simpleContact Support Forums

simpleContact Support Forums » Recent Posts http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ simpleContact Support Forums » Recent Posts en-US Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:19:36 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/search.php Alex on "simpleContact Pro beta testers wanted for future versions" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/simplecontact-pro-beta-testers-wanted-for-future-versions#post-320 Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:13:56 +0000 Alex 320@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ If you'd like to help support the future development of simpleContact Pro (and be among the first people to get updates and new features), then please <a href="/contact">contact me</a> to join my group of beta testers. There are only two requirements: 1) You must be a simpleContact Pro license holder (single domain or developer). 2) You understand that beta builds are likely to have bugs and accept full responsibility for any consequences of using a beta build on a live website. I'll even offer a little incentive :) If you become a beta tester and help to identify a problem with a beta build, I will upgrade your license to developer status. Alex on "UTF-8 Support" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/utf-8-support#post-319 Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:03:13 +0000 Alex 319@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Hi Erik, I'll be starting work soon on a maintenance update – version 2.01 – which will include inbox CSV export and some other additions. After that, I'll be working towards version 2.1 which I plan to include UTF-8 support for non-Latin languages. I can't give a certain release date for 2.1 yet, but I'll aim for 2-3 months from now. In the meantime, if you'd like to help me beta test that version before I release it please <a href="/contact">contact me</a> and I'll start sending beta builds of 2.1 through as soon as I have one. Alex on "passing variables into form" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/passing-variables-into-form#post-318 Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:47:26 +0000 Alex 318@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ The ability to pass values into the form using a query string isn't present in simpleContact Pro 2.0, but it should be a fairly straightforward matter to write a hack that could achieve that. The easiest way would be to do it with JavaScript. I'll give it some thought over the next few days and post in this forum when I have a suggestion. Erik on "UTF-8 Support" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/utf-8-support#post-317 Sat, 04 Sep 2010 05:07:26 +0000 Erik 317@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Hello I just bought simpleContact pro Developer license couple days ago. But I've found that it didnt support UTF-8 encode. User can't submit their data within Chinese, any solutions now? Thanks. capellt on "passing variables into form" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/passing-variables-into-form#post-316 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:25:35 +0000 capellt 316@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Hi Guys, I'm trying to pass values from a URL into the form. I thought it was something like this <a href="http://www.mytestingdomain123.com/contact/contact.php?name_first=John&name_last=Doe" rel="nofollow">http://www.mytestingdomain123.com/contact/contact.php?name_first=John&name_last=Doe</a> Alex on "Solution for Outlook stripping line breaks from plain text notification emails" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/solution-for-outlook-stripping-line-breaks-from-plain-text-notification-emails#post-315 Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:05:09 +0000 Alex 315@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Users of Microsoft Outlook may have observed that some line breaks are stripped from the emails they receive when someone submits their contact form. This is because (for reasons known best to themselves) Microsoft provides a default setting in Outlook that strips line breaks in plain text emails. The resulting effect will vary based on the content of your email. Microsoft recommend a few solutions, but only two are relevant if you have a version later than 2003: 1) Disable the feature that removes extra line breaks 2) Send the email in HTML format Considering that the email is a simple notification, it seems more reasonable to simply disable the feature. In Outlook 2010 the path to the setting is as follows: File > Options > Mail > Message Format > Remove Extra Line Breaks In Plain Text Messages Uncheck the box and line breaks should no longer be stripped. Please note that if you are using another version this path may be a little different. Thanks to forum member <a href="/forums/profile/emartin">emartin</a> for helping to identify this issue. Reference: <a href="http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum88/10262.htm">How do you hack mail() to get around Outlook's removal of line breaks (webmasterworld.com)</a> <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q287816">Line breaks are removed in posts made in plain text format in Outlook (Microsoft Support)</a> Alex on "Transfered to a new server... lost my old database." http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/transfered-to-a-new-server-lost-my-old-database#post-314 Thu, 26 Aug 2010 08:30:28 +0000 Alex 314@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ I did a test of your form and everything seemed to be working. Have you resolved it? Please pardon any misunderstanding: Are you saying you had columns in your form page's layout? Any layout elements you added with HTML snippets in the form builder will need to be added again because they were stored in your database. Stonebridge Landscaping on "Transfered to a new server... lost my old database." http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/transfered-to-a-new-server-lost-my-old-database#post-313 Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:29:49 +0000 Stonebridge Landscaping 313@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ I don't have access to my old database, which is the problem. I copied the files for my website and created a new database, as well as changed the name of the database in my config file. I am getting an error which I assume is because the database is blank. <a href="http://www.stonebridgelandscaping.