Adding custom fields on to frontend forms

Question

I am trying to learn how to add fields onto a form and store them in the database. I am using the registration form for this exercise.

So far I have:

• displayed an additional field
• located relevant table in the db that stores the label (eav_attribute), names (customer_entity_varchar) and email (customer_entity)
• set is_required to 1
• displayed label next to field

My problem is that when I input data that field is not saved to the database, also I can leave it blank and the form will still be accepted. I assume this is because I added the data directly to my database (therefore bypassing other functions Magento needs to run).

I have looked around for an answer and found this, which seems to confirm my thought about needing to use a setup script for this task and I also came across this. Between the two of them I was pretty confident I could overcome this issue without any further help but I can't work out:

from link 1

• how customer_account_edit and customer_account_create are identified as being needed?

from link 2

• what do the first and second parameters do in $this->addAttribute() in the setup script, I can see the third parameter is the values for each column?

• how is the first parameter of setData() decided?

*snippet from link 2*

<address_setup>
 <setup>
 <module>Excellence_Address</module>
 <class>Mage_Customer_Model_Entity_Setup</class> <!-- This is the important thing-->
 </setup>
 <connection>
 <use>core_setup</use>
 </connection>
</address_setup>

Setup

$installer = $this;
$installer->startSetup();
$this->addAttribute('customer_address', 'govt_id', array(
 'type' => 'varchar',
 'input' => 'text',
 'label' => 'Govt ID No#',
 'global' => 1,
 'visible' => 1,
 'required' => 0,
 'user_defined' => 1,
 'visible_on_front' => 1
));
Mage::getSingleton('eav/config')
 ->getAttribute('customer_address', 'govt_id')
 ->setData('used_in_forms', array('customer_register_address','customer_address_edit','adminhtml_customer_address'))
 ->save();
$installer->endSetup();

Answer 1

I managed to add a field to the registration page and have it saved to the database. thanks to the help of this tutorial. I have added my code which has done the job.

Sorry there is no explanation to the code or an answer to what is customer_account_edit and customer_account_create and how is setData() parameter decided. But I thought this code may be helpful for anyone else adding new fields. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will expand on that part

config.xml

<global>
 <fieldsets>
 <customer_account>
 <username>
 <create>1</create>
 <update>1</update>
 <name>1</name>
 </username>
 </customer_account>
 </fieldsets>
 <resources>
 <customforms_reginfo_setup>
 <setup>
 <module>Customforms_Reginfo</module>
 <class>Mage_Customer_Model_Entity_Setup</class>
 </setup>
 <connection>
 <use>core_setup</use>
 </connection>
 </customforms_reginfo_setup>
 </resources>
</global>

setup-0.1.0.php

 $installer = $this;
 $installer->startSetup();
 $this->addAttribute('customer', 'username', array(
'type' => 'varchar',
'input' => 'text',
'label' => 'Username',
'global' => 1,
'visible' => 1,
'required' => 1,
'user_defined' => 1,
'visible_on_front' => 1
 ));
Mage::getSingleton('eav/config')
->getAttribute('customer', 'username')
->setData('used_in_forms', array('adminhtml_customer', 'customer_account_edit','customer_account_create'))
->save();
$installer->endSetup();

• David Manners: feel free to mark it as accepted if it is a complete answer.

Answer 2

There is another module by Excellence that you can take a look at over here:

http://excellencemagentoblog.com/magento-advanced-shipping-method-development

This basically implements ONE new field to checkout which is stored in the DB and has custom JavaScript to make it compulsory.

You can use this website

http://freegento.com/ddl-magento-extension.php

to get the source code downloadable as a package.

Let me know if there's something you're unclear about.