August 11, 2019: Improved support for List fields. Updated article with currently applicable fields.
Stop! There's a better way.
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Some complex fields (like Checkbox, Multi Select, List and Single Product fields) do not provide a default value setting. But they do support dynamic population.
This snippet enables the ability to use merge tags as dynamic population parameters, allowing you to specify default values for complex fields.
How do I install this snippet?
Just copy and paste the code into your theme’s functions.php file.
Do I need to customize the snippet to work with my form?
Nope! This one is generic and will work for all forms out of the box. Here is what it will look like once you’ve added a couple merge tags to your dynamic population parameter settings.
Merge Tags as Dynamic Population ParametersDoes the data I am populating need to be in a specific format?
Yes! Each field expects its data in a specific format.
| Field Type | Format |
|---|---|
| Checkboxes | First Choice,Second Choice |
| Multi Select | First Choice,Second Choice |
| List (Single Column) | Uno,Dos,Tres |
| List (Multi-column) | Uno|Dos|Tres,Un|Deux|Trois |
| Single Product (Name) | My Product Name |
| Single Product (Price) | 10 |
| Single Product (Qty) | 3 |
Summary
Let me know how you use this in the wild! Be sure to check out the Dynamic Products via Post Meta article which makes use of this handy snippet.
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I just added this hoping it would let me dynamically populate columns of a list, but it didn’t seem to work. I know list is a complex field, do you know if this snippet works with list?
Thanks!
It will if the data is in the correct format. Here’s a crash course on List field data: https://www.gravityhelp.com/forums/topic/list-field-help#post-39885
I can just NOT get this snippet to work and its driving me batty. I’m using Gravity Forms autocomplete to get a field name and then trying to pass that to a taxonomy via a single line field. I’m using the snippet, and the field code {School Name:21} (which is correct)…. just not saving the data whether the single line field is hidden or not.
No idea why this wouldn’t work with the autocomplete plugin but I’m glad we were able to help you with an alternate solution via support. :)
Hello there! This seems to be exactly what I need. I have only one issue. I want to populate dinamically a product list, like in your referenced tutorial. Perfect. But I also need the values to be selectable by a url parameter. Can I have two parameters? A url parameter and a merge tag?
I don’t think so, Gian. Not without additional custom code.
Is this supposed to be able to work with field based merge tags (similar to how we can use them in notifications)?
Right now I have {Name (First):64.3}{Name (Last):64.6} and the fields that I have those tags in don’t dynamically populate.
Cheers!
Hi. Great snippet. Unfortunately I can’t get it to work. I pasted it in exactly, added a new field to my new form for a checkbox, turned on dynamic population and only get a single parameter name field. I didn’t change anything else, I just used the default options of First Choice, Second Choice, Third Choice for the field. Am I missing something? The site is currently under development, so if you would like to see what I’m talking about I can send you login info privately.
This doesn’t change how many parameter name fields appear. That is controlled by the field type.
Hey Dave… Can you tell me if it’s possible to use this with a dropdown field that would contain a list of all of the WP users? If so, how?
Hi Tim, is your goal to populate a list of users or to preselect which user is selected?
Thanks for the quick reply… I actually got what I need working but need one additional thing… I have a populated list of users. Was able to use this code to get it. This is allowing me to view all of the users in a drop down that can be selected on the form. It is storing it in the entries as the user_id… which is great and what I need, but I also need a field (preferably hidden) to be automatically populated with the actual user name or display name. Is that something you could help me with?
Here’s what I have now.
[code removed]
Hi Tim, do you actually need the user ID for anything? If not, I would say just use this field and change this bit of code so the display name is submitted as the value: http://pastie.org/private/tkfq7mlus1lqk52tvbpaiw
Unfortunately, I think that I do need the ID just for keeping things in order down the road, such as someone changing their name. The user id will remain constant so I wouldn’t have to change it in multiple locations. Am I out of luck? :(
Also, when I receive the email notification that from a new entry being added… it shows the Display name (not the id) for that field in the email, so I would think it would be pretty easy to pass that on to another field in the form.
Something like this ought to do it: http://pastie.org/private/epfxt8fqohasx3jz1p18va
Thanks! Where should I put this? I tried adding at the end of my functions.php file, but it breaks the site. Should it go inside the other code that I shared earlier? If so, where? I know that is probably a silly question, and if so, I’m sorry!
Hey Tim, just remove the opening <?php tag from the snippet and put back in your functions.php. :)
How is this now part of the purchased gravity froms plugin? I am not impressed withthis plugin overpriced, nickle and dime ya
Hi Joe, we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. Gravity Forms provides an insane amount of value. :)
Can an extension of this method be used with checkbox fields? I’d like to have a checkbox field on one page, and then on the next page of the form populate another checkbox field with only the items that were checked in the previous field.
This snippet wouldn’t help much there. You would need to use the gform_pre_render filter to retrieve the selected values from the first page and populate these inputs into the checkbox field on the second page. If you’d like to commission me to write this snippet, get in touch.
