Settings > Implementation > Security; in which case none of those are available. But it is very rare for an account administrator to clear this setting.

• Approval status – If your event has the Qualification and Approvals module enabled, the form can automatically set the registrant's approval status.

• • Upon completion of this form, set status to – The status selected here will be applied as the registrant's approval status, so that they start the approval process correctly. (The statuses available in the drop-down list are the Approval Statuses set up on Manage > Qualification > Statuses.)

• 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, and move them to the Online Form Sequence list on the right.

 Video: Page Layout (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 search 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.)

• Click -» or «- to move selected sections to the right or left.

• Click -»» or ««- to move all sections right or left.

• Click Top, Bottom, Up, or Down to change the display order of the sections listed in the Online Form Sequence box.

Insert a {New Page} break before a section to build a multi-page form.

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

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 Registrant Details section.

2. The Accommodation Entry 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 Accommodation 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 Confirm 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.

• Display step-by-step navigation bar? – Select this check box to turn on the navigation bar and to set the following display options for the bar.

• Page Title – In this series of text entry boxes, enter the text for each step to be displayed in the bar.
  Each number corresponds directly to a section in the Page Layout section (above).
  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. (This enables screen readers to identify the page a registrant is currently on, for 508 compliance.)

• Orientation – Can be set to display as either:

• • Vertical Column on left, or

  • Horizontal Row across top

• Horizontal Separator – (Available only if Horizontal Row across top has been selected.) The character used to separate the titles.
  Default = &raquo; – the HTML code for the double right-angle quote character, ».

• Background Color – Sets the color of the bar. Click the color picker to the right of the text entry field to select a color, or enter a hex-code directly, e.g. #003385.

• Font for Page Titles – Determines the font style you wish to apply to the page titles in the navigation bar, e.g. "Subheader". Font styles can be configured on the Plan > Configure > Display page.

• Font for Current Page – You can differentiate a registrant's current page, by selecting a different font for its title.

• Display Image/Text _______ to _______ of the current page – The image or characters to be displayed to the right or left of the name of the page in the navigation bar which is currently displayed. Can be plain text or HTML.
  Default = &raquo; – the HTML code for the double right-angle quote character, ».

• Show Step Navigation on Page 1? – Indicates whether the page titles will show up on the initial page of the navigation system. Many planners do not wish to show registration form navigation on the entry page if one is used, especially where the attendees may be forced to authenticate with a username or password.

• Enable page-specific, page-level URL?
  If selected, two columns are displayed: Page URL # and Page Title.

• Page URL #
  A list of text fields numbered from 1 to n, where n is the number of pages you have included in the Online Form Sequence above.
  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.

• 1) #_______ – Label to be added to URL of first page of form.
                          For example,if this was "ENTRY", then the URL for the first page
                           would be something like:
  
                          example.com/profile/form/index.cfm#PKformID=0x12345678all#ENTRY
  
                          You could then use that page-unique URL in your web analytics.

• 2) #_______  – Label to be added to URL of second page of form

• 3) #_______  – Label to be added to URL of third page of form

• and so on.

• Page Title
  For each of the rows for Page URL#, that is for each page of the form, you can also configure a unique Page Title.
  – 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.

• Label Font, Label Alignment, and Label Vertical – Sets font and positioning for text labels.

• Form Layout – Sets the default relationship of text labels to form input fields on the 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 Forms > Registrant Details to create a multi-column profile section layout, making the online form look more like a paper registration form.
  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).

• Input Alignment and Input Vertical – Positions text when it is entered into text fields.

• Instructions Font – Sets the default font for instructions text that appears anywhere on the form.  Default = Text.

• Page Font – Sets the default font for all other text.  Default = Text.

• Required Font – Sets the style for messages instructing users that certain questions or entry fields are required. Default = Subheader.

• Start a new table with each section? – If this check box is selected, each form section that appears on the same page as other sections is displayed in its own HTML table. This is a subtle layout tool that inserts slightly more space around form sections.

• Show navigation on Registration Forms? – If selected, the form will include navigation links to each page. These are configured on Plan > Configure > Display > Navigation Bar.

  •  

Required Fields Settings

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

• Req. image – Sets the image file displayed. If this field is set to blank no image will be displayed.
  Default is an asterisk = <span class="error">*</span>

• Attributes – Determines the extra information that will be included in the HTML tag that places the Req. image on the page.

• Req. message _____ – Sets the text message (e.g. "denoted field is required"next to the Req. image that will appear at the top

• •  place _____ header bar -- whether it will appear above or below the header bar of any page in the Registration form.

  • in font - The font style in which it is to be displayed (one of those set on the Plan > Configure > Display page, e.g. " Error").

• Error message – The text to be displayed if the attendee doesn't fill out a form field which is required and tries to continue to the next page in the registration form.
  Default = "Please correct the following errors:"

  • Enable error message links – If selected, error messages for required fields will include links to those fields.
    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.

These message labels and default values  should be enough to explain each one.

Agenda Item Error Messages

You can customize error messages related to agenda items.

 These message labels and default values 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.

These message labels and default values  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).

• Continue Button – (Required) The label for the button used to advance the registration form to the next section. Default = "Continue".

• Reset Button – The label for a reset button that can be used to clear the values from the form on any section of the registration form.

• Additional Registrants – If you configure your event to accept multiple registrants, this button enables an attendee to register other attendees.  Default = "Add Another Registrant".

• New Reg Link – This link enables the registrant to go back to the beginning and create an entirely new registration after completing the current one.  Default = "New Registration".

• Last Page URL Link – This sets the text of a link on the confirmation page that lets attendees return to your main website for more information.

• Last Page Url – This website to which the attendee is taken if they click the Last Page URL Link.

• Reg Assistance Link – Configures a text link displayed at the bottom of each page of the form that enables attendees to email the registration contact.
  Default:  "<br /><br />Email Registration Assistance".

  • Enable CAPTCHA – Selected by default, this option places a CAPTCHA check box on the form the registrant completes, so that they must prove they are human.
    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.
   1. 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.
   1. If left clear, you enter the message in plain twext (which can still include HTML tags).
   2.  
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 Event Setup > Details.

• 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 Username & Password, Passcode, or Single Sign-On).

  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 Setup Information – Settings, above.)
3. 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 you are anticipating an event will be in high demand and will have a spike of registrations upon going live, we recommend that you 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. 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 Plan > Configure > Options > 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 and 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.  

• Allowed – Enter the maximum number of active registrations allowed to enter the form before message displays.

• Header Text – The header of the text is displayed once the maximum concurrent registrations number is reached.

• Message HTML – The message displayed once the maximum concurrent registrations number is reached.
  Default: "Online registration is currently unavailable for this form. Please try again later."

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