Overview: Formbuilder which allows users to build forms by simply dragging and dropping fields. Is in need of a port to Drupal 7, plus quite some adjustments to make it work better.
Description:Formbuilder has long been seen as the interface that CCK UI should be. However given the complexity of this module and the interaction its trying to solve - few have worked on it. It originated out of the 2008 GSoC program, and I hope to spur it new live with this years program.
Drupal.org Formbuilder project
Formbuilder Demo
Activities would include :
- Porting the module
- Propper seperation of Formbuilder API's and UI
- Better handeling of data storage
- Allowing existing fields to be searched
- Allowing styles (vertical tabs, fieldsets) to be applied
- Accomodate more options (taxonomy, pathauto, token)
- Create a UI "manage displays"
Apart from just the port, which could take up to a month. There are several issues in the UI that need extensive code to be resolved, most notably the "manage displays" which is currently handeld by CCK UI in a highly unusable way - should allow users to change the display at the object (node, rss feed, whatever) rather then in a separate UI.
The UI of Formbuilder has never been up to the level that it needs to be, to act as a replacement for the CCK UI and thus never gained the popularity it could have - and stalled development. Either way this project to me sounds like a good example, where we should experiment with new UX elements in order to find out if its a viable experience.
Mentors: I would be able to mentor.
Difficulty: Hard
For this project it needs a student who is proficient in jQuery and able to learn all the new things in Drupal 7. Because of the popularity of this proposal, I would like all students who are intrested simply to post their information here.
Comments
Fields
It would be really cool if this was turned into an interface that could actually operate as an alternate field UI.
Additionally, there's some code in formbuilder (an object cache) which operates quite similarly to CTools, so it may be better to just replace it with ctools.
Turning this into a Fields UI
Turning this into a Fields UI was and is indeed the main objective.
Interested Applicant Here...What Information is Needed?
Hi Bojhan, I'm interested in take up this project.
May I know what kind of information do you want from us to be posted here? (age? location? area of studies? experience?)
Thanks! Happy Coding :)
Well probably just some
Well probably just some information about your interest in the project, definitely - showing how familiar you are with jQuery and community contribution. I received a couple e-mails, but I think its better for the larger community to see who is interested.
Also interested in mentoring
Also interested in mentoring this project if it needs another.
Senior Drupal Developer for Lullabot | www.davereid.net | @davereid
Tasks
I don't think porting to Drupal 7 would be a very large task, since Form Builder already has an almost working port in the queue: http://drupal.org/node/404818. Options Element has been removed from Form Builder and ported to Drupal 7 separately (because I wanted to use it in Webform): http://drupal.org/project/options_element.
I think the largest issues here would be what Bojhan had as the tail end of his description:
The problem of Vertical Tabs is going to need some serious wizardry. Fieldsets are currently hard to use because of the way jQuery UI works. Both of those problems are going to require a good amount of jQuery knowledge.
Extending Form Builder to work with everything that modifies the node form isn't too terrible to accomplish, it's just a lot of updating the code that's there and building off the current examples. Form Builder in Drupal 6 already supports a ton of things: Path settings, Publishing Options, Menu settings, Taxonomy, etc. but all of them will need updating for Drupal 7. Integration for any CCK/Field fields beyond a simple textfield has not been written at all, so that'll be a good adventure also.
I'd be willing to mentor this project from a technical standpoint.
Hello, I am very interested
Hello,
I am very interested in this project. The formbuilder UI is amazing and would love to work on it and make it to a point that it should be considered as a replacement of cck UI(Fields UI).
My detail work would include
- Porting the module to D7, which won't take more than 20 days.
- Reuse Fields that are used in other entities.
- Dividing the module into two, backend API and the UI.
- Applying new styles (vertical tags, fieldset)
- Integrating more fields than currently supported by formbuilder.
I have submitted this as my GSOC application. I have added the timeline
For the past week, i have been working on understanding the form builder module, i think i am in a good position to take up this project and have the jquery knowledge that will be required.
Interested progress
Any word chia on your progress? Did you get accepted?
interested, skill in jquery
Hi,
I'd be interested in contributing to the project. I'm pretty decent in jQuery. I've started writing some custom plugins to practice. So thats where I'm at skill level in jQuery.
I've also done some drupal but my skill level is currently at 'Level: Pathetic'.
Thanks,
Sourabh