WPForms Webhooks

A webhook can report success and lose the data

You connect the form to your CRM. Someone submits it, WPForms saves the entry, the API answers 200 and the contact shows up with no phone number. Your key was called phone and the API expected phone_number. Nobody gets an error: the API accepted the request and ignored what it did not recognize.

Removing the connector in the middle frees you from its fees, and also from whoever translated your fields into the destination's language: that work becomes yours.

WPForms Webhooks is the WPForms add-on that sends a form's data to external URLs, CRMs and other tools on submission, with no limit on monthly transfers. It pays off when you have the destination API's documentation in front of you.

What you configure in each webhook

• Method: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH or DELETE.
• Format: JSON or FORM.
• Secret: generates a hash per request, included in the header, to verify the origin. It is meant for those integrating with their own API.
• Headers and body: key and value pairs, which can take form fields or Smart Tags.
• Conditional logic: fires the webhook only based on the answers, for example when a message contains "Help".

How to read failures and which format details cause them

The code the API returns usually points to the problem:

• 401 or 403: authentication. A wrong or expired key, or the wrong header name.
• 404: the URL. A typo, a missing version segment or a trailing slash.
• 400 or 422: the API rejected the contents, often because of a missing required parameter or an unparseable date.
• 200 with no data: the keys do not match, the case from the opening.

To see those responses, enable logging under WPForms, Tools, Logs, with the Providers and Errors types. Turn it off afterwards, because those entries can hold data you do not want sitting on the server.

If a webhook fails, the entry and notifications go ahead, because it is a separate request. For a critical process, also monitor the receiving side.

Multiple values are joined. Checkboxes, multi-selects and addresses are sent separated by two vertical bars (||). If the API expects a list, you will have to split that string server-side.

Numbers travel as text. By default, values are sent as strings. Sending them as numbers takes a code snippet.

The API key can be kept in a hidden field. A Hidden Field lets you fill it into the headers, and anyone with builder access can read it. Use narrowly scoped keys.

One event only: the form submission

The event is the form submission. Its features do not include receiving external data or multi-step chains.

It is not always the easy route. For Slack there is a dedicated WPForms add-on, and sending several fields by webhook takes development work. If a direct integration with your service exists, compare it first.

Requirements and a first test webhook

You need WPForms installed and active, on its latest version, and a destination that accepts requests. To get started:

1. Open the form in the builder and go to Settings, Webhooks.
2. Turn on Enable Webhooks and give it a name.
3. Paste the URL and choose the method and format.
4. Copy the key names from the API documentation, respecting capitals and underscores.
5. Assign each key its form field and save.
6. Submit the form and check at the destination that each field arrived, not just the record.

Other routes for getting data out of WordPress

WPForms is the builder it runs on. WP Webhooks Pro sends HTTP requests when something happens on the site, receives actions from outside and chains steps into flows, exactly what this add-on leaves out.

AutomatorWP Webhooks does something similar inside AutomatorWP, sending and receiving data with compatible services.

Questions when connecting a form to an API

Do I need to know how to code?

Not for the basics, although some technical knowledge helps. Converting numbers or adding the entry ID does take code.

Is the entry lost if the webhook fails?

No. The entry and notifications complete anyway.

Can I fire the webhook only in certain cases?

Yes, with each webhook's conditional logic.