View saved data
After you have activated the “Save data” option, you will see a “Show data” link in the “Data” column in the overview of the forms, which leads to an overview of the saved data.
Edit saved data
Replace entire Joomla components with Visforms
Visforms offers great flexibility, which makes it possible to create the most diverse forms and backend processes. This has led to Visforms being used regularly to create forms and flows intended to replace entire Joomla components. Instead of a complex event component, Visforms is used because you actually only have a small event and want to manage its registration. Instead of an extensive and complex shop component, Visforms is used because you only want to sell a few products and you can handle the sales process manually. There are certainly many such examples.
As the scope of Visforms has expanded, so has the demand for the ability to edit submitted data.
For us as developers, this is a balancing act. On the one hand, the desire to be able to correct spelling mistakes in an application is very understandable and the much larger area of application for Visforms is great.
Difference to a designated component
However, there is a big difference between a dedicated component for a specific topic and a “homegrown application” built with Visforms. A designated component for a specific topic usually has a fixed structure, fixed forms for user input and exactly one business logic.
With Visforms, on the other hand, you can combine anything with anyone. And you can change the form definition even after user data has already been submitted. This is a perfectly reasonable use case for some Visforms applications. While a designated component for a specific topic is in principle able to ensure the validity of transmitted user data (at the expense of flexibility), this is not structurally possible with Visforms.
Harmful changes
Caution: So here's a big warning. If you use Visforms in the sense of your own application for your question and want to save, display and edit the transmitted user input in this context, then you must ensure that you do not make any changes to your forms that could lead to inconsistent data.
Visforms will not prevent you from changing the form definition at any time. Not even if data has already been submitted for the form. Not even if changes mean that the transmitted data is no longer valid and there are problems with display and editing.
A number of such harmful changes include:
- Change field type
- Change field to mandatory
- Tighten field validation (e.g. add minimum length or maximum length)
- Remove multiple selection option
- Change option values for a list box, radio or check box group type field
- and much more
You can edit saved data in the backend:
- To do this, click on the ID of the data set in the data table or
- click in the checkbox behind the record ID and then click on the “Edit” button in the menu bar.
The “Edit data view” then opens and you can edit all user entries there.
List boxes, check box groups, radio buttons and check boxes are displayed in the data editing view in the administration according to their field type. For fields of type upload it is possible to remove uploaded files and upload a new file.
The backup copy of the data set
Visforms automatically creates a backup copy of the dataset containing the original unmodified user input. This backup copy of a data record is created once as soon as you change saved user entries for the first time and save this change for the first time. A backup copy of all uploaded files is also created in the images/visforms_save directory.
Auf Original ZurĂĽcksetzen
By using the “Reset to Original” button, you can reset each record individually to the original user input. The button is located in the menu bar of the “Edit data” view. Secured uploaded files are also restored correctly. Data records can also be reset to the original user entries in the data table. Mark the data records that you want to reset by clicking in the checkbox and then press the “Reset to original” button in the menu bar.
Wer gespeicherte Benutzereingaben ändern darf
Who is allowed to change saved user input can be controlled using the Joomla ACL. In the form table, click on the “Options” button at the top right to adjust the corresponding ACL settings if required.
Please note that Visforms does not validate changes to the data you make in the administration. Visforms assumes that only administrators in the administration correct data and that this user group knows exactly what valid data should look like.
Visforms Subscription Features
The Visforms Subscription field types “Listbox Sql”, “Radiobutton Sql” and “Checkbox group Sql” are not displayed in the “Edit data” view in the administration and therefore cannot be edited there. For the Visforms Subscription field types “Location” and “Signature” the value stored in the database is displayed in the edit data view in the administration. A meaningful processing is not possible here.
We recommend using this Subscription feature to edit your form data: Edit data in frontend. Here, transmitted data is not only displayed in the normal form view, but all validations are also carried out. You can also use it to use form features such as sending emails and even configure your own emails for data editing. With this “edit data” email, you can be notified of a data change, including the changed data, or use it to control a third-party system.