Contact Form 7 Create Options List Lilsto

Caroline Mae

2 min read

·

01-01-2025

3

0

Share

Contact Form 7 is a powerful, free plugin for WordPress that allows you to easily create and manage contact forms. One of its useful features is the ability to create option lists, providing users with a selection of pre-defined choices rather than free-form text input. This enhances user experience and data management. This guide will walk you through creating these useful lists within your Contact Form 7 forms.

Understanding the "Lilsto" Approach

The term "Lilsto" isn't a standard Contact Form 7 term. It seems likely this refers to a shorthand for "List of Options," reflecting the core function we're discussing. We'll explore how to build these lists effectively within the plugin's interface.

Creating Option Lists in Contact Form 7

Creating an option list involves using the [select] shortcode within your form's configuration. The [select] shortcode requires several attributes to specify the options available to the user. Let's look at the structure:

[select* your-field-name "Option 1" "Option 2" "Option 3"]

• [select*]: This is the opening tag. The asterisk (*) indicates this is a required field. Omit the asterisk if you want an optional field.
• your-field-name: Replace this with a descriptive name for your field (e.g., department, country, size). This is crucial for identifying the data submitted.
• "Option 1" "Option 2" "Option 3": These are your selectable options, enclosed in quotation marks and separated by spaces. You can add as many options as needed.

Example: Creating a "Department" Dropdown

Let's say you want to create a dropdown menu for users to select their department. You could use this shortcode:

[select* department "Sales" "Marketing" "IT" "Human Resources"]

This will create a dropdown menu labeled "Department" with the options: Sales, Marketing, IT, and Human Resources.

Using Line Breaks for Readability

For longer lists, using line breaks to improve readability within the shortcode is advisable, though it's not required by the plugin. Here's how it would look:

[select* department 
"Sales" 
"Marketing" 
"IT" 
"Human Resources"]

This doesn't change the functionality, but it makes your form code easier to manage.

Advanced Options: Using <option> Tags

For even more control, you can embed <option> HTML tags within the shortcode. This allows you to specify values different from what the user sees, which is extremely useful for data management and backend processing.

[select* department "<option value='sales'>Sales</option> <option value='marketing'>Marketing</option> <option value='it'>IT</option> <option value='hr'>Human Resources</option>"]

In this example, the displayed text (Sales, Marketing, etc.) is different from the submitted value (sales, marketing, etc.). This is beneficial if you need to store data in a specific format.

Conclusion

Contact Form 7 provides straightforward methods for creating customizable option lists, allowing you to enhance your forms and streamline data collection. By understanding the [select] shortcode and its options, you can effectively create efficient and user-friendly contact forms for your website. Remember to test your form thoroughly after implementing these changes to ensure everything functions correctly.