How to connect WPForms to a custom backend (example using .NET and SQL Server)
Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2024 8:01 am
WPForms is a popular plugin for WordPress that makes it easy to add forms to posts and pages, but it doesn’t let you override the form’s “submit” action. In fact, using the free version of WPForms doesn’t store the data at all, and with a paid plan, it stores the data in your WordPress installation’s MySQL database, so that you can view it both in the WP Admin Console and by querying your MySQL database directly.
In many cases though, you may want the data stored elsewhere, like a SQL Server database, if your backend is Microsoft-based. Or you may want your own code to do something specialized with the form ghana phone number material data upon submission. You might want to send a confirmation email to the subscriber that goes beyond WPForms’ email notification functionality (like attaching a file to the email), or you might want to make an API request to your CRM system, like
Here is how you can work around the WPForms limitations to get your form to do exactly what you want.
While you can’t override where the form “submits,” you can use the URL Redirect feature to take over the form’s flow to do whatever you want. But first, if you want to customize how the form works and override what WPForms actually does, why use WPForms or another WordPress forms plugin at all? In my case, the reason is that I hate building forms, and really anything UI-related. I’m a great backend developer, but trying to get a form to be aesthetically pleasing, responsive, and having to validate form fields makes my skin crawl. I just want the form design part done for me, and that’s the value I get from using WPForms.
In many cases though, you may want the data stored elsewhere, like a SQL Server database, if your backend is Microsoft-based. Or you may want your own code to do something specialized with the form ghana phone number material data upon submission. You might want to send a confirmation email to the subscriber that goes beyond WPForms’ email notification functionality (like attaching a file to the email), or you might want to make an API request to your CRM system, like
Here is how you can work around the WPForms limitations to get your form to do exactly what you want.
While you can’t override where the form “submits,” you can use the URL Redirect feature to take over the form’s flow to do whatever you want. But first, if you want to customize how the form works and override what WPForms actually does, why use WPForms or another WordPress forms plugin at all? In my case, the reason is that I hate building forms, and really anything UI-related. I’m a great backend developer, but trying to get a form to be aesthetically pleasing, responsive, and having to validate form fields makes my skin crawl. I just want the form design part done for me, and that’s the value I get from using WPForms.