Like all plugins, there are certain limitations so i forgive contour (despite having to pay $$, i feel my client's requests cannot be met anymore with JUST contour.)
I want to customize contour in the admin section. is this possible? I know this is NOT open source. what if i create my own plugin that communicates with contour?
Here are the things i really want to do:
- Some of my forms have a one to many relationship (to be inserted in the database). As far as i know, this is not possible in contour and especially the reporting.
- creating a datastore that is not key - value only. The key may be only one, but the value is an object not a string.
- inserting data to the prevalue data store for database. this is not possible!! which is frustrating.
These three are the most important ones i can think of so far.
I was really hoping contour would make the forms a lot easier or atleast faster to develop. but my hours are piling up.
P.S. I think contour should be open but still get more features if with license instead of closed because it has too much limitations
But of course not every scenario is optimal for Contour...
Can you give me some more details on what exactly you are trying to do then I can maybe guide you or at least give you some tips :)
For this point
- inserting data to the prevalue data store for database. this is not possible!! which is frustrating.
Not sure I understand, if you have a field with prevalues you can just edit in the UI and it will crud prevalues in the db...
Of course we are also always looking into improving Contour so if it's not available at this point please submit a feature request and we'll consider those when planning version 4
At this point there are no plans into making Contour open source so that isn't gonna happen any time soon
1. for the 2nd are 3rd points here is what i want to do:
I have a form field that gets data from the prevalue. But this form field is not a simple dropdown but a SELECTABLE table. The information has time, title, room no, partial description this is why i cannot just store it to a string. Now, in the prevalue, i can link to a database table. YEY. the problem is how do i add more data to the database table. the catch is to not place the form in the public facing site but in the contour admin because prevalues are managed in admin. This is why i want to 'EXTEND' or add more functionalities to the admin on contour. Right now, i can only do CRUD on simple strings.
2. For the first item:
I have a team registration form. very similar to this: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4509975/Team-Registration-Form---DOC. My problem is how do i store a team member in the database. i would have to have a one to many relationship. I cannot just store it as strings separated by delimiters. Now, if i have come up with a solution on storing it to multiple tables. How do i create a report on this while showing the team members? I just have to find a way to store data to multiple tables and the reporting i cant think of a way on how to do this..
1) Guess in that case you would just use your custom table as prevalue source and don't work with the Contour ones since your data is much richer ...
TO insert data in that custom table you could setup a data source and then use that to generate a form...
2)Dynamic fields is somethign that currently isn't in there by default Contour always expects a fixed number of fields...You can of course create a new fieldtype that allows this
Contour limitations
Like all plugins, there are certain limitations so i forgive contour (despite having to pay $$, i feel my client's requests cannot be met anymore with JUST contour.)
I want to customize contour in the admin section. is this possible? I know this is NOT open source. what if i create my own plugin that communicates with contour?
Here are the things i really want to do:
- Some of my forms have a one to many relationship (to be inserted in the database). As far as i know, this is not possible in contour and especially the reporting.
- creating a datastore that is not key - value only. The key may be only one, but the value is an object not a string.
- inserting data to the prevalue data store for database. this is not possible!! which is frustrating.
These three are the most important ones i can think of so far.
I was really hoping contour would make the forms a lot easier or atleast faster to develop. but my hours are piling up.
P.S. I think contour should be open but still get more features if with license instead of closed because it has too much limitations
I need some guidance on this?
Many thanks.
Hey,
You can extend Contour with extra workflows, fieldtypes, hook into the event system so you can definitely fine tune it to your needs...
http://our.umbraco.org/projects/umbraco-pro/contour/documentation/Developer/Extending-Contour/
But of course not every scenario is optimal for Contour...
Can you give me some more details on what exactly you are trying to do then I can maybe guide you or at least give you some tips :)
For this point - inserting data to the prevalue data store for database. this is not possible!! which is frustrating. Not sure I understand, if you have a field with prevalues you can just edit in the UI and it will crud prevalues in the db...
Of course we are also always looking into improving Contour so if it's not available at this point please submit a feature request and we'll consider those when planning version 4
At this point there are no plans into making Contour open source so that isn't gonna happen any time soon
Cheers, Tim
thanks Tim...
Here is what i need to do on the admin side.
1. for the 2nd are 3rd points here is what i want to do:
I have a form field that gets data from the prevalue. But this form field is not a simple dropdown but a SELECTABLE table. The information has time, title, room no, partial description this is why i cannot just store it to a string. Now, in the prevalue, i can link to a database table. YEY. the problem is how do i add more data to the database table. the catch is to not place the form in the public facing site but in the contour admin because prevalues are managed in admin. This is why i want to 'EXTEND' or add more functionalities to the admin on contour. Right now, i can only do CRUD on simple strings.
2. For the first item:
I have a team registration form. very similar to this: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4509975/Team-Registration-Form---DOC. My problem is how do i store a team member in the database. i would have to have a one to many relationship. I cannot just store it as strings separated by delimiters. Now, if i have come up with a solution on storing it to multiple tables. How do i create a report on this while showing the team members? I just have to find a way to store data to multiple tables and the reporting i cant think of a way on how to do this..
Any help with storing to multiple tables in one form would be great. This form will have dynamic form like this http://www.mustbebuilt.co.uk/demo/jquery/adding-form-fields/adding-fields-example.php. I would have to create a custom workflow for adding it to multiple tables.
I hope i explained it thoroughly enough
1) Guess in that case you would just use your custom table as prevalue source and don't work with the Contour ones since your data is much richer ...
TO insert data in that custom table you could setup a data source and then use that to generate a form...
2)Dynamic fields is somethign that currently isn't in there by default Contour always expects a fixed number of fields...You can of course create a new fieldtype that allows this
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