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=118&Itemid=173" rel="nofollow">http://www.stonebridgelandscaping.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=118&Itemid=173</a> I liked the setup I had before, which included columns. Is there any way to get SC to rebuild the database with my existing setup, minus the actual data of coruse, without a clean install?? Thanks for the help. Alex on "Transfered to a new server... lost my old database." http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/transfered-to-a-new-server-lost-my-old-database#post-312 Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:48:03 +0000 Alex 312@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ If you still have access to your old database, you could export your tables and import them on your new host. This would restore your settings, messages and mailing list. If not, you can do a clean install of your database tables on your new server. Just edit your configuration file to use the new database. If you've copied your website files over, then everything else should be as it was. If you're having problems, please <a href="/contact">contact me</a>. I can take a look for you. Stonebridge Landscaping on "Transfered to a new server... lost my old database." http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/transfered-to-a-new-server-lost-my-old-database#post-311 Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:24:22 +0000 Stonebridge Landscaping 311@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ I transfered my website to a new server. I forgot to bring over my SC database, which is fine, but I can not get it to set up new tables. I have created a new database on the new server. Can I reset SC to rebuild the tables in the new database without a fresh install (and loosing my setup)? Thanks! Alex on "On Send - /contact.php was not found" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/on-send-contactphp-was-not-found#post-310 Mon, 16 Aug 2010 20:37:23 +0000 Alex 310@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ No problem :) To clarify things, the containing "simplecontact_pro" folder is just to make things clear and tidy when you unzip the application download. You only need to upload the sc_admin folder and any of the sample files you want to work with. The links in the sample form pages are relative. By default, they assume that the sc_admin folder is in the same folder level of your website as the forms that link to scripts inside it. This is often the root of a website. You can put a form page anywhere in your site you want, as long as you ensure that the link paths are correct. emartin on "On Send - /contact.php was not found" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/on-send-contactphp-was-not-found#post-309 Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:49:16 +0000 emartin 309@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Thank you. Alex PM'd me with a quick fix. Not quite a simple fix but one that I won't make again. In short he told me - "You don't need the containing "simplecontact_pro" folder". Aaah .. I took the whole darn folder and dropped it down. Too simple .. ripped it out and popped in the everything except the Readme file. Redid the links and .. voila .. no problem. Thanks! emartin on "On Send - /contact.php was not found" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/on-send-contactphp-was-not-found#post-308 Sat, 14 Aug 2010 22:43:38 +0000 emartin 308@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ OK .. creating the database was a breeze (everything seems to be there and entered in the script), setting up the form variables was no problem. I want to embed the form within the site's index.php. No problem right? The notes say to change the two includes lines and I get PHP PATH errors. No worries .. I do a fullpath call (the note does mention to make sure the correct path is pasted) and voila .. the form comes up. It is picking up my .css and my hopes are high. Except when I hit SEND, "The requested URL /contact.php was not found on this server." Hmmm ... that's not right. However, when I run contact.php on it's own it works just fine. I have tried working through quite a few iterations .. maybe it's another file I am missing? I am guessing I am overthinking this. Can anyone help? Thank you. Alex on "Sloppy words cleaner" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/sloppy-words-cleaner#post-307 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:00:28 +0000 Alex 307@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Try this: Open sc_admin/include/contact.php To convert a submitted name to proper case, replace lines 150 and 151 with: <code>$name_first = ucwords(strtolower($posted["name_first"]));</code> <code>$name_last = ucwords(strtolower($posted["name_last"]));</code> After line 153, add a line of code for each of the other fields you want to convert to proper case. For example, with a field called obj_5, you would write: <code>$posted["obj_5"] = ucwords(strtolower($posted["obj_5"]));</code> Please note, this code is only intended to be used with single line text fields or multi line text boxes. Menus, check box sets and radio button sets are specified by you, so users can only select from the options you provide. In fact, check box sets would