Using ContestPad categories is a great way to create multiple contests that have different categories of entries. For example you may want to create categories based on age, genre, location, entry type, etc.

Categories also allow entries to be grouped and filtered so that participants can view, vote and judge entries by entry category.

Categories can also be 2-levels deep. That means you can split your parent category into sub-categories. Note that entries cannot be assigned to a parent category directly if it contains sub-categories.

Parent Categories also allow for different entry fields to be displayed based on entry forms. This means you can collect different information based on the category of the entry.

To setup categories go to the Categories tab in the contest area.

To create a new category select the “Create a new Category” button.

The category settings form will then be displayed.

Enter the name of the category under the “Title” tag.

To enable the category change the Status to “ON”. This will make the category selectable from the submission form and will also display any entries that have been categorised under the created category.

If this is to be a parent category then set the "Select Parent Category" to None.

If this category is to be a sub-category for a parent category select the parent category of this sub-category.

When you select the parent category then this category will be placed as a sub-category for the parent category you selected.

Note that once a sub-category is assigned to a parent category the parent cannot have entries assigned directly to it and an error will be displayed if the parent category already has entries assigned to it.

If the multiple forms exist you can select a specific form to be used for the specific entry category. This option is only available to parent categories.

You can also select if the category is to be selected by default. Only one category can be selected as the default category.

To display the entries under any given category select the “Entries” button again the specific category you would like to view.

The entries list will then display the entries for that specific category.

You can also view the entries for specific categories under the standard entries listing table.

Be sure to select the “Categories” or "Parent Categories" column using the column selector. The category name will then display under the categories column for each entry.

You can delete categories however the system will not allow you to delete categories if entries are assigned to a specific category.

To delete a category select the delete button for the specific category.

Before deleting a category the system will ask if you are sure.

Select “Delete” to confirm.

If entries exist under the category the system will not allow the category to be deleted.

You must reassign the entries from this category before you can delete it. If you want to hide the entries from this category simply set the status of the category to “OFF”.

When categories are created the system will automatically add the category selection option to the contest submission page.

If a form is assigned to a specific category then the form will dynamically change when the category is selected. 

The entry will then be categorised against the selected category.