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Hiding entries from admins so that they're only visible in the front-end view (private journal)

By: Helen M | Asked: 07/22/2024
Forums › Category: How-to › Hiding entries from admins so that they're only visible in the front-end view (private journal)
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Helen M asked 5 months ago
Hello, Apologies I'm very new to formidable forms so I hope my question makes sense... I've created a personal journal form as per this blog post: https://formidableforms.com/wordpress-journal-platform/. This is for a membership site that I've set up and each member will be able to write and edit their own journal entries without anyone else having access to what they've written. It's worked really well and I've tested it with no issues. However I notice that all entries can be found in the back end. I want members to be able to write a completely private journal without admins being able to read what they've written. Is this possible? Or perhaps with encryption there's a way for admins to only see an encrypted version but have the journal entries decrypted in the front-end view so that members can read their own entries? Not sure if there are any other ways around this. Many thanks, Helen
2 Answers
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Rob LeVineRob LeVine answered 5 months ago
That's an interesting question. The only solutions I can think of are done via custom coding, which an admin would have access to. Ultimately the admin has access to the database too, so they could always get the data if they wanted. Maybe it's possible to encrypt the data? Hopefully, someone else with more knowledge about this will pipe in.
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Victor Font answered 5 months ago
Encrypting personal journal entries runs the risk of forever losing the entries because if the encryption cipher key is lost, so is the data. Encryption is done using the PHP OpenSSL library. Encryption/decryption requires a cipher key. Plus you have to choose from one of 145 encryption methods. Normally, there is just one encryption method/cipher key per database, but in a use case like yours, one could argue that encryption responsibility could be placed in the hands of the journal author and managed through a self-service interface. It would cost a few thousand to build I suspect, but if you are aiming to make money with your app, it may be worth the investment as a paid add-on.
Victor Font replied 5 months ago

Anyway, here are a couple of resources for you.

If you are the DIY type, here's an article explaining how to use encryption/decryption with Formidable Forms. https://formidable-masterminds.com/encrypt-decrypt-formidable-form-fields/

This next link is a Formidable add-on created by Jones Web Designs that will handle the job for you. @Walter Jones is a regular contributor here and I'm certain is happy to assist you with application security. He's a data security specialist by training and if you purchase his add-on, he'll be providing your support.

https://formidable-masterminds.com/downloads/ff-encryption/

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