error with this code, because they return an array. janderson on "Add reCAPTCHA support (Lite)" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/add-recaptcha-support-lite#post-306 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:05:08 +0000 janderson 306@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Works perfectly!!! Thanks Alex Alex on "Add reCAPTCHA support (Lite)" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/add-recaptcha-support-lite#post-305 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 19:15:04 +0000 Alex 305@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ I've updated the post and the demo. You should find that it works as expected now :) The correction was to the last chunk of code in step 2. janderson on "Add reCAPTCHA support (Lite)" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/add-recaptcha-support-lite#post-304 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 20:29:21 +0000 janderson 304@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Thanks, I will be waiting for it, please post here to let me know it has been updated. Alex on "Add reCAPTCHA support (Lite)" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/add-recaptcha-support-lite#post-303 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:27:12 +0000 Alex 303@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Thanks for pointing this out. Reading the tutorial over, I think I know what I have missed out. I'll correct the tutorial and demo as soon as possible, and incorporate the correction into the original post. janderson on "Add reCAPTCHA support (Lite)" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/add-recaptcha-support-lite#post-302 Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:44:15 +0000 janderson 302@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ I have done as you say above, I see the recaptcha. But it does not matter if I add the correct/incorrect/ or no info in recaptcha box it always lets it through with a thank you. Your demo does the same thing as well? Alex on "Sloppy words cleaner" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/sloppy-words-cleaner#post-301 Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:32:12 +0000 Alex 301@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Thanks for your suggestion. I think this is something I'll visit and revisit over time. For my part, I have to try to make choices that suit all users as well as I can. For example: because a field is based on its type (e.g. long single line field) and only "Address line 1" because it has been labelled so it wouldn't be appropriate for me to assume that type of field should always transformed to proper case. The only fields that it would be reasonable to process in this way by default are the first name and last name fields, because they are predefined for that purpose. Even then, a name like "Ronald McDonald" would be transformed to "Ronald Mcdonald" - which would be wrong from the user's point of view. You could try and anticipate every exception, but the result would be a series of hacks in the form processor. I'll have a think about the best way to do a conversion post-submission, and post it here. You can then choose to implement it on a field-by-field basis. That seems the best way. mrwebdomain on "Sloppy words cleaner" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/sloppy-words-cleaner#post-300 Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:10:27 +0000 mrwebdomain 300@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Hello Alex, Thank you for your reply. It's not really a big deal, but it would be cleaner looking in the database as well as the csv export if the names and addresses were all formatted the same. When an exported list is imported to a mailer for instace, the names will be exactly as the user typed them, which may look like john doe or JOHN DOE, or worse: jOHN dOE if they didn't realize they had cap locks on, but intended to type John Doe. It would really be great if the words would clean (correct themselves) while being typed. I've seen that somewhere, but cannot remember where. But just getting them cleaned up upon submission would be good enough. For the database, Instead of: john doe 123 any st newark, nj or JOHN DOE 123 ANY ST NEWARK, NJ to have a cleaner format: John Doe 123 Any St Newark, NJ Take a look at this, it may give you some ideas. <a href="http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/5550" rel="nofollow">http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/5550</a> I use it on all oscommerce sites that I develope and it works great, but I wouldn't begin to know how to incorporate it into scpro. Thanks, Hal Alex on "Check out the new Facebook page!" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/check-out-the-new-facebook-page#post-299 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:58:41 +0000 Alex 299@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ I've started a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/simpleContact/138775059474105">Facebook page for simpleContact</a>, to help promote and support the application. I've also started a monthly competition for fans of the page, to win a copy of simpleContact Pro. Join up, and tell me what you think! Alex on "Sloppy words cleaner" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/sloppy-words-cleaner#post-298 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:17:54 +0000 Alex 298@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ simpleContact Pro does do a bit of data cleaning when a user submits the form. For example, a URL field entry will be prepended with <code>http://</code> (so that it can be made into a working link) if the user neglected to enter it. There isn't a built-in function for the sort of capitalisation you mentioned, because it would be risky for me to assume what a user meant to type. However, PHP provides a function called <a