Gravity Forms External Data Fields Plugin

This plugin is used by authenticated forms that pre-populate field data. It connects to our DataAPI to provide student or employee information for the logged in user.

Requirements

• PHP 5.5 or PHP 7.x
• WordPress 4.75, 4.98
• Gravity Forms
• BC Data API

Configuration

Add Data API credentials (and any optional overrides) as constants in wp-config.php, above the line /* That's all, stop editing! */.

Required

define( 'GFEDF_DATA_API_URL', 'https://example.com/api/' ); // base URL with trailing slash
define( 'GFEDF_DATA_API_CLIENT_ID', 'your-client-id' );
define( 'GFEDF_DATA_API_CLIENT_KEY', 'your-client-key' );

Optional overrides

Constant	Default	Description
GFEDF_RESTRICT_ATTR	allow	Restriction attribute used in the Gravity Forms shortcode
GFEDF_RESTRICT_FAIL_REDIRECT_ATTR	failure_redirect_url	Shortcode attribute for redirect URL when restriction fails (same site, or any bellevuecollege.edu host/subdomain; uses wp_safe_redirect)
GFEDF_DEFAULT_REDIRECT_URL	""	Default redirect URL if none is provided in the shortcode (same site, or any bellevuecollege.edu host/subdomain)
GFEDF_DATA_API_STUB_EMP	employee/%s	Employee endpoint path stub
GFEDF_DATA_API_STUB_STU	student/%s	Student endpoint path stub
GFEDF_DATA_API_STUB_AUTH	auth/login	Auth/login endpoint path stub
GFEDF_DATA_API_TOKEN_OPTION_NAME	gfedf_dataapi_token	Transient key for the encrypted API token
GFEDF_DATA_API_TOKEN_TTL	HOUR_IN_SECONDS	TTL in seconds for the encrypted API token transient
GFEDF_DATA_API_SSLVERIFY	true	Whether SSL is verified on Data API requests
GFEDF_ENABLE_DEBUG_LOG	false	Enable plugin debug messages via error_log

SSL verification defaults to true. Set GFEDF_DATA_API_SSLVERIFY to false only for broken local/dev certificates:

define( 'GFEDF_DATA_API_SSLVERIFY', false );

Debug logging defaults to off. Enable it in wp-config.php when troubleshooting:

define( 'GFEDF_ENABLE_DEBUG_LOG', true );

The Data API bearer token is stored encrypted (OpenSSL AES-256-CBC, key from wp_salt( 'auth' )) in a WordPress transient that expires after the configured TTL.

Migrating from config.php

If you previously used a plugin-root config.php copied from config-sample.php, move those values into the corresponding GFEDF_* constants in wp-config.php, then delete the plugin config.php file.

Usage

This plugin consists of a few pieces. First, the Gravity Forms form you wish to prepopulate data in must require the user to be logged in. This can be done in the Form Settings. Gravity Forms also provides a space to specify a login message. Here is where you can use a short code to add a link to the default WordPress login (which will in turn redirect to the current login method specified for the WordPress install, i.e. SAML). This shortcode also allows you to specify a class attribute with value to style the generated link (e.g. style it as a button).

Shortcode examples

Unstyled login link

Log in to continue. [gfedf_redirect_to_login]

Styled login link

Log in to continue. [gfedf_redirect_to_login class="btn btn-primary"]

Autofill parameters

To pre-populate a Gravity Forms field, open the field in the Form Editor, go to the Advanced tab, enable Allow field to be populated dynamically, and enter one of the parameter names below.

Parameter	Description	Student	Employee
bc_sid	Student/employee ID (EMPLID)	✓	✓
bc_first_name	First name	✓	✓
bc_last_name	Last name	✓	✓
bc_email	Email address	✓	✓
bc_dayphone	Daytime phone	✓	✓ (uses employee phone)
bc_evephone	Evening phone	✓	—

Student data is preferred when the logged-in user has a student record; otherwise employee data is used (except bc_evephone, which is student-only).

Additional functionality

Visit the wiki for additional info on restricting the login to only employees.

Updates

• May 2017 - The plugin was updated to change from getting data directly from ODS/connection to MSSQL to using the new BC DataAPI. The plugin was massively refactored with this update.