I was stuck on a project for 2 weeks until I found this snippet. You are awesome!!!!
Corydon
Awesome! I’m glad we were able to help. :)
Hi David,
This code is really useful – thanks!
I was wondering whether you think there would be a way to pre-populate range fields when you add a quantity field? I’d like to set the max value based on the post custom field.
Thanks, Robin
Hi Robin, currently Gravity Forms only supports setting the default value via dynamic population. I’d love to write a snippet to support handling other field properties via dynamic population as well. If you’re interested in commissioning this, get in touch.
Would it be possible to dynamically populate check boxes depending on a radio-button selection? I have this form for selecting between 5 options, no matter what’s selected on the radio-button all the options are displayed below after choosing a Yes/No option (just Yes actually, selecting No bypasses this part) and I’m doing this to allow the user to choose more options or minus options for the pre-selected 1-5 options.
Example: Packages – Bronze, Silver, Gold. When choosing any of these another box appears using Conditional Logic asking if the user wants to add or remove options from each package. The bronze package would have 10 options pre-selected but could choose to take some off or add some.
Can this be done using this snippet?
Hi thanks for this. Does this work for drop down/check ox fields? I have two customer user meta fields that I was to add to a drop down form. Not sure how to popular the drop down with those two merge tags.
Thanks
Anything similar to set a drop-down’s default value? I tried to use this snippet to set the default state to {user:thestate} but failed. Thanks.
I would confirm that the value stored in {user:thestate} is the exact value that is available in your state drop down. I tested locally and it worked for me.
Good call, David. I was trying to match CA to California. It works perfectly now. Thanks!
Awesome! Thanks for confirming.
Hello,
so far i thought dynamic population requires a submission of form 1, so that form 2 can be populated. Does this snippet work “inside” a form, i.e. displaying pre filled adress fields according to a drop-down selection of the user? I am waiting for this feature. By the way GF support says this will be included in version 1.9.
Best Nick
Hey Nick, this snippet only supports populating values when the form is loaded. Subsequent changes made by the user will not be impacted by this snippet.
Hey Nick, version 1.9 is out. Do you know if Gravity Forms in fact included same-page prepoluation? I am trying to do exactly what you described. Thanks! -JD
Helle, thanks for sharing this solution, i want to add a custom field and display the field data in other form with insert {custom_field:date} in html content but nothing displaying.. how to display information passed in other form.. Thanks
Hi David!
I just want to thank you SO much man! Your kindness in posting this snippit has saved myself and I am sure loads of other newbies hours and hours of time!
You asked to know how we’ve used it so here goes:
I am working on a project that will have returning clients, who create a WooCommerce Profile. There are Gravity forms inside the products which they are purchasing. The data captured by the forms is then exported for reporting. It’s NB that all the details about the Member is in the form’s data export, so I am putting the fields already captured in the initial registration, into the form – with the help of your snippet, automatically propigating them with the already stored data ie user:first_name; etc so that they don’t have to fill it in each time. I may even play with the idea of hiding some of the fields from their view – the ones which will not ever be updated :)
So the good news is that that’s working! The not so good news is that I can’t seem to get data from the DB which are custom ie non-default WP or WooCommerce to propigate into the fields in the forms.
{user:first_name} pulls through perfectly. Using WP-Members to check the values: in the DB it reflects as first_name. Works like a charm. Now I am trying to get their mobile phone (cellphone) to pull through. Again using WP-Members to check the value: in the DB it reflects cell_phone but doesn’t pull through when I use {user:cell_phone} I am presuming that the ‘user’ bit is incorrect, but I have no idea what prefix to use? :(
HA! I ditched WP-Members and opened the DB directly. What did I see there? I figured out that your snippet’s actually quering the user meta. Also that WooCommerce saves these with different prefixes than WP does. ie the mobile number I was looking for is actually billing_phone It’s working perfectly now, David. Thank you again SO much!
Thanks for sharing your use-case, Christopher! I’m glad to hear you were able to get your issue sorted. :)
Hi, this looks like just what I need but like Ron I’m having trouble implementing it.
Could you provide an example of a merge tag to use. I’ve got two name fields in my form and would like to populate the second with their input from the first (but allow them to change it if they are buying it as a gift for someone else). So I’ve tried {Name (First):2.3} (the first name field is ID 2) but it doesn’t do anything. What would be the correct syntax to use?
Thanks.
Help. Can you provide an example of how to use this?
I’m using advanced address field as an Employee Address and want to give the choice to auto-populate their Dependent’s Address Fields.
Is that what this snippet is for? I’m just not quite getting how to use Merge Tags…
Ron
No, not yet.
I will look at it a bit more
Mark
Hi Dave,
Can you also use this on lists with multiple colums and rows?
Thanks
Mark
Theoretically it should be possible. Did you already try without success?