href="http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.ucwords.php">ucwords</a> that can be used to provide the effect you want. For example... <code>$formatted_string = ucwords(strtolower($string));</code> ... Would transform a string to all lower case (to iron out any mix of upper and lower case), before setting the first letter of each word in the string to upper case. If you can supply me some more detail, about what information you want to format and at what time (e.g. for storage or simply for display) I'm sure I can suggest a code modification that would do the job. mrwebdomain on "Sloppy words cleaner" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/sloppy-words-cleaner#post-297 Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:10:34 +0000 mrwebdomain 297@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ I've searched all forums and could not find any mention of this at all. Is it at all possible to force a clean up of users input upon submitting. For instance, if they type everything in lower-case, the first letter of each word would convert to upper-case, or if they type all upper case, all but the first letter of each word would convert to lower-case. mrwebdomain on "Changing character settings for fields and field length" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/changing-character-settings-for-fields-and-field-length#post-296 Sat, 17 Jul 2010 19:56:49 +0000 mrwebdomain 296@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ That worked perfectly. Thank you. Alex on "Changing character settings for fields and field length" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/changing-character-settings-for-fields-and-field-length#post-295 Sat, 17 Jul 2010 17:23:13 +0000 Alex 295@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ This is a known issue in version 2.0, related to the version check. In a nutshell, I originally had a page for this application on my personal website. The version check script was pointed at a file on that site. When I built this dedicated site, I put 301 redirects in place to the URL where the version script should now point. A small number of users have reported that their server didn't like being redirected in this way, which produced the error. All links in the next version will be corrected for this site, but in the meantime there is a thread covering the <a href="/forums/topic/error-on-line-1">error on line 1</a> message. If you need any assistance applying the fix it describes, please <a href="/contact/">contact me</a>. I will be happy to do it for you. mrwebdomain on "Changing character settings for fields and field length" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/changing-character-settings-for-fields-and-field-length#post-294 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:33:02 +0000 mrwebdomain 294@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Thank you for your response. I managed to figure my way through this issue and my form is complete now. I appreciate your efforts. I have another small issue. Whenever I log into the admin section, the first thing showing is an error in the top left corner of an otherwise blank page. Error on line 1 If I simply refresh the page, I get logged in no problem. If you have any ideas on this, please let me know. Thank you Alex on "Changing character settings for fields and field length" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/changing-character-settings-for-fields-and-field-length#post-293 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:48:12 +0000 Alex 293@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Hi, you're welcome :) I'll answer your queries in turn: Middle initial field There isn't built-in support for capturing a person's middle initial, but I believe I could write a <a href="/forums/forum/hacks">hack tutorial</a> for implementing that in a basic but sufficient way. I've actually not had a request for that before, but it makes perfect sense to add so I'll consider adding it to a future version. Please <a href="/contact/">contact me</a> and I'll email you when I've written the tutorial. Social security number This would be rather too complicated to write up as a hack, so I have a couple of suggestions: 1) Use a 30 character single line field, and indicate the desired format in your field label (e.g. xxx-xxx-x) as people often do for date fields and such. 2) If it's essential for you, I am available to discuss doing some custom development on your installation. We could discuss your exact requirements, and I would issue you a quote based on my regular freelance rate. mrwebdomain on "Changing character settings for fields and field length" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/changing-character-settings-for-fields-and-field-length#post-292 Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:26:23 +0000 mrwebdomain 292@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ I am new here, so please pardon me if I am posting in the wrong place. I just purchased the pro version and have been working to create a form. I am trying to find how to limit characters in a form field other than the pre-set configuaration of 10, 30, 100. If this is possible, also need to know if it will automatically change the size of the field. Example, if I want a field for a person's middle initial, it should only be one character maximum, and it shouldn't be a very long field. Also, if I want a field for a Social Security number, I would prefer three separate fields of 2 three character fields and 1 two character field. Any tips on this is greatly appreciated. Alex on "Problem to Login" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/problem-to-login#post-291 Sun, 30 May 2010 16:43:29 +0000 Alex 291@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ This is because your host requires that you configure the location where your login sessions are stored on the server. This is easy to