eForm Developer’s Handbook

Starting version 3.0.0 we have published documentation for developer’s APIs and built in functionalities that you can use directly. These APIs come handy in case you want to extend eForm and/or develop your own addon to incorporate newer functionality. Please browse all the available APIs below.

This tutorial assumes that you have profound knowledge of WordPress Plugin API. eForm API is built on top of WordPress Plugin API and uses the same functionalities to provide extensibility.

Before you start:

Here are a few things to consider.

Plugin main classes

Form element classes and functionalities are widely categorized into five sections.

  • Basic Structural class – classes/class-ipt-fsqm-form-elements-base.php::IPT_FSQM_Form_Elements_Base
  • Administrative Form Builder – classes/class-ipt-fsqm-form-elements-admin.php::IPT_FSQM_Form_Elements_Admin
  • Data Processing and validation – classes/class-ipt-fsqm-form-elements-data.php::IPT_FSQM_Form_Elements_Data
  • Frontend Form Output – classes/class-ipt-fsqm-form-elements-front.php::IPT_FSQM_Form_Elements_Front
  • Report and Data Analysis – classes/class-ipt-fsqm-form-elements-utilities.php::IPT_FSQM_Form_Elements_Utilities

Apart from these, there are three different classes that you need to look into.

  • UI element abstraction class – lib/classes/class-ipt-plugin-uif-base.php::IPT_Plugin_UIF_Base
  • Admin side UI class – lib/classes/class-ipt-plugin-uif-admin.php::IPT_Plugin_UIF_Admin
  • Front side UI class – lib/classes/class-ipt-plugin-uif-front.php::IPT_Plugin_UIF_Front

Plugin Directory Structure

wp-fsqm-pro               = [ROOT DIRECTORY]
├───classes               = [ALL eForm RELATED PHP CLASSES]
├───integrations          = [THIRD PARTY INTEGRATION LIBRARIES]
├───lib                   = [INTERNAL AND THIRD PARTY LIBRARIES]
│   ├───classes           = [PHP CLASSES]
│   ├───css               = [CSS FILES]
│   ├───fonts             = [WEB FONT FILES]
│   ├───images            = [IMAGE FILES]
│   │   └───icomoon       = [ICOMOON FONT IMAGE FILES]
│   ├───img               = [IMAGE FILES]
│   └───js                = [JAVASCRIPT FILES]
├───static                = [STATIC eForm FILES]
│   ├───admin             = [FOR ADMINISTRATOR AREA]
│   │   ├───css
│   │   ├───images
│   │   └───js
│   ├───common            = [FOR ADMINISTRATOR AND FRONTEND]
│   │   ├───css
│   │   └───js
│   └───front             = [FOR FRONTEND AREA]
│       ├───css
│       │   └───ui-themes = [CSS FILES FOR FORM THEMES]
│       ├───images
│       └───js
└───translations          = [TRANSLATIONS]

Global Variables

There are two global variables that eForm registers and uses throughout the execution.

$ipt_fsqm_settings

Holds basic settings of eForm. It is an associative array which looks like this.

Array
(
    [email] => swashata@localhost.local // Global Email Notification
    [track_page] => 11 // ID of trackback page
    [utrack_page] => 13 // ID of user portal page
    [backward_shortcode] => // Bool - Whether or not to have backward compatible shortcode (prior version 2 shortcodes were different)
    [delete_uninstall] => // Bool - Whether or not to delete all settings and clear database during plugin uninstallation
    [standalone] => Array // Settings for standalone forms
        (
            [base] => eforms // Permalink base
            [before] => // Before form HTML
            [after] => // After form HTML
            [head] => // Head section HTML
        )

)

$ipt_fsqm_info

Holds basic information of eForm. This is modified only during plugin installation and updation. You should not change or fiddle with this, unless you know what you are doing. The data structure is an associative array.

Array
(
    [version] => // Current version
    [form_table] => // Name of form table
    [data_table] => // Name of data table
    [file_table] => // Name of file table
    [category_table] => // Name of category table
)

Database Structure

There are five database tables that eForm makes during its installation. The $charset_collate global WP variable sets the charterset and collate. All of the are created using dbDelta method.

Form Table

By default named {prefix}fsq_form. The schema is as follows.

CREATE TABLE {$prefix}fsq_form (
	id BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL auto_increment,
	name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL default '',
	settings LONGTEXT NOT NULL,
	layout LONGTEXT NOT NULL,
	design LONGTEXT NOT NULL,
	mcq LONGTEXT NOT NULL,
	freetype LONGTEXT NOT NULL,
	pinfo LONGTEXT NOT NULL,
	type TINYINT(1) NOT NULL default 1,
	updated DATETIME NOT NULL default '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
	category BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL default 0,
	PRIMARY KEY  (id)
)

Data Table

By default named {prefix}fsq_data. The schema is as follows.

