Car Dealer – Helper Library

Customizing the Financial Form in the Car Dealer Helper Library

The Car Dealer Helper Library provides a powerful set of tools for car dealerships to streamline their operations, particularly through customizable forms such as the financial form. Customizing these forms can enhance user experience and capture the necessary data specific to your dealership’s needs. This guide walks you through the steps needed to effectively add or remove fields in the financial form, thus allowing you to tailor your customer interactions.

Development

Understanding the Customization Process

When dealing with the Car Dealer Helper Library, one of the standout features is its flexibility through the use of Advanced Custom Fields (ACF). This allows you to adjust form fields according to the specific requirements of your business. Whether you want to collect additional information from customers or simply remove unnecessary fields, the process consists of straightforward steps.

Step 1: Add or Remove Form Fields

To start, you will need to access the ACF field group associated with your financial form. For each form, specific filters are provided that facilitate this process. It’s important to note that not every form will have the same setup—certain forms, like “Email to a Friend”, may not have stored data available for customization.

Accessing the Financial Form Available Filters

The filters are stored in the core files located in your installation directory. For the financial form, you can make adjustments by utilizing a specific filter function, which is detailed below.

php
add_filter('cardealer_acf_financial_form', 'extend_cardealer_acf_financial_form');
function extend_cardealer_acf_financial_form($args){
// Debug This
// Set "$debug_this" true, to display list of fields
// Modify the '$args' array as needed and unset fields you wish to remove
$debug_this = false;
if( $debug_this ){
echo '<pre>';
print_r($args);
echo '</pre>';
exit;
}
return $args;
}

In this snippet, you have the option to enable debug mode to see all the fields originally included in the financial form. By manipulating the $args array, you can customize which fields are retained or removed to fit your dealership’s requirements.

Step 2: Template File Modification

Once you’ve adjusted the fields, the next step is to override the template file that generates the form on your site. This allows you to change how the form appears to your users without altering the core plugin files—insuring any updates to the plugin don’t overwrite your modifications.

To do this, locate the template file for the financial form within your theme’s directory:

plaintext
YOUR_INSTALLATION/wp-content/themes/cardealer/template-parts/cars/single-car/forms/

Copy the financial_form.php file from the directory above and paste it into your child theme while maintaining the same directory structure. Your child theme should look like this:

plaintext
YOUR_INSTALLATION/wp-content/themes/your_child_theme/template-parts/cars/single-car/forms/

Now you can customize the copied file according to your needs. This could mean adjusting the HTML structure, adding unique classes for styling, or injecting additional JavaScript functionalities.

Step 3: Managing Updated Post Fields

After adjusting the template file, it’s crucial to handle the post fields that the updated form will produce. This step involves hooking your new actions to manage how the form’s data is processed once submitted.

To do this wisely, the existing actions responsible for the original post fields need to be removed first. You can locate these actions in the plugin’s files associated with dealer forms, just as before. For the financial form, you can employ this code in your child theme’s functions.php file:

“`php
remove_action(‘wp_ajax_financial_form_action’, ‘cdhl_financial_form_action’);
remove_action(‘wp_ajax_nopriv_financial_form_action’, ‘cdhl_financial_form_action’);
add_action(‘wp_ajax_financial_form_action’, ‘cardealer_child_financial_form_action’);
add_action(‘wp_ajax_nopriv_financial_form_action’, ‘cardealer_child_financial_form_action’);

function cardealer_child_financial_form_action() {
// Logic to process updated post fields goes here
}
“`

The above PHP snippet effectively removes the default handler and replaces it with your custom function, cardealer_child_financial_form_action. Within this function, you will implement the logic necessary to handle the data posted from the modified financial form.

Enhancements for Better User Experience

When considering the design and functionality of your financial form, contemplate the end-user experience. A well-designed form can significantly impact customer satisfaction and conversion rates. Here are a few pointers to consider:

• Keep it Simple: Avoid overwhelming users with too many fields. Focus on the critical information that truly aids the financing process.
• Field Validation: Ensure each field has the appropriate validation. For instance, if a field requires a number, adding real-time validation can prevent user errors.
• Logical Flow: Arrange the fields in a logical order that makes sense to the user. This could mean placing personal information first, followed by financial data.
• Responsive Design: Make sure the form is mobile-friendly, as a significant amount of traffic comes from mobile devices.

Testing Your Changes

After implementing the changes to your financial form, thorough testing is essential. Test the form functionality across various devices and browsers to ensure compatibility and usability. Pay close attention to:

• Data Submission: Confirm that all the data submitted is captured as expected in the database.
• Error Handling: Test how the form responds to incorrect or incomplete inputs.
• User Notifications: Ensure users receive appropriate messages upon form submission, whether they are successes or failures.

Using dedicated test accounts while logging the process can provide insights into any hiccups that customers may experience.

Real-life Examples of Customizations

Many dealerships recognize the benefits of customizing their forms. For instance:

• A dealership might decide to add a field for “Preferred Contact Method” that allows customers to select how they’d like to be contacted—via email, phone, or text. This personalization can foster better customer relationships.
• Added value through an “Additional Notes” field can permit users to provide insights, such as specific financial concerns or questions related to their credit score. This extra touch can lead to a more tailored customer engagement.

In these scenarios, customizing the financial form plays a crucial role in enhancing user interaction and satisfaction.

Conclusion

Harnessing the capabilities of the Car Dealer Helper Library to customize the financial form enables dealerships to gather vital information effectively and improves the customer experience. Through careful modification of ACF fields and template files, along with managing updated post fields, dealerships can create a bespoke form that reflects their specific needs and caters to their unique clientele.

By focusing on user experience attributes such as simplicity, validation, logical flow, and responsive design, dealerships can transform a standard financial form into a powerful tool that drives engagement and supports their sales goals. Remember, every detail, from the fields presented to the design, contributes profoundly to how customers perceive and interact with your dealership.