The {user} and {created_by} Merge Tag

The {created_by} Merge Tag allows you to display details of the entry creator. It supports all the functionality of the Gravity Forms and uses the same structure as the {user} Merge Tag documented on the Gravity Forms website.

Difference between {user} and {created_by}

The {user} merge tag displays information about the currently logged-in user.

The {created_by} displays information about the entry creator, if there is one*. 

*The user must be logged in when submitting the entry ( read more about that here). If the user was not logged in when creating the entry, the  {created_by} Merge Tag will be empty. You can wrap the {created_by} Merge Tag with a [gvlogic] shortcode to check for its existence.

Usage

All the Merge Tag modifiers below also work with the {user} Merge Tag. Example: {user:user_email}.

• {created_by:ID} - Displays the user ID of the entry creator
• {created_by:display_name} - Displays the Display Name of the submitting user.
• {created_by:first_name} or {created_by:last_name} - The first and last name of the entry creator.
• {created_by:user_email} - Displays the email of the submitting user.
• {created_by:user_login} - Displays the user login of the submitting user. {user:user_login}
• {created_by:[meta_key]} - This merge tag can display any user meta (including custom user meta). Replace [meta_key] with the name of the user meta, example: {created_by:company_name}. 

Use this plugin to create and display custom user meta: Extra User Details.

Example

You can add this code to a Custom Content field to link to the entry creator's User Profile page in the WordPress Dashboard:

[gvlogic if="{created_by}" isnot=""]
       <a href="/wp-admin/user-edit.php?user_id={created_by:ID}">Link to Profile</a>
[/gvlogic]