CREATE TABLE {$prefix}fsq_data (
	id BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL auto_increment,
	form_id BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL default 0,
	f_name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL default '',
	l_name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL default '',
	email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL default '',
	phone VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL default '',
	mcq LONGTEXT NOT NULL,
	freetype LONGTEXT NOT NULL,
	pinfo LONGTEXT NOT NULL,
	ip VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL default '0.0.0.0',
	star TINYINT(1) NOT NULL default 0,
	score INT(10) NOT NULL default 0,
	max_score INT(10) NOT NULL default 0,
	url_track VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL default '',
	date DATETIME NOT NULL default '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
	comment LONGTEXT NOT NULL,
	user_id BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL default 0,
	referer TEXT NOT NULL,
	PRIMARY KEY  (id)
)

Files Table

By default named {prefix}fsq_files. The schema is as follows.

CREATE TABLE {$prefix}fsq_files (
	id BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL auto_increment,
	form_id BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL default 0,
	data_id BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL default 0,
	element_id BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL default 0,
	media_id BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL default 0,
	name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL default '',
	filename VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL default '',
	mime_type VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL default '',
	size BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL default 0,
	guid VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL default '',
	path VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL default '',
	thumb_url VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL default '',
	date DATETIME NOT NULL default '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
	PRIMARY KEY  (id)
)

Category Table

By default named {prefix}fsq_category. The schema is as follows.

CREATE TABLE {$prefix}fsq_category (
	id BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL auto_increment,
	name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL default '',
	description LONGTEXT NOT NULL,
	PRIMARY KEY  (id)
)

Payment Table

By default named {prefix}fsq_payment. The schema is as follows.

CREATE TABLE {$prefix}fsq_payment (
 id bigint(20) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
 txn varchar(30) DEFAULT NULL,
 form_id bigint(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
 data_id bigint(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
 user_id bigint(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
 amount decimal(12,2) DEFAULT NULL,
 mode varchar(255) NOT NULL,
 status tinyint(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
 meta longtext NOT NULL,
 currency varchar(10) NOT NULL DEFAULT 'USD',
 date datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
 type tinyint(1) UNSIGNED NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
 rplan varchar(255) NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
 rinterval tinyint(1) UNSIGNED NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
 rfrequency smallint(5) UNSIGNED NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
 PRIMARY KEY (id),
 UNIQUE KEY data_id (data_id),
 UNIQUE KEY txn (txn)
);

List of Plugin APIs

eForm uses WP’s own filter and hook system to provide extensibility. For your ease, we have categorized the available hooks and filters into following sections.

Category Hooks Filters
Form builder & plugin menu modification ipt_fsqm_admin_tab_settings
ipt_fsqm_admin_menus
ipt_fsqm_integration_settings_tabs
Basic form & submission administrative actions ipt_fsqm_forms_deleted
ipt_fsqm_submissions_deleted
ipt_fsqm_form_updated
ipt_fsqm_form_created
ipt_fsqm_hook_form_doing_admin_before
ipt_fsqm_submissions_starred
ipt_fsqm_submissions_unstarred
ipt_fsqm_form_copied
ipt_fsqm_form_category_created
ipt_fsqm_form_category_updated
ipt_fsqm_form_category_deleted
Form variables and data structure ipt_fsqm_filter_valid_elements
ipt_fsqm_form_element_structure
ipt_fsqm_filter_form_data_structure
ipt_fsqm_filter_default_settings
ipt_fsqm_filter_available_themes
ipt_fsqm_filter_available_webfonts
Shortcode generator (will be deprecated soon) ipt_fsqm_shortcode_wizard ipt_fsqm_filter_data_errors
Form submission handling ipt_fsqm_hook_save_insert ipt_fsqm_filter_save_error
ipt_fsqm_hook_save_update ipt_fsqm_user_email
ipt_fsqm_hook_save_success ipt_fsqm_admin_email
ipt_fsqm_hook_save_error ipt_fsqm_filter_save_success
ipt_fsqm_form_elements_quick_preview_email_style
ipt_fsqm_filter_social_buttons
ipt_fsqm_form_progress_buttons
File upload handling ipt_fsqm_hook_save_fileupload ipt_fsqm_files_blacklist
ipt_fsqm_files_error_messages
Third-party integration ipt_fsqm_hook_integration ipt_fsqm_integration_settings_tabs
Label and Richtext output handling ipt_uif_richtext
ipt_uif_label
Form output control ipt_fsqm_hook_form_before
ipt_fsqm_hook_form_after
ipt_fsqm_hook_form_fullview_before
Standalone permalink ipt_fsqm_standalone_base
ipt_fsqm_standalone_permalink
Enqueue & Library ipt_fsqm_form_elements_front_enqueue ipt_fsqm_report_js
ipt_fsqm_form_elements_up_enqueue ipt_fsqm_filter_utilities_report_print
ipt_fsqm_report_enqueue ipt_uif_valid_icons_image
ipt_plugin_ui_enqueue ipt_uif_valid_icons_hex
User Portal & Trackback ipt_fsqm_up_filter_action_button
ipt_fsqm_filter_static_report_print

Third party script

eForm uses some third party scripts for it’s functionality. The scripts are enqueued through WP API wp_enqueue_script and CSS are enqueued through WP API wp_enqueue_style. All of them are documented here.

eForm CSS and JS enqueue

Some examples

Swashata has written 257 articles

Hi there, I am the Lead Developer at WPQuark.com. I love to create something beautiful for WordPress and here I write about how to use them. When I am not working, usually I am doing a number of other creative things ;).