Overview

Solodev provides users with eight pre-packaged modules that anticipate their organization’s needs. These modules contain module forms with pre-built fields that allow users to add edit and delete module entries for display on user-facing websites.

However, Solodev also empowers users to create their own custom module and create a custom module form for the back-end of Solodev CMS. Users are also able to replace pre-built module forms with custom module forms in pre-packaged modules to their liking.

This document shows the user how to customize module entry fields by creating and uploading their own forms.

Note: The steps below can be used with a custom module or any of our pre-packaged modules. This tutorial will presume that the user is creating a custom module.

Pre-requisites

Prior to following this tutorial users should:

Create a form with the relevant fields.

Step 1 – Install a custom module

On the Solodev dashboard, click Modules.
Click Add Module on the next page.
On the Custom Builder card, click Install.
Enter the name of the module, choose ‘Datatable’ for the Type, and choose ‘Website Module’ for the Display.
Click Browse and install the module in the web files -> managers folder of the website.
Click Submit.
Open the module located in the web files -> managers -> Custom Module folder.
Click Add Entry.
The user will notice an input text box titled Name.
Prior to uploading a custom form, the grid display and Table Schema contain a name column. If the user opens the custom-form.tpl file located in the web files -> managers -> Custom Module Form -> Assets folder, the file contains html for a form with one name column.

Step 2 – Create a form

Open a text editor (for example, Notepad++, Sublime Text, Atom, Visual Code).
Copy the code provided below:

<h2><label class="label-control" for="title">Title</label></h2>
<input type="text" class="form-control" name="title" id="title">
<h2><label class="label-control" for="article">Article</label></h2>
<textarea name="article" form="blog" id="article" class="wysiwyg">Enter text here...</textarea>

Save the file as an .html or .tpl file.

Note: When creating a form for upload, Solodev recommends setting the values in the name field for input and textarea tags.

Step 3 – Uploading the form

Open the website and navigate to the web files -> managers -> Custom Module Form folder.
Open the Module.
Click Modify to bring up the Modify Custom Module Form modal window.
Under the Datatable Type choose Website Module.
Click the arrow in the Advanced section of the Modal.
Under Form Template section, click Upload Form.
Choose the desired form and click Submit to complete the upload.

Step 4 – Verifying the entry fields of the module match the entry fields specified in the form

Click Modify to bring up the modal window.
Under the grid display and the table schema, the user will see that the display columns and entries in the name field found in the table schema match the name values specified in the custom form created in Step 2.

Note: Users can quickly verify the entry fields by opening the module and clicking Add Entry.