Confusing form parameter 'Record in Database'

[tenbob]

I'm slightly baffled by one of the parameters on the form configuration page. It's called 'Record in Database'. The Wiki says 'If ticked then form saves the data into a database table'. The tooltip says 'Should we store the submitted forms data to the database table?'.

So it sounds like turning it off inhibits writing to the database. That's exactly what I wanted, so I turned it off.

Unfortunately, as well as turning off writing, it also seems to turn off reading from the database. So every time you display the form it is completely blank. Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't see how this could be useful. Whereas read-only access would be quite handy.

So after a brief trial I decided to turn it on again. Except that you can't. Once it's turned off there seems to be no obvious way to turn it back on. I eventually managed it through phpMyAdmin, but I'm not certain that I have restored everything correctly.

Could this feature or its documentation be improved?

 

[jpsoigne]

Same observations...

 

[hallan]

Reading a few threads on this topic, the 'Record in Database' flag is supposedly only to apply for forms without a table ... but ...

What I wanted to do was do my own updates (as my relational model doesn't quite fit in with Fabric's ideas). Easy to do with a PHP plugin (in onBeforeProcess)

$formModel->form->record_in_database=0;

 

[hallan]

[Or maybe that should be $formModel->getForm()->record_in_database=0; ?]