Next version of FeedbackForm

[sjg]

I'm currently working on version 0.7.

Here are some of the things I'm thinking about: I'd love feedback on any/all of these!

I've added the ability to put a symbol (of your choice -- up to 255 characters) after fields that have validation rules. This symbol can be different for different forms.
I'm also thinking I'll need to modify things somewhat: currently you could have, say, "integer" validation on a field but not have it be a required field, so that if you leave it blank, it's OK, but if you do put something in it, it has to be an integer. I think perhaps there should be also a separate "required" flag for fields. If I do add the "required" flag, the symbol will obviously be attached to fields that are required, rather than fields that have validation rules.

Each form may now have its own CSS class attribute.

Each field may now have a CSS class attribute added to it. I don't know the best way to use this, though. Should it just put a div around that whole field and its title? I'd be interested to know how people would want to use this.

You can now select "Use CSS Only" in the module global configuration. This prevents it from putting any tables in its output. It will wrap all of the content in a div instead, with the class specified for the form. In this mode, field titles are wrapped in paragraph tags (with the field's class, if any is specified), but this could be changed.

I'm thinking that there should be a "pagebreak" input, which would allow you to make your FeedbackForm span multiple pages. This would be nice for doing survey-type forms.

I also intend to add some better error handling to the different Mail dispositions, and fix any outstanding bugs.

I'm thinking about things like porting it to use Smarty templates on the admin side, which probably doesn't have much effect on users. But then this opened up the idea of allowing people to create their own user-side templates for their forms. This might be something for version 0.8, since it would be a lot of work How valuable would that be for people?

Please let me know if there are any bugs you've been experiencing, so I can clean 'em up. This is also an opportunity to request features!

[gnolen]

Hi SJG!

Cool that you are working on a release of the feedbackform!

A div with a class on every field is great! Maybe possible to add your own custom class names in field area?

Some suggestions:

- Custom class namns
- If table format the 'submit' button in the same column as the field looks much nicer.
- Maybe a choice of having the field titles above the fields?
- Able to send 'strange' encoding(like åäö)
- Able to easy change what will be send. Different languages needs different names. And not everyone want the info(if so displayed in the bottom)
- Possible to have to have the emailadress of a sender as the actual sender of the mail? Easy for people to replay then.
- Custom errorhandling text

Just my 5 cents...Really looking forward to it!!!

/ Gnolen

[coupet]

Nice module, looking forward for the updates!

As suggested, integration with Smarty templates and maybe database to keep track of submitted forms.

Darly

[MoonMind]

Hello, sjg

Sorry for my long absence - but job's really rippin' on my time lately. First, I've got a question that might sound a little stupid, but since I didn't have much time for testing, I might get an answer other than RTFM : Is 0.6 and above (looking forward to it, as usual) working with 0.9.2? Since I've been doing quite some work on the site, I'd rather not update with anything else than a stable version of the CMS...

Okay, now some feedback to your ideas:

What you want to do on validation sounds very useful - I'd really appreciate being able to use those settings.

I'm not so much into layout atm, so I'd rather not comment on those suggestions now.

gnolen's suggestion to have a sender's e-mail address as "sent from"-address looks quite useful, too (our present cgi solution does just that...).

bs
MoonMind

[sjg]

Sorry for posting a quetsion and then vanishing. I got caught up with viruses, both computer and biological. Both situations are on the mend now, though, so I can get back to this.

First -- MoonMind, the 0.6 probably won't display correctly in 0.9.2, since it uses stylesheet changes for the 0.10-x admin.
Second - Gnolen, the titles of the summary information that gets sent in the emails can be changed by editing the language file (see modules/FeedbackForm/lang/lang.en_us, and look for the section that starts with the comment "// Form Submission Headers"). Virtually all of the text that FeedbackForm displays can be changed in the language file, and you can create alternate language files by putting them in that same directory. This will probably merge with the site-wide language setting in one of the next versions.

I'll be ready for beta testing in a few days. If anyone's interested in helping, please let me know! Also take note that 0.7 will require the latest beta of the CMS, since it uses the new admin theme object for styling itself.

So here's what's been fixed and/or implemented so far:

- Improved loading of configuration, so the module doesn't slow down the site by loading data when the page doesn't contain a form.
- Choice of table based or pure CSS layout of the form.
- Each form can be assigned a CSS class (works in both table and CSS layout).
- Each field can be required or optional, independent of the validation.
- Required fields can display a string or symbol to indicate that they are required.
- Each field can be assigned a CSS class name (works in both table and CSS layout).
- Email-based Dispositions now specify UTF-8 (should fix the åäö problem).
- In table-based layout, the field titles can be either to the left or above the inputs.
- Fixed help display bug.
- Moved "submit" button to align under inputs on form rather than under field titles.

