Multiple Instances of a Web Form not Working in Web Project

[trgerhardt]

I have a web form called page creator that I want to use in my Web Project with 3 different possible output patterns.

I edit Web Project Settings and Add the Web Form 3 times, change the Web Form Details and the Template, so I have 3 unique output settings and 3 unique names of a Web Form that all have the same schema inside of my web project. When I save and go to add Web Content, only the last of the 3 Web Forms added to my Web Project show up.

Anyone experience similar problems? Or has this issue already been discussed? Please point me in the right direction.

[kvc]

Hmmm …

I think it is valid to want to use the same web form multiple times in the same web project … for example, the first instance configured to generate content using one template, the next instance configured to generated content using another template.  Depending on the type of page the user would want to create, they would select different instances of the form (since each form instance always generates renditions using any associated template).  Each of these form instances would also have distinct output path patterns.

If you are just applying the same template to both form instances and only looking to have different output path patterns, regardless of whether or not we support adding multiple instances of a form, it may be more efficient to have an element in your web form that allows the user to pick a certain value which in turn is reference using the xml.node Freemarker expression to dynamically generate an output path.  The benefit of this is that it *may* mean better usability - user just worries about one form, but can choose different places to generate content.

Now, that said, another reason to use two form instances is if you had two different configured workflows for your different destination paths.  The above would not handle this case.

So, two take-aways:  if you can simplify and use an element value in your XML for your output path to avoid having to add two instances of the same form, I'd give that a go.  Second, we'll look into supporting it.  Whether or not you need now, it is useful in many different circumstances.

If you could file an feature enhancement request at http://issues.alfresco.com in the WCM project, we'll look into.


Kevin