Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Common Questions

Who are you?

Hi, I am Jacob Rockowitz (aka jrockowitz on D.O) and I have been building custom enterprise CMS solutions for the past 15 years. I have been active in Drupal community since 2009. Please visit my website to learn more about me.

Why did you build this module?

I was the lead developer responsible for migrating, architecting, and building Memorial Sloan Kettering’s current Drupal 8 website. Memorial Sloan Kettering was one of the largest early adopters of Drupal 8, launching a 30,0000+ page website using a Beta release of Drupal 8.

Learn more about Memorial Sloan Kettering’s early adoption of Drupal 8.

Where did you get this idea?

The Webform module was not available for Drupal 8 and MSKCC needed a form builder and submission manager. We had to come up with a quick and simple D8 replacement for the Webform module.

How did you build this module?

The original concept for the YAML Form module was to provide the simplest UI that required the least amount of work for building forms. Building a user interface is a lot of work, while editing YAML files required very little work to set up. Serializing renders array into editable YAML with some Form API documentation allows MSK’s site builders to build and manage hundreds of forms.

For the past 6+ months, I have been building out and improving this module iteratively, trying to reach feature parity with the Webform module and other online form builders, such as Wufoo and Gravity Forms.

What are you planning on doing with this module?

For now my goal is simply to publish a release candidate. In the long term, I would like the YAML Form module to continue to leverage improvements in Drupal’s core and hopefully become an important must-have contrib module for Drupal 8.

My dream is to convince the Drupal Association to stop using Survey Monkey.

Finally, I need the Drupal community’s help in figuring out how to I can continue to support this module while still paying my bills.

Specific Questions

Is the YAML Form module a replacement for the Drupal’s 7 Webform module?

Originally, the YAML Form module was meant to be a temporary form building solution while the Webform module was ported to Drupal 8. It now seems unlikely that the Webform module will be ported to Drupal 8. Over the past year, the YAML Form module has nearly reached feature parity with the Webform module. So the answer is YES, the YAML Form module can be considered a Drupal 8 replacement for the Webform module.

Learn more about the effort to port Webform to Drupal 8.

If you are interested in migrating from the Webform module for D6/D7 to the YAML Form module, please checkout the YAML Form Migrate module.

What Webform & EntityForm features are currently missing from the YAML Form module?

Form settings

Results

Download

Analytics and reporting will never be included in the main YAML Form module.

Analytics and reporting should be handled by a dedicated module, or by a third party service.

Learn more about the currently missing features.

What are the alternatives to form?

In Drupal 7, and now in Drupal 8, there are two primary approaches to form builder modules: Webform and Entity Form. Webform (and now YAML Form) uses Drupal’s Form API (FAPI) to build forms with an Entity–attribute–value (EAV) table to store submissions. Entity Forms (now EForm and Contact Storage in D8) use Drupal’s Field API to build forms that store submissions in field-specific tables. There are benefits and downsides to both approaches. Since FAPI and EAV are simpler than the Field API, the YAML Form module is able to provide a leaner and faster UI for building forms and managing submissions. On the other hand, using Drupal’s Field API allows submissions to be customized, formatted, and managed using multiple displays and form modes. Drupal’s Field API has full Views integration and extra functionality provided by Field API related to contrib modules.

If you need robust reporting and submission management, you should use an entity based form builder, such as Contact Storage. If you just want to build a form and collect data, the YAML Form module is going to be the simpler solution.

Learn more about the Contact Storage module.

Contributing Questions

How can I help?

I have a lot of experience building and maintaining full applications, so I am reasonably comfortable managing the gestalt of the YAML Form module. My biggest challenge and limitation is writing documentation. Simply put, I am just more productive at writing code.

I do need help with documentation, Views integration, templating, and the front-end user interface.

I also need site builders to test the module, and developers to review the APIs.

Finally, I need your help to spread the word about how much you like the YAML Form module by tweeting and writing blog posts.

Can I donate to your cause?

Right now, I am okay and have steady work with MSKCC. In the long term, I am most likely going to have to ask for donations and sponsorship. My goal for now is to get a stable release out to the Drupal community.

Still, it would seem silly for me not to provide a donate button.

Can I hire you to help my organization implement and/or migrate from D6/D7 to the YAML Form module?

Absolutely, I look forward to helping anyone migrate and adopt the YAML Form module.

Please contact me.

Troubleshooting

How to debug issues with form elements/elements

How to get help fixing issues with the YAML Form module