New feature in Visforms base package 4.2.1
The import of existing Breezingforms forms into Visforms is available in the Visforms base package for Joomla 4. The ‘Breezingforms import’ feature is included in the basic package from version 4.2.1.
The import transfers the most important form options and the actual form fields with their most important options to Visforms. The ‘actual form fields’ means the fields in which the user makes his input.
This can already save you a lot of work. However, we see the greatest benefit of the import in the fact that the saved form transfers are also transferred to Visforms as far as possible. All saved form submissions are automatically set to “not published” for data security reasons.
Breezingforms forms are imported using the Breezingforms database tables
The following tables are searched in the Joomla database and used to import the forms:
- #__facileforms_forms,
- #__facileforms_elements,
- #__facileforms_records,
- #__facileforms_subrecords,
- #__facileforms_config.
If Visforms finds all these tables in your database, the Visforms Dashboard will show you the following ‘Breezingforms Import’ area with the buttons for controlling the import.
Note: If Visforms does not find at least one of these tables in your database, you will not see the 'Breezingforms Import' area. All of the tables mentioned are absolutely necessary for a successful import.
You can import as many times as you want, as long as you don’t hide the ‘Breezingforms Import’ area.
To import, click the “Start Import” button.
You can permanently hide the ‘Breezingforms Import’ area.
To hide it, click the “Hide this feature permanently” button.
Note: It is not possible to redisplay the hidden 'Breezingforms Import' areal directly. This is only possible by manually accessing configuration data in one of the Visforms tables.
We recommend permanently disabling the ‘Breezingforms Import’ area in the following situations:
- You have successfully imported the forms.
- You don’t want to import any Breezingforms forms.
Forms that already exist in Visforms are never overwritten during the import
Instead, the imported forms are appended at the end. As a result, forms, fields and records in Visforms have different IDs than in Breezingforms.
The Breezingforms “modes” and their effect on the import
Breezingforms offers 3 different modes to create forms:
- QuickMode
- EasyMode
- ClassicMode
The information that defines the Breezingforms form and its fields is stored in the database in very different ways. How it is saved depends on the mode used to create the form with Breezingforms.
This is particularly important for forms created with EasyMode. Because EasyMode forms are stored in the database in such a way that unfortunately they can only be imported rudimentarily. Depending on the mode, the information can be more or less well extracted and used for the import.
Information from ‘Scripts’ and ‘Pieces’ is lost on import
Breezingforms also works intensively with so-called scripts (JavaScript code snippets) and pieces (PHP code snippets). All definitions made via scripts and pieces are lost during import.
Import of form definition
The following form options are transferred to Visforms regardless of the creation mode:
- Surname
- Title
- Released
- Description
- Send result mail
- Result Mail Configuration: Subject, MailTo, MailFrom, Mailfrom Name, Send Data, Exclude Empty Data, Result Mail Text
- Send customer email
- Customer Email Configuration: Subject, MailFrom, Mailfrom Name, Send Data, Exclude Empty Data, Customer Email Body
- Use Captcha/ReCaptcha
Import of field definition
Below you will find an overview of which fields and field information are imported. What can be imported depends on the mode in which the form was created.
Note: Please note that all fields are automatically set to published upon import.
QuickMode
Name, Title and Type are imported for all imported fields. Furthermore, the Breezingforms parameters Required, Hint, Hidelabel and HideinMailback are adopted.
Fields with the following field types are imported:
- Text
- text area
- Radio (including options and selected default value)
- Checkbox group (including options and selected default value)
- Select from List (including options, the “Multiselect” setting and selected default value)
- Checkbox (including the transmitted value and the setting “Default Checked”)
- File (including the setting for allowed file extensions)
- Submit
- Hidden
- Calendar (including the selected date format)
- Number
ClassicMode
Name, Title and Type are imported for all imported fields. The Mailback parameter is also adopted. With the checkbox type, it is correctly determined whether it is a single checkbox or a checkbox group.
Fields with the following field types are imported:
- Text
- text area
- Radio Button (including options and selected default value)
- Checkbox group (including options and selected default value)
- Select List (including options and selected default value)
- Checkbox (including the transmitted value and the setting “Default Checked”)
- File upload (including the setting for allowed file extensions)
- Regular Button (imported as Submit-Button)
- Hidden input
EasyMode
Name, Title and Type are imported for all imported fields. The Mailback parameter is also adopted. With the checkbox type, it is correctly determined whether it is a single checkbox or a checkbox group.
Fields with the following field types are imported:
- Text
- text area
- Checkbox group (including options and selected default value)
- Select List (including options and selected default value)
- Checkbox (including the transmitted value and the setting “Default Checked”)
- File upload (including the setting for allowed file extensions)
- Submit
- Hidden
Import submitted form data
Saved transfers of the imported fields are also imported.
After the import completes
Many features that are implemented in Breezingforms via scripts and pieces are directly available in Visforms as parameters in the form configuration and the field configuration.
In particular, Visforms has separate field types for:
- Text
- Number
- URL
- Date
The field type always implies validation. It is automatically checked that entries made by the user correspond to the selected field type. Please use the corresponding Visforms field types (especially E-Mail) instead of the Text field type if you want to enforce a corresponding format. A user email is only sent if the form contains a field of type email.
Rework imported forms and fields
- Delete or disable any fields and forms you don’t need.
- Make sure all Form Configurations are correct for your needs.
- Make sure all Field Configurations meet your requirements.
- Create new fields in Visforms that may not have been imported.
Imported data
If files were uploaded in Breezingforms with fields of type ‘File Upload’, then these files are now linked in Visforms.
Notice: Make sure that you do not delete corresponding directories and files on the server.
Still on Joomla 3, now what?
If you are currently still working on Joomla 3, you must first update your website to Joomla 4. Since Visforms uses the Breezingforms tables in the database for data import, these tables must exist in the Joomla 4 database.
Note: In our experience, if you uninstall the Breezingforms component before the Joomla update, Breezingforms tables in the database will not be deleted.
A few words about the development of the import
As developers of Visforms, we obviously haven’t worked with Breezingforms in the past. For the development of the form import, we installed the free version of Breezingforms on Joomla 3 and the Breezingforms example forms. We have created our own Breezingforms forms and intensively examined all parameters that we consider during import. We have created many form submissions to have good example data for data import as well.
The database on which we developed the import and our practical experience with Breezingforms are not perfect. Our goal was to develop an import that does a lot of the work for you when you switch from one component to another. We believe that we have largely succeeded in this.
If the import does not work well enough or not at all with your special Breezingforms forms, you are welcome to contact us. A further development of our Breezingforms import feature is quite possible in the near future.