Create Special Question Type

There is no easy way of adding a new field type. You need to modify multiple places.

1. Name: add this in your language file to show correct name

2. When you click on it, you need to handle the action. for this follow below steps.

a. Add you question form in components/com_communitysurveys/layouts/YOURLAYOUTNAME/form/question folder. name the file as per the type of the question. You can copy existing question type file and modify it as needed. for example, if your question type is dept, add dept.php

b. edit components/com_communitysurveys/helpers/constants.php and add type

define("CS_SPECIAL_DEPT",          25);

c. Edit components/com_communitysurveys/layouts/YOURLAYOUTNAME/form/question.php and add below into the types array

CS_SPECIAL_DEPT => 'dept'

d. Now, you need to add logic to save your field values as per the name of the fields in your dept.php files

edit administrator/components/com_communitysurveys/models/question.php and add your logic in save function. see the switch ($question->question_type) block for special types questions.

3. The next step is to show your new field type in the response form

a. Edit components/com_communitysurveys/layouts/YOURLAYOUTNAME/response/question.php and add your question type into the array

CS_SPECIAL_DEPT => 'dept'

b. copy existing render file to your new render file in the folder components/com_communitysurveys/layouts/YOURLAYOUTNAME/response/question. You need to name it as dept.php as your question type in constants.php is dept. Modify the file as needed

c. Now saving the user response. Edit components/com_communitysurveys/models/response.php and add your code for new question type.

4. Now if you want to show new question type in your reports, you need to make similar modifications in LAYOUTNAME/reports/consolidated and LAYOUTNAME/results folders

Hope this will help you.

That is so awesome, thank you for taking the time to write that procedure for me and i had manage to create the dept :)

Oh wait , my auto fill is not working

I think i may not have done properly for this part,

edit administrator/components/com_communitysurveys/models/question.php and add your logic in save function. see the switch ($question->question_type) block for special types questions.

any idea what went wrong ?

If you are changing the field names, you need to instruct the form to load them. See the save function in administrator/components/com_communitysurveys/controllers/questions.php to see how they are retrieved from request and sent to the above model.

Ok thanks, i will try again

You are right , i miss out the following

$questionParams->autofill_dept               = $this->input->post->get('autofill_dept', 0, 'int');

under  public function save($key = null, $urlVar = 'qid')

Now when i load the survey it will autofill the value i want

The next thing is since its autofill, can i simply hide this element ?

If i can auto fill a textfill can i autofill a dropdown with a list of value from my database ?

You can hide it using css. You have the full control on how you can fill the values. 

administrator/components/com_communitysurveys/models/questionsbase.php 

add your values to questions in getItems function. You can use jdatabase to get values.

https://docs.joomla.org/Selecting_data_using_JDatabase

They can be available on your form.

Creating Custom Field in Survey (Contributed By maverick)

1.  Name: add this in your language file to show correct name (language\en-GB\en-GB.com_communitysurveys.ini)

2.  When you click on it, you need to handle the action. for this follow below steps.

 a.  Add your question form in
  components/com_communitysurveys/layouts/default/form/question folder.
  name the file as per the type of the question.
  You can copy existing question type file and modify it as needed. for example, if your question type is dept, add dept.php

 b.  edit components/com_communitysurveys/helpers/constants.php
  and add type
  define("CS_SPECIAL_DEPT",          25);

 c.  Edit components/com_communitysurveys/layouts/default/form/question.php
  and add below into the types array
  CS_SPECIAL_DEPT => 'dept'
  Edit components/com_communitysurveys/layouts/default/form/questions.php
  Add this section
  <li class="dropdown-item">
   <a href="#" id="qntype-header" onclick="document.questionForm.qtype.value=<?php echo CS_SPECIAL_DEPT;?>;CjSurveyApi.submitAjaxForm(this, '#questionForm', 'question.add', 'onBeforeAddQuestion', 'onAfterAddQuestion'); return false;">
   <i class="fa fa-user"></i> <?php echo JText::_('COM_COMMUNITYSURVEYS_QUESTION_TYPE_DEPT');?>
   </a>
  </li>

 d.  Now, you need to add logic to save your field values as per the name of the fields in your dept.php files >>>
  edit administrator/components/com_communitysurveys/models/question.php
  and add your logic in save function. see the switch ($question->question_type) block for special types questions.

3.  The next step is to show your new field type in the response form
 a.  Edit components/com_communitysurveys/layouts/default/response/question.php
  and add your question type into the array CS_SPECIAL_DEPT => 'dept'

 b.  copy existing render file to your new render file in the folder components/com_communitysurveys/layouts/default/response/question.
  You need to name it as dept.php as your question type in constants.php is dept.
  Modify the file as needed

 c.  Now saving the user response.
  Edit components/com_communitysurveys/models/response.php
  and add your code for new question type.

4.  Now if you want to show new question type in your reports, you need to make similar modifications in LAYOUTNAME/reports/consolidated and LAYOUTNAME/results folders

Hi coming back to this subject, in development of my site i noticed that after the upgrade i will lost all my customisation.

Can you advice me what must i do to retain my customisation before i upgrade.

Thank you this is very important