Hi,
Does anyone know if it is possible with standard Matrix functionality to capture custom information about a user subscribing to a newsletter (e.g. age, sex, location etc.).
It would be like a mixture of a custom form and a bulkmail subscription. Ideally it would be useful to save the custom information as metadata of the bulkmail user.
Thanks,
Oliver
I don't think it is possible, but you could approach the problem differently.
If you use real User accounts, you can get people to sign-up to your site and use metadata in combination with the asset builder to customise the information you send. The subscribe page will allow a logged in user to register for different mailing lists just like a regular bulkmail user.
The benefits are the ability to capture any piece of information you want. Users can also edit their information over time, unlike bulkmail users.
The disadvantages are that users will need to enter a username and password, you'll need to configure new pages and login sections for your site, and users will have to register and login before that can subscribe.
Actually, i've done this before. Just create an Asset Builder that creates Bulkmail User Assets in the appropriate User Group. Then, using 3.12+, you can expose a particular metadata schema via the front end, which the user fills out when they "subscribe".
The only downside is the user can't update their details, which would only be possible using User Assets as Greg described.
[quote]Actually, i’ve done this before. Just create an Asset Builder that creates Bulkmail User Assets in the appropriate User Group. Then, using 3.12+, you can expose a particular metadata schema via the front end, which the user fills out when they “subscribe”.
The only downside is the user can’t update their details, which would only be possible using User Assets as Greg described.
[right][post=“16111”]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]
…so when’s the Asset Editor coming out? 
[quote]…so when’s the Asset Editor coming out?
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About three to four months after you pay for it, John. 
[quote]Actually, i've done this before. Just create an Asset Builder that creates Bulkmail User Assets in the appropriate User Group. Then, using 3.12+, you can expose a particular metadata schema via the front end, which the user fills out when they "subscribe".
The only downside is the user can't update their details, which would only be possible using User Assets as Greg described.[/quote]
Can you provide more explicit details on how to acheive this? I am struggling to get these keywords to work (all of section yy of screen xx)
is there more comprehensive documentation on how to use these keywords to customise create forms in asset builders to "expose a particular metadata schema via the front end, which the user fills out when they "subscribe"" ???
cheers Mat
You don't need to use these keywords in this case; simply select "Metadata schemas to apply" on the details screen of the Asset Builder, then just use the %create_form% keyword in the "Not logged in" bodycopy of the Asset Builder.
Ok but If I want to customise this page how do I do it?
it seems that the easiest way to customise asset builder pages is to take the form code etc that matrix generates and paste it back into the custom page and modify it to suit.
not such an elegant solution but at least you can get to all the elemets you want to modify.
where can I find more information on how to use the custom keyword replacements ( like __custom-limbo keyword)
This is a very bad idea. If your system is upgraded, those form elements may stop working because of changes we make to the creation interface. You may have to go into each asset builder and redo the content.
A better way is to use the create interface customisation feature of the asset builder, available from 3.12.0 onwards. That allows you to customise (using keywords) the creation interface for different asset types. Changelog description:
Ok but where can I find more documentation to set up custom asset builders because I am having trouble getting it to work and I am not sure of the correct syntax.
also I want to hide the use default check boxes and default text and titles etc
[quote]Ok but where can I find more documentation to set up custom asset builders because I am having trouble getting it to work and I am not sure of the correct syntax.
also I want to hide the use default check boxes and default text and titles etc[/quote]
You wont be able to hide everything or customise every bit of text, but that doesn't make the copy/paste method any less dangerous. If you are not sure how to configure it, contact Squiz Support and they will help you. Otherwise, specific questions may be able to be answered on these forums.