Looking for a WordPress plugin that does this...

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I'm creating a WP site for a businessman who wants to have a handful of different people submit snowmobile trail reports to his site on a daily/weekly basis. They need to be able to log in and fill in some predetermined fields and publish, without having access to the rest of the site.

Does anyone know of a WP plugin that does this? I could use a classified plugin, I suppose, but I wanted to see if there's anything out there more specific to this situation.
#main internet marketing discussion forum #plugin #wordpress
  • A custom programmer would be able to whip this out in about a day. Might not be a bad idea to post this in the Warrior Products and Services section.
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Thanks, Gewdo, that's an option. I'm still hoping that there's a plugin that is already close enough that I could use or tweak myself. I will take your advice if there isn't, though.
  • Just checking for any other input before I actually hire someone to do this - anybody know of an existing plugin that would do this? I've been googling but apparently I'm not using the right search terms, or else such a thing doesn't exist.
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    • Something like Classipress might do the job?

      You can have pages on there as well as posts.

      Someone registering for the site gets their own admin area where they can administer their own "ads" and they fill in a form which you can design in the admin area.

      If you want to see it in action, or have a play with it, PM me. I have an unlimited licence and could install it on a test sub-domain for you to have a play with.
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  • I don't remember the details pertaining the custom fields... but tdo-miniforms (or something like that) was the plugin that lets you add content from the "frontend".

    On the other hand... have you or your client ever tried to login as a low rank member (contributor or whatever is called) and check for yourslef what that user sees in the admin panel.

    Why not try to use existing WP features before crying for plugins...? (just wondering)
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    • TDO Miniforms is what I use to allow guest posts. All the administrator has to do is log on to the dashboard and approve them.

      Excellent suggestion Istvan.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
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  • Thank you, rosetrees, for the offer - I've PM'ed you with a question.

    Thanks to the other posters as well. I need for people to log in, be presented with a form to fill out (the fields having been predetermined by me and the client), and click submit. For the most part, these contributors are not computer savvy, and we have to make it very easy for them, as opposed to having them log into WP and just start typing and formatting their info from scratch.

    I had hoped to do it that way by giving a user the rank of subscriber and then giving them editing privileges for their particular page, but my client feels it needs to be simpler and I have to agree. Hence the need for a plugin that will display the data they enter in an arrangement of some sort that is easy for the end-user to read and understand as well.
  • Re-reading your latest post, this is what you need:
    - a redirect after login that takes the "victims" directly to the post-writing subpanel
    - a custom(ized) input/edit textarea for them... could be done with custom fields or having already text in the edit area

    This latter goal can be achieved by editing the admin files or using this plugin:
    WordPress › Default Post Content « WordPress Plugins
    (or something similar) - but you have to figure out whether it's possible to show that stuff only to users of a certain level...
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [2] replies
    • The data they enter should be displayed for every site visitor, so I don't need to worry about that part. Also, as an aside, I don't need the info e-mailed to anyone, although that would be fine - I just want it to display on that particular contributor's page as soon as they click Submit.
    • Thanks, but I'm not sure that would do it. It sounds like they would still have to edit directly in the post box. I do appreciate your input, though, keep it coming!
  • Before I can help you further you will have to explain to me what the bold part means... according to you.
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    • I guess I should give you a link, huh? This is what the end result should be, or at least close:
      Ontonagon | ridetheup.com
      That's what I want to display on the page for any visitor to the site as soon as the person who submits the form clicks Submit. Does that make sense?

      (I'm not using the term contributor in reference to the WP role "Contributor," just a generic meaning.)

      And yes, I know my weather sticker is broken, sniff...
  • I think cforms could do what you want. Little bit of a learning curve involved but it is pretty powerful and customizable.

    cforms II » delicious:days
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  • It, probably, makes sense for you and your client... but, to be honest, I have difficulties getting it.

    - "any visitor" usually arrives to your main/front/index page, right?
    - is the "any visitor" the same as "the person who submits the form"???
    - why is SOOOO important what the idiotic submitter (who, according to you, is not able anyway to make a minimal intellectual effort and filling out correctly a form!), so, why is important what the heck is s/he going to see after hitting the Submit button? Isn't more important whether the data has been submitted and displayed correctly where it belongs to?
    - there is no "contributor's page"; and as a WP expert you should know that!