do. I've written a new forum post called <a href="/forums/topic/installing-simplecontact-on-ipage-host">installing simpleContact on iPage host</a> which explains what you need to do. If you need any other help please don't hesitate to ask. Alex on "Installing simpleContact on iPage host" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/installing-simplecontact-on-ipage-host#post-290 Sun, 30 May 2010 16:38:35 +0000 Alex 290@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Please note: These are general points, which apply to *any* application that uses sessions (e.g. for user login). They are not particular to simpleContact. ------------------------------------------ Session storage In order to create a session, PHP must be able to create a session ID and save a session file (which stores information about application state) to a location on your server. This corresponds to a cookie (which also holds the session ID) that is stored by your browser. iPage require that you add the following line of code to the top of your config file: session_save_path("yourhomedirectorypath/cgi-bin/tmp"); Log into your control panel and see the PHP scripting page for the full path to your home directory. Reference: <a href="http://www.ipage.com/knowledgebase/read_article.bml?kbid=600">Running PHP sessions (iPage knowledgebase)</a> jjvesga on "Problem to Login" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/problem-to-login#post-289 Sat, 29 May 2010 03:06:31 +0000 jjvesga 289@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ Hi, actually I have the pro version, I installed on a ipage.com hosting, I registered the user name and password as first installation, but when try to login, enter username and password, just appear again the login window, nothing happends, can´t access can you help me please?? This is the website: <a href="http://www.eiprogram.com/summer/sc_admin/" rel="nofollow">http://www.eiprogram.com/summer/sc_admin/</a> Thanks. Alex on "Conditional email recipients based on form input (Pro)" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/conditional-email-recipients-based-on-form-input-pro#post-288 Tue, 25 May 2010 08:34:16 +0000 Alex 288@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ I've had a few requests recently for a feature where different people receive emails from a form, based on what the user entered. simpleContact Pro stores a list of email recipients in its database. This is more secure than exposing recipients in the form code (e.g. as hidden fields) and you can have as many recipients as you want. They will all receive an email when someone completes your form. In some cases however, you might want different people to receive those messages. Ordinarily, the recipients list is retrieved from the database and an array is constructed. The form processor loops through that array of email addresses and sends the messages. The best way to achieve the desired effect of this hack is to selectively override the recipients list before it is looped through. In this example, I've used a country menu. You can find a <a href="/forums/topic/menu-countries-of-the-world">list of countries of the world</a> in this forum to help you build such a menu quickly. If the user selects "United Kingdom" or "United States" we'll override the recipients list. 1) Your recipients list Use the recipients list in your sc_admin to specify the default recipients. These are the email addresses that will receive the form submissions unless we specifically override them. 2) Overrides This hack assumes that the name of the field is obj_10. You will need to amend the code to reflect the name of your field, the values you want to respond to and the email addresses you want to send messages to. Open sc_admin/include/contact.php Insert your version of the following code after line 270. Here's a simple example: <code>if ($posted["obj_10"] == "United Kingdom") {</code> <code>$recipients = array("ukenquiries@yourwebsite.com");</code> <code>}</code> Here's a slightly more complicated example: <code>if ($posted["obj_10"] == "United Kingdom") {</code> <code>$recipients = array("ukenquiries@yourwebsite.com");</code> <code>} else if ($posted["obj_10"] == "United States") {</code> <code>$recipients = array("usaenquiries@yourwebsite.com","john@yourwebsite.com");</code> <code>}</code> Note that the second example has two conditions (you can extend it by adding more "else" conditions). It also demonstrates how to override the recipients list with a new list that has more than one email address in it. Alex on "Add reCAPTCHA support (Pro)" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/add-recaptcha-support-pro#post-287 Sat, 15 May 2010 13:55:26 +0000 Alex 287@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ I would say yes, it does prevent that need. I've installed simpleContact Pro on my own websites and those of several clients. I don't use CAPTCHAs anywhere. I think it's vital to be honest and try to manage user expectation about spam. I don't believe it's possible to build a system that prevents 100% of spam, both automated and human, with no false positives. Not even Google have achieved that. Having said that, I receive practically no spam through any of my SCP installs. I received several requests for CAPTCHA support, so I wrote this hack to help. Some people see it as an extra level of defense, some need to add it because their clients want it. I'm not going to add CAPTCHA support to the base install so this is my solution for those cases. Everyone's happy that way :) capellt on "Add reCAPTCHA support (Pro)" http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/topic/add-recaptcha-support-pro#post-286 Fri, 14 May 2010 19:33:32 +0000 capellt 286@http://www.simplecontactform.com/forums/ doesn't the server side validation you provided in the base install of SC prevent the need for CAPTCHA? I've used SC for a long time now and haven't seen any spam issues.