Skip to main content

Search

Welcome to Support

How to test your registration before opening it

Your website has no test mode, so try a new program while it's still hidden: preview its pages on 3 Preview, register a test participant yourself with Place Order, and use a private Program Access link to go through the family's own registration and checkout. Cancel the test registrations when you're done.

Applies to: Admins · All plans · All registration program types (private links: every type except Youth Camp Registration)

Where: Programs > Manage Programs > (program) > 3 Preview; Customers > Account Management > Search > (account) > Place Order; the program's 2 Configuration > Program Access

Before you start

  • Keep the program hidden. A new program starts hidden, with a red eye icon on Programs > Manage Programs, and families can't see or register for a hidden program.
  • Anything you register is real. It's an accepted registration that takes a spot under Max # of Enrollments and appears in your reports, and a card payment is a real charge.
  • Use a family account that you keep for testing, with an email address you can read. You can add one with Add Account on Customers > Account Management > Search, or create it on your website as a family would.

Option 1: Preview the pages

Nothing is saved, and you don't need an account.

  1. Go to Programs > Manage Programs and click the program's name.
  2. Click 3 Preview (3a Team Preview or 3b Roster Preview in Team Registration plus Roster programs).
  3. In Preview Of, choose 1. Program on Home Page to check the description, dates and costs.
  4. Choose 3. Enrollment Page, then choose the enrollment type, the offering (and the session, for a camp) and Returning or New, and click Preview.
  5. Repeat step 4 for each offering and enrollment type that asks different questions.

What you'll see: the registration page for that choice, with its enrollment fields and the other sections families fill in, such as add-ons. 2. Register to Cart Pages and 4. Enrollment Image Page show sample pictures of those steps, not your program. The preview doesn't check age, grade or capacity rules and doesn't go to checkout.

Option 2: Register a test participant with Place Order

Place Order lists every program that isn't archived, including hidden programs and ones whose registration hasn't opened, so you can fill in the real enrollment pages before families can.

  1. Go to Customers > Account Management > Search, find your test account and click the account holder's name.
  2. Click Place Order, then Add Enrollment.
  3. Choose the Enrollee, Enrollment Type, Program and Offering, and click Add.
  4. Click Checkout and complete each enrollment page as a family would. Required enrollment fields have to be answered here too.
  5. In Payment Method, choose Other and enter 0 in Amount Paid, so no money is taken.
  6. Click Place Order.

What you'll see: "Customer order completed." The registration is on the test account's Enrollments page, and its fee shows as a balance until you cancel it.

Place Order doesn't show everything a family sees: age, grade, gender, capacity and boundary rules only warn you, and you can skip required add-ons, the photo and the terms. Use Option 3 to check those.

Option 3: Register through a private link

A Program Access link lets whoever has it register in a hidden program, so you can go through the cart and checkout as a family while the public still can't see the program.

  1. Keep the program hidden (red eye icon).
  2. On the program's 2 Configuration page, click the Edit icon (pencil) on the offering you'll test and write down its dates.
  3. Set Reg. Duration Starts (or Early Reg. Duration Starts, if it has an early period) to the current hour or earlier, and click Save. In a Tiered Pricing program, set the first Start Date under Registration Pricing Tiers on 1 Setup instead.
  4. In the Program Access section of 2 Configuration, click Add Access, type a name such as Test in Access Code, and click Add.
  5. Optional, to check out without a real charge: in the Coupons section, add a coupon for 100% off that offering with one Single Use Code (see How to Create a Program Specific Coupon).
  6. Email the link to your test account's address from Communications > Send Communication, using Links > Program Access in the message editor.
  7. In a private or incognito browser window, sign in to your website with the test account and open the link. The registration cart opens with your program selected.
  8. Register the participant and go through each page to checkout, as a family would.
  9. At checkout, enter the coupon code under Have a Coupon Code? and click Apply. When the order total is $0, checkout skips the payment step. Without a coupon, pay with a card and refund it when you cancel.

When you're done

  1. Cancel each test registration: on the test account's Enrollments page, click the Edit Enrollment icon (pencil), then the Cancel tab, and click Confirm Cancellation. If you paid with a card, choose how to refund it as the cancel article explains.
  2. Check that the test account's balance on Account Overview is $0.
  3. Delete the test access code (its red X in Program Access) and the test coupon.
  4. Set each offering's registration dates back to the real ones.
  5. When you're ready, click the program's red eye icon on Programs > Manage Programs so it turns green.

If an offering's registration has already started when you turn the eye green, families can register right away.

If it doesn't work

  • "Program is not open for registration." when you open the link. No offering's registration has started yet (step 3 of Option 3), or the Program Duration on 1 Setup has ended.
  • "Program access code is not valid." The access code was deleted. Add a new one and send its link.
  • "Please sign in or create a new account to access the registration page." Sign in with the test account, then open the link again.
  • "There are no available offerings to enroll in for the enrollment type and program selected." The offering's registration hasn't started, it's full, or the test participant doesn't fit its age, grade or gender rules. See Why can't a family register? Fixing "no available offerings" and eligibility errors.
  • The payment step still shows after the coupon. The order total isn't $0: a registration coupon doesn't discount add-ons or other items in the cart.
  • There's no Coupons section on 2 Configuration. Tiered Pricing programs can't use coupons. Test the checkout there with a card payment you refund, or use Place Order.
  • There's no Program Access section. Youth Camp Registration programs don't have one, and your admin role needs the Program Access permission. For a camp, use Options 1 and 2.
  • "Enrollment Type field required.", "Offering field required." or "Session field required." on 3 Preview. Choose each one before you click Preview.
  • 3 Preview offers only General in a Youth & Adult Registration program. Use Option 2 or 3 to see a youth participant's page.

Good to know

  • A canceled registration doesn't count toward Max # of Enrollments, and an offering whose only registrations were canceled can still be deleted.
  • Making the program visible for a few minutes also works, but anyone who visits your website then can register.
  • Refund Credit Card is offered on the Cancel tab only once an order is 24 hours old.

Related articles