SuperFAQ block and database templates for Invision Community 5

SuperFAQ (light) is block template for the Pages app in Invision Community 5. It allows you to show content from a Pages database in a convenient way and without the need for users to go through the various database views (category view, listing view, record view). Instead, all titles are shown and users just click on the title to show the record content text. A common usage would be a FAQ section, but it can work for many other situations as well. 

SuperFAQ (light) can be downloaded for free by registered members of this website.

SuperFAQ (light) is a simple and robust solution that doesn’t need any additional CSS or JavaScript. Everything is inherited from the core framework of Invision Community.

1. Login in and download the block template as XML file

2. Open your ACP and go to the Pages → Templates

3. Upload the XML as new template

4. Create a Pages database (if you don’t already have one to be used with this block template)

5. Create records in the database using the stock fields “title” and “content”

6. Create a Pages block with the type “feed block” and choose the database which you created in step 4.

7. While setting up the block, choose “SuperFAQ” as template for the block.

8. Open the block manager on the front end and drag the “Custom Block” from the Pages section onto the page. Select the block you created under step 6. 

9. If necessary, repeat steps 6 to 8 to have multiple FAQ blocks

SuperFAQ (light) doesn’t come with any settings. The colors are inherited from the active theme and it works both in light and dark mode.

Both the light and premium templates of SuperFAQ show at least the title and the body field of your Pages records.

Anything that can be put in your record, can show. Text, images, videos, tables and so on. But the intended use is to show questions and answers, e.g. one or two paragraphs of text per FAQ answer. Loading many long and complex articles on one page might not work well.

Yes, you can add as many SuperFAQ blocks to a page as you like. The template works both in the main column and in the sidebar. 

A simple way to create multiple FAQ sections is to use database categories. So, all records are stored in one database, but you create separate blocks, which only show records from certain categories. That’s how this page here was created. 

Since the database is only used for storing the FAQ entries, you can probably hide it from view. To do that, simply remove the access permission for the page the database is placed on. You might want to only keep the access for your admin group. 

Then in the block settings, make sure “Honor Permissions” is turned off. Otherwise your visitors or members wouldn’t be able to see the FAQ blocks. 

You can install these templates on all websites you own or which you are directly in charge of. 

You cannot pass this template on to others though. Everyone who wants to use it, needs to register here on the website. 

The ordering is set up in the block settings. You can choose an ordering field and whether the order should be ascending or descending. There is no drag-and-drop ordering for Pages records. 

If the default ordering options aren’t sufficient, you might need to create ordering options yourself. For example, on this page, the ordering field is the title and all titles start with a number. You could also create a hidden ordering field as custom field which would do the same.