Post comments in WordPress allow visitors to engage with content by leaving feedback, asking questions, or sharing their thoughts directly on a post. Comments enhance user interaction, build community, and can contribute to SEO by keeping content fresh and engaging. Each comment typically includes the author’s name, email, and message, and can be moderated by administrators to prevent spam or inappropriate content.
The Comment Management add-on allows you to add comments to posts. The add-on comes with sample form templates to get you started.
Installation
The Comment Management plugin is installed in the same way as installing the WS Form PRO plugin.
Once installed you will need to activate the license for the plugin. When you purchase the Comment Management plugin, you will be given a license key. If you have lost your license key(s), click here.
To activate your license key:
- Click WS Form in the WordPress administration menu.
- Click Settings.
- Click the Comment Management tab at the top of the page.
- Enter your license key.
- Click the Activate button.
If your license key fails to activate, please ensure you are using the correct license key and not your WS Form PRO license key.
Creating a Form for Comment Management
Automatically
To automatically create a Comment Management form in WS Form:
- Click WS Form in the WordPress administration menu.
- Click Add New.
- Select the Comment Management tab at the top of the page.
- Click on a form template.
- Wait a few moments while the form is created.
That’s it! Your form will be created and is ready to add to your website.
You should add forms that include the Comment Management action to pages on your website that contain a post, such as a blog article.
Manually
It is also possible to use any form created in WS Form and add an action so that it is submitted as a post comment.
To add a Comment Management action:
- When editing your form, click the Actions icon at the top of the page. The Actions sidebar will open on the right-hand side of the page.
- Click the Add icon to add a new action.
- Select Comment Management from the Action pulldown. A series of settings will appear.
As with all sidebars in WS Form, click on the Save button at the bottom to save your changes, or click Cancel to disregard your changes.
The Comment Management action settings are as follows:
When Should This Action Run?
You can choose to run the Comment Management action when the form is saved, submitted, or both.
Post ID
If this field is left blank, the form will use the post ID of the page it’s on. Alternatively, you can enter a specific post ID here if needed. WS Form variables can be used in this field.
Field Mapping
Field mapping tells WS Form which of your form fields relate to the corresponding fields in Comment Management. For example you would want to map the Comment field on your form to the WordPress Comment field.
Tip: At minimum, you should map the Comment field. If a user is logged in, the Name and Email field mappings are not required. WS Form will automatically set those to the currently logged in user.
To map a field:
- Click the Add icon at the bottom right of the field mapping section.
- In the left-hand column, select your Form Field.
- In the right-hand column, select the corresponding Comment Field.
- Repeat this process for each field on your form.
- Click the Save button at the bottom of the sidebar to save your changes.
Approved
If this setting is checked, new comments will automatically set as Approved and will appear on your website immediately.
If this setting is not checked, new comments will be set as Pending. The comment will need to be moderated prior to it being shown on your website.
Meta
WordPress comment metadata allows developers to store additional information about comments using the commentmeta
table. Each comment can have multiple meta fields that store structured data beyond the default fields like author, email, and content.
To add a meta mapping:
- Click the Add icon at the bottom right of the meta section.
- In the left-hand column, enter the Meta Key.
- In the right-hand column, enter the Meta Value. WS Form variables can be used in this setting.
- Repeat this process for each meta mapping.
- Click the Save button at the bottom of the sidebar to save your changes.
Type
Optionally enter a comment type. Leave this blank for normal post comments.
Remote IP and Agent Tracking
WordPress comments support storing the user’s remote IP and agent.
To enable this feature you first need to enable remote IP and/or agent tracking.
- Click the Form Settings icon at the top of the layout editor.
- Click on the Tracking tab.
- Check the Remote IP and/or Agent settings.
- Click Save & Close.