Visforms 5
Placeholder types

Placeholder types

Placeholder types

There are 2 types of placeholders with data from 4 different areas.

Note: Some of these features are part of the Visforms Subscription and are not included in the free Visforms version.

  • Field placeholders
  • Field values and field labels.
  • Overhead placeholders.
  • Form properties.
  • Management information of the submitted data.
  • Special placeholders
  • Current date.
  • Double opt-in link in the double opt-in email.

Field placeholders

The field placeholders can be used for the submitted form data.
The simplest format without an additional option for field placeholders is: ${fieldname}

Note: Fields of type Submit-Button, Image Submit-Button, Reset-Button and Field Separator do not recognize placeholders.

All field placeholders have several versions.
The different versions can be specified by specifying an additional placeholder option.
Some field placeholders also have other field type-specific options.

Field placeholder

Additional options for field placeholders

All field placeholders have at least 3 versions:

  • ${fieldname}: Replace with field value.
  • ${fieldname|DISPLAYLABEL}: Replace with field label.
  • ${fieldname|DISPLAYLABELPLUSSPACE}: Replace with field label plus space.

By combining field label plus space with field value in the text, you can ensure that the label value display is only shown if a value actually exists.

Note: Attention: Any blank line that may result from this will remain.

Additional options for field placeholders

Field type-specific options for placeholders

Depending on the field type, some field placeholders have additional placeholder options to control how the value should be displayed:

  • ${fieldname|FIELD-TYPE-SPECIFIC-PARAMETER}

There are field type-specific placeholder options for displaying the value for the following field types:

  • Field type File Upload:
  • ORGNAME: Original name of the file.
  • PATH: Local path and name of the file.
  • FULLPATH: Full path and name of the file.
  • LINK: URL link to the file.
  • ASIMAGE: Display as image (Visforms Subscription).
  • Field type Location (Visforms Subscription):
  • LAT: Latitude only.
  • LNG: Longitude only.
  • Field types Radiobutton, Radio SQL (SQL only Visforms Subscription)
  • DISPLAYOPTIONLABEL: Label of the option
  • DISPLAYOPTIONVALUE: Value of the option.
  • Field types Listbox, Checkbox Group, Listbox SQL, Checkbox Group SQL (SQL only Visforms Subscription):
  • DISPLAYOPTIONLABEL: Label of the option.
  • DISPLAYOPTIONLABELASLIST: Label of the options as a list for multiple selection.
  • DISPLAYOPTIONVALUE: Value of the option.
  • DISPLAYOPTIONVALUEASLIST: Value of the options as a list for multiple selection.

Example for field type File Upload: Placeholder for field type 'File Upload'


Example for field type Listbox: Placeholder for field type 'Listbox'

Overhead placeholders

Overhead placeholders stand for additional administrative information that is not part of the transmission of the actual form data.
This is information about the form itself as well as administrative information about the data record of the form data.

Overhead placeholder

Form properties

There are the following placeholders for form properties:

  • ${formid}: The form ID.
  • ${formtitle}: The form title.

Administrative information of the transmitted data

Administrative information of the transmitted data is only available if the form data is saved.

  • ${id}: Data record ID.
  • ${created}: Date and time.
  • ${created|DATE}: Date without time.
  • ${created_by}: User ID of the user who created the record.
  • ${created_by|NAME}: Name of the user who created the record.
  • ${modified}: Date and time of the last change.
  • ${modified|DATE}: Date without time of the last change.
  • ${modified_by}: User ID of the user who last changed the record.
  • ${modified_by|NAME}: Name of the user who last changed the record.
  • ${ismfd}: Modified, i.e. the indication that the data record was subsequently changed.
  • ${ipaddress}: IP address for submitting the form.

Notes on ${created_by|NAME} and ${modified_by|NAME}:

  • If the user ID is 0, the placeholder is simply removed.
  • If the user ID is not 0 and a user with the ID exists, the user’s name is inserted.
  • If the user ID is not 0 and a user with the ID does not exist, the placeholder is simply removed. This can be the case if the user has been deleted in the meantime.
  • Joomla has a confusing name with User Name and Username.
    This is about the User Name.

Special placeholders

There is a placeholder with an option for the current date:

  • ${currentdate}: The current date
  • ${currentdate|DATETIME}: The current date and time

There is a special placeholder with no further options that is treated completely separately:

  • ${doiclink}: The double opt-in link in the double opt-in email.
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