View Settings

If your form is accessible to the public, you may want to check Show only approved entries. This will allow you to approve entries before they are publicly visible. If your form is only accessible to members and you trust your members not to create spammy entries or entries with inappropriate content, then you can leave this box unchecked.

Multiple Entries

I always ensure Hide Empty Fields is checked. Otherwise, you’ll have labels with no data displayed.

Single Entry

Single Entry Title and Back Link Label will show at the top of your single entry. If you leave these blank it will look like this:

If you enter Member and Back to Member Directory respectively, it will look like this.

So enter what makes sense for your use case, or leave it blank for just a “go back” link.

Again, I always choose to Hide empty fields in the Single Entry View as well.

Edit Entry

Check Enable Edit Locking to prevent multiple users from editing the entry at the same time.

Check Allow User Edit to allow logged in users to edit their own entries. This allows the user to edit only their own entry. Administrators will be able to edit all entries, regardless of this setting.

If you are concerned that entries might be edited to add spam or inappropriate content, you can check Unapprove Entries After Edit so that edited entries require approval again before being publicly visible.

There are four options for Redirect After Editing. Your choice really comes down to personal preference and your workflow. If you choose Redirect to URL, you’ll need to fill in the Edit Entry Redirect URL.

Filter & Sort

This is one of the real pieces of magic! The Advanced Filter, available with GravityView Core + Extensions and GravityView All Access Licenses, adds an incredible amount of flexibility to your View configurations. But first let’s look at sorting.

If you want to list everyone alphabetically by last name, just select your last name field in Sort by field. You may want to select the first name field for the Sort by secondary field option in case two people have the same last name.

Complex sorting is also possible. Say you want to list the Team Lead or Manager first, or you want to list the Chairman of the Board before the rest of the Directors, followed by everyone else in alphabetical order, you can add a hidden field to your form that allows you to sort in order. The hidden field can simply be a number field called Sort Order where you enter the number one for the first on the list, number two for second, and so on. Leave the field blank for anyone who should follow a standard alphabetical sorting. Then your sorting selections would be:

Sort by Field: Sort Order (new hidden field)
Sort by Secondary Field: Last Name

Without the Advanced Filter installed the only filtering options are to filter by start date and end date. These dates refer to the date the entry was submitted and can be relative. In our use case, we don’t need to use these fields.

With the Advanced Filter installed, you have a powerful means of showing exactly the entries you want to include in your View.

You may want to display only entries that are completed. In that case, choose all of the relevant fields (Name, Headshot, Job Title, etc.) and choose “is not empty” from the dropdown. Use the AND connector between each to make sure that all fields are completed.

You can also use this field to display only the members of specific teams or committees. In Section 6 of this course we will look at how to easily duplicate your View and change the filter to create Views of all your teams.

Permissions

For this use case I have not marked any of the options in the Permissions tab, but you can review them to see if they meet your needs.

Don’t forget to uncheck Prevent Direct Access if you checked it earlier and now you want people to be able to access the View directly.