Here's what I'm planning on implementing before releasing this version:
- Better error handling.
- Options as to what gets sent along with the form (summary information) for email dispositions.
- Option to move summary information to beginning or end of email.
- See if there's a good way to have a reply-to email address set as the "From" address.
- Page-break Field Type (for multiple page forms).
- Static-Text Field Type (?)

Thanks,
___Samuel___

[sjg]

You can download the beta at http://wiki.cmsmadesimple.org/tiki-down ... p?attId=77

FeedbackForm 0.7 requires the new 0.10x CMS Made Simple.

I would appreciate feedback from any and all brave beta testers. This version comprises the largest increase in functionality since version 0.2!

Here's what's new:

• Improved loading of configuration, so the module doesn't slow down the site as much by loading data when the page doesn't contain a form.
• Choice of table based or pure CSS layout of the form.
• Each form can be assigned a CSS class (works in both table and CSS layout).
• Each field can be assigned a CSS class name (works in both table and CSS layout).
• Each field can be required or optional, independent of the validation.
• Required fields can display a string or symbol to indicate that they are required.
• Email-based Dispositions now specify UTF-8 (should fix the åäö problem).
• In table-based layout, the field titles can be either to the left or above the inputs.
• Fixed help display bug.
• Moved "submit" button to align under inputs on form rather than under field titles.
• Improved error handling.
• Uses tabs on admin side to reduce the number of pages and to speed editing.
• Optional templating of output for email dispositions.
• Page-break Field Type (for multiple page forms).
• File Upload Field Type (for email-based dispositions only at this point)
• Email "From" Field Type for email-based dispositions only)
• Improved handling to reduce memory footprint

[sjg]

Rocko -- did you go into Form Configuration and set a valid mail server?

(under Mac OS, Postfix doesn't run by default. I think you have to run "postfix start" or something like that as root)

[Alex_Leipzig]

Well, it screwed up my whole site - both frontend and backend. All I see is:

Fatal error: Failed opening required 'classes/UtilityFunctions.class.php' (include_path='') in /data/homewww/isuew/webdir/cms/modules/FeedbackForm/FeedbackForm.module.php on line 65

[sjg]

Well, it screwed up my whole site - both frontend and backend.

Ouch. I hate to hear things like that. Sorry!

What seems to be the problem is that your php include path doesn't include the current script directory. Which is confusing, since I would think that would prevent the rest of the admin from working.

The only thing I can think of at this point is to manually change the include path in the module. To do this, insert the following somewhere right before the "require_once" lines (around line 64 of modules/FeedbackForm/FeedbackForm.module.php)

Code: Select all

ini_set('include_path',ini_get('include_path').';.');

You may also need to explicitly add the path to your cms installation, and/or the FeedbackForm module. I'm not sure.

Anyway, let me know how it goes!
___Samuel___

[Alex_Leipzig]

Ouch. I hate to hear things like that. Sorry!

Nevermind, I meant screw = no access. It's all still there!

The only thing I can think of at this point is to manually change the include path in the module. To do this, insert the following somewhere right before the "require_once" lines (around line 64 of modules/FeedbackForm/FeedbackForm.module.php)

Did that, and it helped a bit. The problem is that in the interface I only see the two tabs "forms" and "configuration". In IE, I get a java error message, that I already described for the news module here: http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/index.ph ... ml#msg4969

The Firefox Java Console shows a more detailed error message (5 times, by the way...):

Error: document.getElementById(tabs[j].id + "_c") has no properties
Source file: http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~ialt/cms/adm ... tandard.js
Line: 52

[miss_d_bus]

maybe i have overlooked something but it seems this modulle is geared up for people with an smtp server.
I dont have that and use:

Code: Select all

<FORM ACTION="http://www.blah.com/cgi-bin/FormMail.cgi" METHOD="POST"
<input type=hidden name="recipient" value="email@blah.com">
<input type=hidden name="subject" value="forrm">
<input type=hidden name="redirect" value="http://www.blah.com/thanks.php">

</form>

I have to put this into the page itself.

I assume that is how it is done?

[Alex_Leipzig]

The only thing I can think of at this point is to manually change the include path in the module. To do this, insert the following somewhere right before the "require_once" lines (around line 64 of modules/FeedbackForm/FeedbackForm.module.php)

Code: Select all

ini_set('include_path',ini_get('include_path').';.');

That did not work

You may also need to explicitly add the path to your cms installation, and/or the FeedbackForm module. I'm not sure.

What would I have to do there?

[seliger]

Code: Select all

ini_set('include_path',ini_get('include_path').';.');

Hey there sjg. I had some other issue where when the listmodules.php page would be clicked, the page would come back 100% blank. No HTML, no nothing.

Inserting that bit of code in front of line 64 seems to have remedied that.

I switched hosting services here recently and I "supposedly" have more control over things. Do you know why this is different and how can I make a more global setting change (php.ini?) to remedy this for the long term?

Thanks!!
Corey