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Use Merge Tags as Dynamic Population Parameters

Last updated | Written by 82 Comments

  • August 11, 2019: Improved support for List fields. Updated article with currently applicable fields.

  • February 22, 2019: Refactored to remove dependency on deprecated create_function() function.

Stop! There's a better way.

This snippet is available as a plugin with Gravity Perks, a suite of over 32 premium Gravity Forms plugins!

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.

Show CodeDownload Code
<?php
/**
* Merge Tags as Dynamic Population Parameters
* http://gravitywiz.com/dynamic-products-via-post-meta/
* @version 1.3
*/
add_filter( 'gform_pre_render', 'gw_prepopluate_merge_tags' );
function gw_prepopluate_merge_tags( $form ) {
global $gw_filter_names;
$gw_filter_names = array();
foreach( $form['fields'] as &$field ) {
if( ! rgar( $field, 'allowsPrepopulate' ) ) {
continue;
}
// complex fields store inputName in the "name" property of the inputs array
if( is_array( rgar( $field, 'inputs' ) ) && $field['type'] != 'checkbox' ) {
foreach( $field->inputs as $input ) {
if( $input['name'] ) {
$gw_filter_names[ $input['name'] ] = GFCommon::replace_variables_prepopulate( $input['name'] );
}
}
} else {
$gw_filter_names[ $field->inputName ] = GFCommon::replace_variables_prepopulate( $field->inputName );
}
}
foreach( $gw_filter_names as $filter_name => $filter_value ) {
if( $filter_value && $filter_name != $filter_value ) {
add_filter( "gform_field_value_{$filter_name}", function( $value, $field, $name ) {
global $gw_filter_names;
$value = $gw_filter_names[ $name ];
/** @var GF_Field $field */
if( $field->get_input_type() == 'list' ) {
remove_all_filters( "gform_field_value_{$name}" );
$value = GFFormsModel::get_parameter_value( $name, array( $name => $value ), $field );
}
return $value;
}, 10, 3 );
}
}
return $form;
}
view raw gw-dynamic-populate-with-merge-tags.php.php hosted with ❤ by GitHub

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 Parameters

Does the data I am populating need to be in a specific format?

Yes! Each field expects its data in a specific format.

Field TypeFormat
CheckboxesFirst Choice,Second Choice
Multi SelectFirst 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.

Did this resource help you do something awesome with Gravity Forms? Then you'll absolutely love Gravity Perks; a suite of 31+ essential add-ons for Gravity Forms with support you can count on.

Comments

  1. Bryant Callahan says

    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!

    Reply

  2. Amanda says

    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.

    Reply

    • David Smith says

      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. :)

  3. Gian Luca says

    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?

    Reply

  4. Amber says

    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!

    Reply

  5. Trina says

    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.

    Reply

  6. Tim says

    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?

    Reply

    • Tim says

      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]

    • Tim says

      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? :(

    • Tim says

      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.

    • Tim says

      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!

  7. Joe says

    How is this now part of the purchased gravity froms plugin? I am not impressed withthis plugin overpriced, nickle and dime ya

    Reply

  8. Becky says

    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.

    Reply

    • David Smith says

      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.

  10. Robin says

    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

    Reply

    • David Smith says

      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.

  11. Weird Mike says

    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?

    Reply

  12. SMD says

    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

    Reply

  13. David Osborn says

    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.

    Reply

  14. Nick says

    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

    Reply

    • David Smith says

      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.

    • JD says

      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

  15. Ala says

    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

    Reply

  16. Christopher says

    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? :(

    Reply

    • Christopher says

      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!

    • David Smith says

      Thanks for sharing your use-case, Christopher! I’m glad to hear you were able to get your issue sorted. :)

  17. Mike says

    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.

    Reply

  18. Ron Richardson says

    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

    Reply

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