FAQ

Answers to the most frequently asked questions about Forge.

General

Do I need a Salesforce license to use Forge?

Yes. Forge authenticates through Salesforce OAuth and reads/writes Salesforce objects. Every Forge user must have a Salesforce user license and the appropriate Blackthorn permission sets assigned. Users who only need check-in access can use the standalone Volunteer Check-In app, which does not require a personal Salesforce login.

Can I use Forge with a Salesforce sandbox?

Yes. Each Forge deployment is configured to connect to one Salesforce org. Your organization may have a sandbox Forge environment connected to a Salesforce sandbox. Ask your Salesforce Administrator for the sandbox Forge URL.

What browsers does Forge support?

Forge supports the latest two major versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Brave. Internet Explorer is not supported. For the best experience, use Chrome or Brave.

Events and registration

How do I make an event invite-only?

Set Visible to false on the event. The event will not appear in any public listing, but registrants with the direct URL can still register. If you also want to hide the Register button, set Hide_Register_Button__c to true — this requires manual attendee addition by an admin.

Can I set a registration deadline?

Yes. Set the ticket Status to Off Sale on the date you want registration to close. You can schedule this change by editing the ticket and setting a status date. Alternatively, set the event Status to Completed to close all registration.

How does the waitlist work?

When an event or ticket reaches its capacity (Maximum_Attendees__c or conference360__Quantity__c), new registrants are placed on the waitlist and their Attendee status is set to Waitlisted. Forge does not automatically promote waitlisted attendees when a spot opens — you must manually change their status to Registered (or remove the capacity constraint).

Payments

What payment gateways does Forge support?

Forge supports Stripe, Authorize.Net, PayPal, Spreedly, and TouchNet. All gateways are treated as one-time charge endpoints. Recurring payments are handled by Blackthorn's own Payment Schedule infrastructure — not by Stripe Subscriptions or any gateway's native subscription feature.

Can I offer a free event with optional donations?

Yes. Create a free ticket (Free = true) and also create a Donation item (Type = Donation) with a suggested amount. Registrants can add a donation at checkout. Donation items create bt_stripe__Transaction__c records in Salesforce.

How do I process a refund?

Open the attendee's record in the Attendees tab, expand the Transactions section, and click Refund on the transaction you want to refund. Forge will send the refund request to the payment gateway and update the transaction status in Salesforce to Refunded.

Data and Salesforce

Does Forge work with Salesforce flows and triggers?

Yes. Forge writes records through the standard Salesforce API, so all triggers, flows, and process automation that fire on conference360__ objects will execute as expected. This includes record-triggered flows, validation rules, and Apex triggers.

Can I run Salesforce reports on Forge data?

Yes. All Forge data lives in standard and custom Salesforce objects. You can build Salesforce reports and dashboards on conference360__, bt_stripe__, and bt_base__ objects just as you would on any Salesforce data.

Where do form answers go?

Each form element maps to a specific Salesforce field. When a registrant submits the form, the answer is written to that Salesforce field on the mapped object (Contact, Lead, Attendee, or a custom object). Forge never stores form answers in its own database.