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The Searchable Directory widget enables you to let visitors to your website search a selected online forms/databases. You can set up to two drop-down filters, and corresponding records from your database will be displayed in a list.
In this article...
- Add the Searchable Directory widget to your site
- Creating a form specific for use to the Searchable Directory widget
- School Contacts form
For example, you might have a database of records that include fields for Activity and Locality. Visitors to your site could use the Searchable Directory widget drop-down filters to select an Activity and/or a Locality, then click the Search button. The Searchable Directory widget would filter your selected database and return matching results in a neatly formatted list.
The results list can display system fields from the corresponding records in your database such as: Name, Description, Contact, Email, Phone, Website, and Address.
Add the Searchable Directory widget to your site
1. Click + ADD CONTENT where you would like to place the Searchable Directory widget. Scroll down (or search) until you reach the Searchable Directory widget.
2. The Searchable Directory Settings will open. Set the fields by choosing options from the drop-downs.
- Select form: all forms/databases that are applied to your site will appear in the drop-down list to choose from. For example, you have created a form called Activity Directory.
- Select filter 1: select the first field that you want people to filter on that is found within the selected form. For example on the Activity Directory form you have a field called Activity.
- Select filter 2: select the second field that you want people to filter on that is found within the selected form. For example on the Activity Directory form you have a field called Locality.
- Choose a colour: select the colour that you would like your widget to display as.
Click here if you are a school and have the School Contacts form.
Example below:
3. Click Save and your Searchable Directory widget will be displayed with the selected settings.
Creating a form specific for use to the Searchable Directory widget
If you are creating a new online form/database to use in your Searchable Directory, create a new section underneath the mandatory contact details section at the top and add new question fields that are named exactly as they are wanted to be displayed on the Searchable Directory widget. Using the above example, Activity and Locality are named exactly that on the created Activity Directory form.
Ensure that you have selected the field type of SingleChoice and have populated the options which the visitors to the site can select from when this field is set as either filter 1 or filter 2. For example, you have created a question field called Activity and have options of Aquatic Class or Circuit Class for visitors to filter from.
It is important to note that the mandatory First Name and Last Name fields at the top of each online form/database do NOT become visible to public in search results (unless you inadvertently change them to the name of one of the system fields listed below). They are normally used for the contact details of the person or organisation that a record relates to. For example, if you were creating a Searchable Directory of local activities, this might be the contact person for an activity. However, the email address will appear in the results list unless you rename it from 'Email' (for example, you can rename it from 'Email' to 'Email address' to prevent the system from using it in the results list - more information on this is below).
Add fields to your form that the widget will use when it displays records to the public within the 'search results list.' You can add any number of other question fields for your own purposes of collecting other information, but it is only these special fields that will be used in the output from the Searchable Directory widget. These special field names must be spelled IDENTICALLY to the following headings in bold below:
- Name - (use the SingleLineText custom field answer type) normally used for the name of an organisation or activity. This field is mandatory and will appear at the top of each listing in the search results.
- Contact - (use the SingleLineText custom field answer format) used to name a contact person for the listing. This field is optional and is not needed if the listing relates to a person and the system Name field above is already being used to name a person rather than an organisation.
- Email - (use the Email custom field answer format) used if you want the listing to display an email icon that people can click to send an email (optional). Note that the directory results will use the first field it finds on the form that is labelled 'Email'. So, if you do not want the results to use the email address of the contact person, you must rename the default 'Email' field at the top of the form to something else, such as 'Email address'.
- Phone - (use the SingleLineText custom field answer format) used if you want the listing to display a contact phone number and show a phone icon that people can click to call the number (optional).
- Description - (use the Multi Line Text custom field answer format) this will display up to 4,000 characters of text description.
- Website - (use the SingleLineText custom field answer format) used if you want the listing to display an website icon that people can click to open that website URL in a new window (optional).
- Address - (use the Address custom field answer format) used if you want the listing to display a map icon that people can click to open a Google map of the address (optional).
- RSO - (use the Checkbox custom field answer format) used to identify governing bodies or special records. If this box is ticked for a record, then it will display at the top of the list enclosed by a coloured border.
Note: If a record does not have data for any of these fields, the related icon or area in the results list will simply not display. Tick the Required checkbox beside a field if you want it to be mandatory.
Ensure that you click Save form before exiting.
ADVANCED: If you want to allow people to add themselves or their organisation or activity to your directory, you can send them a link or publicly display the web input form you created.
However, you may prefer to check/amend any records submitted before they become visible in your public directory. You can achieve this by creating a new copy of your form that is linked to the original form that you created above. Use the copy of your form for your Searchable Directory widget.
This way, when people enter their details through your original form, you can check/amend them and then roll the record forward into the form/database being referenced by the Searchable Directory widget so the record becomes included within the search results.
IMPORTANT: Field names must be identical between your two forms/databases for data to successfully roll forward to its corresponding field in the new form.