How to collect & display event guest data info - survey, interaction, APIs, something else?

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Hi all!


I am working on a guest information collection form for seating management for our events. Each "table host" for our sponsors will be filling out the info for all the sponsor's guests while in a logged-in state. Some might have as many as 50 guests. I want the form to be able to:


1. Dynamically create the correct number of guest data rows based on the count of seats I'll pre-load in custom fields on the sponsor table host's constituent record.

2. Re-populate any prior submitted guest info - so ideally, the table host can log back in and keep adding or updating info.

3. Frosting on the cake: it would be great to be able to expose what has been submitted so far to the user on a confirmation page and email.



For the first step, I am planning on generating the form fields using jquery and I'm not too worried about the element of dynamically producing the correct number of rows. But not too sure where to write the data upon submit. Any ideas?
  • I can't use constituent custom fields to store the guest data, since those are extremely character-limited, so that is out.
  • I'm kicking around the idea of using a non-TR survey, but not sure I can call the prior submitted info back out. S28 doesn't seem to do this. Survey APIs don't seem to let us call the user's answers, except during submission. Is that true?
  • Also debated writing the data as json objects to custom interactions (though unfortunately interactions have a 1500 character limit - I'm anticipating needing more like 5000 max, so I'd have to break the data across several interactions), since I can get and update them through the interaction APIs, but it is unclear to me if I can do the initial create from the user's first data submission through one of the APIs... Does anyone know?
Anyone have advice on anything else I might be overlooking? Does anyone have similar cases when you've needed to store several thousand characters of data and re-surface it to the user?


Thanks much!
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Comments

  • All your reasoning seems right to me. It's always hard to find a data store for stuff like this!


    You could break out of LO and use something like AWS to save your results, but then you have to worry about security and all that stuff. I found the learning curve to be pretty steep.


    " it is unclear to me if I can do the initial create from the user's first data submission through one of the APIs "


    You can create custom interactions with logInteraction. Here's an example using Luminate Extend:



    // Add an interaction to the constituent's record.

    var LogInteraction = function (interaction_type_id, interaction_subject, interaction_body, cons_id, handle_success, handle_error) {


    // Build api parameter string

    var apiParameters = '&interaction_type_id=' + interaction_type_id;

    apiParameters += '&interaction_subject=' + interaction_subject;

    apiParameters += '&interaction_body=' + interaction_body;

    apiParameters += '&cons_id=' + cons_id;


    // Define callbacks

    var logInteractionCallback = {

    success: function (data) {

    if (typeof data.updateConsResponse.interaction_id !== 'undefined') {

    console.log("LogInteraction: Successful");

    if (handle_success) { handle_success(data.updateConsResponse); }

    } else {

    console.warn("LogInteraction: Unsuccessful");

    if (handle_error) { handle_error(data.updateConsResponse.errors); }

    }

    },

    error: function (data) {

    console.error("LogInteraction: Error");

    if (handle_error) { handle_error(data.errorResponse); }

    }

    };


    // Call API

    luminateExtend.api({

    api: 'cons',

    callback: logInteractionCallback,

    data: 'method=logInteraction' + apiParameters,

    requestType: 'POST',

    requiresAuth: true

    });


    };
  • I would have each seat be a separate interaction. The data in each interaction could be a standard JSON record, with the guest name, meal preference, etc.


    One issue is that the user can't get other peoples interactions. So you couldn't show summary data like Total Seats sold and available, nor could you tell if a specific seat or table is available.


    I'm also not sure about showing interactions on an email. I wouldn't bet on it though.
  • As expected, our amazing Mr. Brian Mucha does not disappoint. Thank you so much for logInteraction pointer + example - I hadn't noticed it! At least I know now this is a possible route and I can give it a shot!


    For your second note, for most of our events, each table/group has ten or fewer seats (and individual seat purchasers do not purchase more than 9), so I'm hoping the cumulative data for ten guests will fit comfortably in one interaction - fingers crossed that ends up a logical and functional way to carve them up, and make them easier to manage and call and retire. It will probably only be first name, last name, email + a checkbox for if they don't want to use the seat, so I'm hoping I can get ten of them within 1500 characters with a realistic cushion. Perhaps should set character limits on the inputs to help manage it. We shall see. Wish me luck!


    No worries on inventory or seat map, we manage that separately. And the guest data collection step usually happens well after point-of-sale, in the few weeks just before the event, and generally the user doesn't get too much say in placement :) So definitely fine (and probably best) that the user only sees their own data!


    Will let you know if I have luck with the email confirmation. Ages ago I saw a weird survey autoresponder hack which may or may not work, but since that is *extra* at this stage, probably not this version. For now, will likely just email a link!


    THANKS SO MUCH, B!

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