    As a general rule: never let the client to tell you HOW to deal with technical details because they never have an idea about it. They should limit themselves to give you the desired general purpose... and YOU (the expert) tell them how to achieve their goal.
    Otherwise you always end up chasing illusory "solutions" like in this thread
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    • Yes, and then they will check out whichever location they plan on snowmobiling in to find out the conditions.
      No. Certain people will contact the site owner to get set up as a trail report contributor. Generally these are business owners who want to promote snowmobiling in their particular area.
      You've misread my post. I believe that the "idiotic submitters" will have no problem filling out a form; however, I think they will have a problem if they're given a WP post box and have free rein to make changes. I think WP is easy, but people who know nothing about web sites don't understand things that you and I think are basic. They might select something in the box accidentally and delete it, have no idea how to get it back, panic, and then my client's getting tons of frantic calls that they messed it up, what do I do, etc. etc. If all they have to do is fill out a form and submit it, there's a lot less likelihood of that happening.
      Yes, but I think you are misunderstanding what I'm aiming for. After they submit their report, it will say something like "Thanks for submitting your report, blah blah blah." What's important is that the information they entered is displayed neatly on the page so that site visitors who plan to snowmobile in that area can then clearly see that information when they visit that page.
      First, I never said I was a WP expert. And you seem a little cranky.

      Again, I'm speaking of the contributors in a general way; I'm not talking about the official WP role of "Contributor." I'm saying that Joe Blow at the Hillside Bar is doing the trail reports for Anytown, USA. He is a contributor to the web site, along with all the other trail report contributors. His page is the one called "Anytown." So when I say the contributor's page, that's all I mean. I think you're making it far more complicated than it is.

      He is not telling me how to do it. It's his right to ask for what he wants, isn't it? And his idea is right on. I know for a fact that when I train businesspeople to maintain their own WordPress sites, they absolutely freak out when they see the post box and all the options. It always surprises me when they don't understand what I feel are the simplest things. I'm not making fun of them - it's just a fact. And I know that most people in this area who will be doing these reports will fall into that category.

      I want to make this as easy as possible for the various contributors. I believe that's only good sense and is in harmony with the "don't make me think!" school of thought when it comes to web design.

      I very much appreciate your help and suggestions, but I'm not sure where the sarcasm is coming from. :rolleyes:
  • I think the biggest thing that I am evidently not getting across in my posts is that I need the data from the form submission to be displayed on the page after the person submits his report. I don't need it to be e-mailed to anyone, although that would be okay, but I for sure need for it to display on the page, preferably with some option to style its appearance so it can be clearly understood by readers.

    I am looking into the various plugins mentioned above to see if any of them do that, with no success yet, but then again, I do find the descriptions of what they do rather confusing sometimes. I am not much good at understanding scripts and programs and code and all that stuff. But I will keep looking. Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
  • Having a bit of trouble implementing TDO Mini Forms on the site. Can't get the form fields to appear, for one, and second, I'm not sure how to set it up so that a user can both submit the first instance of his report and then go in and edit it on a regular basis after that.

    If anyone is comfortable with TDO and would like a few bucks to set this up, I'm hiring.
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    • Okay, me again. I think I might have found a script that will work for this purpose. Is anyone familiar with EditTag?
  • I don't know about that but somebody PMd about a similar case and they found this:
    WordPress › uCan Post « WordPress Plugins

    They were very happy with the solution... although I don't know if it fits your special requirements.
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    • Thank you, Istvan. I checked it out, but it doesn't allow me to customize the form, and it looks like it's for posts, not pages. But thank you for the tip!
  • Laura, check out Gravity Forms. It's a paid plug-in and ROCKS. It will do everything you want and a whole lot more. To boot it's super easy to use.

    Gravity Forms for WordPress - Contact Form Builder And Lead Data Management Plugin For WordPress
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    • Thank you, Daniel - I had checked out Gravity Forms before but discarded the idea for some reason. But now that I take a look at their site, I'm not sure why that was (I've looked at dozens and dozens of scripts.) Can you set it up to display the results of that form on a WordPress page?
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  • Hey Laura, sorry for the delay getting back to you. After some testing and flipping through the manual, I'm not 100% sure GF can do what you want but it should get you pretty close. I can create a user submission form that posts to a a specific category but I don't know if thats going to work for you.
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    • That's kind of what I suspected but I've sent a support e-mail to find out. Thanks very much for your help!
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    Looking for a WordPress plugin that does this...

    I'm creating a WP site for a businessman who wants to have a handful of different people submit snowmobile trail reports to his site on a daily/weekly basis. They need to be able to log in and fill in some predetermined fields and publish, without having access to the rest of the site. Does anyone know of a WP plugin that does this? I could use a classified plugin, I suppose, but I wanted to see if there's anything out there more specific to this situation.