Title: Using the Plugin a Little Differently Last modified: August 22, 2016 --- # Using the Plugin a Little Differently * [samantha1717](https://wordpress.org/support/users/samantha1717/) * (@samantha1717) * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/using-the-plugin-a-little-differently/) * Hi. I am trying to create a database of information that “registered users” ( not necessarily my WP users) can add to. Want this to compile data, not overide previous entries. I want them to be registered so we can sort and see patterns of unique users (hours of exercise/pounds lost type thing). I am running into trouble because the “record” form does not show unless you have successfully logged in. It would be great if people could view the form, but only type into it once they have validated their id. Can you recommend the best way to do this? Really, the ultimate thing would be to skip the signup altogether, and force some sort of validation right on the “record” form so we know that the submission is coming from a user we already have data for. I don’t need to email them. * Thanks! * [https://wordpress.org/plugins/participants-database/](https://wordpress.org/plugins/participants-database/) Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total) * Plugin Author [xnau webdesign](https://wordpress.org/support/users/xnau/) * (@xnau) * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/using-the-plugin-a-little-differently/#post-5221283) * Well, logins are the best way to verify who the user is, any other method will be insecure. If your don’t need much security, you could ask them to provide something unique and hard to guess like a phone number or email. * I recommend you obtain the services of a WordPress developer to set this up. * Thread Starter [samantha1717](https://wordpress.org/support/users/samantha1717/) * (@samantha1717) * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/using-the-plugin-a-little-differently/#post-5221308) * I came up with an idea that might work. I set the signup thank you message to appear right on the signup page. In the message, I specified that the private link be displayed. The user can just click that link to access the form. For this to work, the signup must also be able to function as a sign in. Is that possible? I think this is really what I am struggling with…that the signup will work both as a sign up and as a sign in if the user has already joined us. * Thank you! * Plugin Author [xnau webdesign](https://wordpress.org/support/users/xnau/) * (@xnau) * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/using-the-plugin-a-little-differently/#post-5221418) * Well, that’s an interesting idea…possible, but it would be a bit tricky to implement. Definitely something you’ll need a developer to help you with. * [DeBAAT](https://wordpress.org/support/users/debaat/) * (@debaat) * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/using-the-plugin-a-little-differently/#post-5221530) * Maybe another idea would be to have the first page be the signin page and have the thank you page be the same as the one where the participant can edit the fields of his/her record? The signin page then only registered the required fields for registation. The update record page shows all other fields you would like to have filled. The only issue here is that a new entry might override an existing entry. * Thread Starter [samantha1717](https://wordpress.org/support/users/samantha1717/) * (@samantha1717) * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/using-the-plugin-a-little-differently/#post-5221532) * I believe I tried that method and the new entry did override the existing entry. Thank you for brainstorming for me though! * [DeBAAT](https://wordpress.org/support/users/debaat/) * (@debaat) * [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/using-the-plugin-a-little-differently/#post-5221534) * If you’re not afraid of programming, you could use the “pdb-after_submit_update” hook. According to the documentation, this is fired when the user submits an update of his/her record. At that time, you could make a copy of the record to a new record, optionally with an additional field to store the date/time of the action. This solution might have the advantage that the ‘original’ data is preserved and thus helps to minimize the time needed to fill in the form again. Although, this might also be a disadvantage 😉 Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total) The topic ‘Using the Plugin a Little Differently’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/participants-database/assets/icon-256x256.jpg?rev=1389807) * [Participants Database](https://wordpress.org/plugins/participants-database/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/participants-database/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/participants-database/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/participants-database/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/participants-database/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/participants-database/reviews/) * 6 replies * 3 participants * Last reply from: [DeBAAT](https://wordpress.org/support/users/debaat/) * Last activity: [11 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/using-the-plugin-a-little-differently/#post-5221534) * Status: not resolved