Limit Maximum Submissions
This feature is part of the Visforms Subscription and not available in the free Visforms version..
We suggest reading the documentation from the beginning, starting with the Introduction. We will not repeat explanations that help you to better understand the whole context.
System Settings - Enable plugin in plugin manager
Please make sure, that you have installed your Visforms Subcription. After that, you have to enable the plugin in the plugin manager before you can use it.
Go to the Administration Panel of your Joomla! installation and click the top menu item "Extensions" and then "Plugin Manager". Search for the list item with the name "Plugin Visforms - Maxsubmissions". You can use the search filter above the list. Make sure the plugin "Status" is set to enabled.
Setting up the limitation options
All options are set in the form configuration
You can set the limitation options individually for each form. To achieve this, the plugin creates a new tab "Maxsubmissions" in the form edit view. So please go to the administration panel of your website, click Compenents and then Visforms in the top menu and open the form edit view. Click the tab "Maxsubmissions" there.
Set amount of allowed submissions (Option "Amount")
Please enter a number in the input of the option "Amount". This number equals the maximum amount of submissions allowed for this form. Set the value to 0 (this is the default value for this option) if you do want to allow unlimited submission of the form.
Which existing submissions are counted? (Option "exclude unpublished record sets in count")
Visforms allows you to publish/unpublish stored user inputs thus controlling, whether a record set is published in the frontend data views. You can choose whether unpublished record sets will be connumerated in the calculation of the number of submisions which you have already received. (Option "exclude unpublished record sets in count").
The error message (Option "Custom Error Message")
As a default the plugin displays the error message "Sorry, this form has a maximum number of submissions and we have already recieved the maximum amount of submissions.". But you can use a custom error message as well. Just enter the message text in the Field "Custom Error Message". If you leave this option empty, the default message is used.
Adapt the form dynamically if no further submissions are possible (Option "Adapt Form View")
Since version 1.1.0 the plugin enables you to modify the form if the limit is exceeded (Option "Adapt Form View"). In addition to the default value "Don't change" you can choose between the values "Remove submit button" and "Hide Form".
If you select "Hide form" Visforms will redirect the user to the front page of your website and throw an error message. If you have added a custom error message, Visforms will display this custom message. Otherwise the plugins default message. This value will be ignored, if you display the form in a module or an article. Please note: If you display the form on the front page of your website, this option will be ignored because it would cause an infinite loop.
If you select "Remove submit button"" Visforms will remove all submit and reset buttons and display the error message instead.
An additional explaination in the form: (Option "Display Message in Form")
You can use this option if you want the error message to be displayed inside the form, if the limit for the maximum amount of submissions is exceeded. A sensible setting would be to enable this option if you have set the "Adapt Form View" option to die Werte "Don't change" in order to provide users of your website with the information, that they will not be able to submit the form successfully. The message is displayed at the top of the form.
Is there a problem, if I have not set limitation options for a form?
After you have installed and enabled the plugin the limitation options are not yet set. If you want to use the plugin, you have to set the options actively in the form configuration, as described above. Nevertheless, for the plugin it is no problem, if you have not set limitation options for a form. Forms with missing limitation options can simply be submitted without limit.
You have to enable the Option "Save Results"
The plugin uses stored user inputs to calculate the amount of submissions already received. Therefore the plugin can only work properly, if submitted user inputs are stored in the database. Visforms gives you the option to decide whether or not you want to store submitted user inputs in the database (form configuration tab "result"). So please make sure, that you have enabled this form option.