Forms Hack

Forms Hack 3.5

Features:

Ever wanted an online form that a user can fill out, which when submitted gets:

• Posted into a new thread in a forum of your choice
• Create a new poll in the new thread with options of your choice
• Posted as a reply in an existing thread of your choice
• PMed to you or someone else
• Emailed to an email address you specify
• Choose to redirect to the post, thread or forum, or a custom thank you message
• Choose to redirect to edit post to upload attachments
• See a preview before they submit

Or any combination or all of the above?

Well, this is the hack for you!

You can use this for:

• Moderator Applications
• Quiz Submit Form which gets PMed to a moderator
• Contact Form that goes to PM, email or thread
• Guests to apply to be members
• Report a Moderator form that goes as a PM to you
• Guests can PM you for whatever reason
• Order form to buy things
• Donation form
• News or Articles submissions that can go straight to a thread

Or anything you like - this hack is totally customizable via the AdminCP.

The beauty of this hack is that once you install this hack, to make a new form all you need to do is copy the main hook, rename it to whatever you want, edit the variables in the hook, and you have a totally new form!!! You do not need to touch the templates again, but can always create new ones and use different templates for different forms.

Format of the form:

• One main input question
• 3 Radio buttons Choice questions
• 3 Normal text input questions
• 1 Drop down menu
• 3 Check boxes
• 1 Long answer question
• 1 VB message editor text box question

This is customizable via the hook.

Also:

• You can set the usergroups you want access to this form.
• Depending on your forum permissions, if the new thread is in a public forum, members can reply to it. This hack allows a form to submit the new thread or post wherever you want it to go.
• Force the user to answer all questions.

INSTALLATION
Easy - takes only a few minutes:

• Import the XML into products. (admin cp -> Plug-in System -> Manage Products -> Add/Import Product)
• Edit the main plug-in - the instructions are all inside the hook itself, in the top half. Follow the instructions carefully!
• To get to the form, go to: /newthread.php?do=form (change "form" to the name of your form if you have few)

Done!

Use this hack to make as many forms as you like!

Enjoy!

Updates:

Version 2.0: (08/10/2005)

• Ported over for vb3.5

Version 2.1: (08/10/2005)

• bug fix with answers not showing

Version 2.5: (08/13/2005)

• Major update:
• Templates have a few lines changed here and there.
• You can now have more then 2 poll options very easily
• Polls can't be created if your not creating a new thread
• New Thread now uses VB function to add the thread
• New Poll now uses VB function to add the poll
• New Reply now uses VB function to add the reply
• PM now uses VB function to send the PM

Version 2.6: (08/21/2005)

• fixed bug with posts having to be moderated

Version 2.7: (08/23/2005)

• Minor update:
• Fixed some issues with signatures, URL parsing, and subscriptions
• Option to name the post titles
• Made template XHTML 1.0 Transitional

Version 3.0: (11/29/2005)

• Major update:
• Added drop down menu
• Made the long answer show up in a the vb message box
• Re-wrote some instructions
• Pressing back should save work
• Both templates and plug-in were edited
• Some more minor things

Version 3.1: (12/07/2005)

• Brought back the standard text box (longanswer)

Version 3.2: (12/09/2005)

• [ADDED] Option to make polls public.

Version 3.3: (12/19/2005)

• [FIXED] Guests can now post using the forms to make a thread or post. They cannot send a PM though.
• [ADDED] Paypal link so you can make a donation for this hack.

Version 3.4: (04/05/2006)

• [FIXED] Removed extra line from template.
• [ADDED] WYSIWYG editor now works besides the regular editor.
• [ADDED] Preview.
• [CHANGED] Subscriptions now take from user default setting.

Version 3.5: (05/31/2006)

• [ADDED] Check boxes.

Abe1 with rights from Dr Erwin Loh

This hack is created for your use free of charge. No payment is requested. However, if you would like to donate money for the work I put in to this hack, a donation would show your appreciation.

[Abe1]

Originally Posted by silurius

Hi Abe,

Not sure if you saw my question above. Your help last week was great, but my testing was incomplete and it appears that my form is not able to post to my forum. I can get the form to display now, but when I send I get 'Sorry! This forum is not accepting new posts.' Tried outputting to various forums with wide open permissions, no luck.

What happend if you disable all other hacks that use the newthread page? Try finiding out which one coses the probelm.

[Bobbo]

I had been running Erwins form on 3.0.7 until I recently upgraded to 3.5 and installed this. Looks great so far, however I'm experiencing two problems.

The first. E-mails dont seem to be coming through. ***(I resolved the email issue)

I do have :

$formemail = "1";

//EMAIL ADDRESS TO EMAIL TO
$formemailaddress = "myname@my.net";

It doesn't seem to mail though. I am getting mail from the system for other features, so I know the mail end is working in general. Any thoughts on where to begin to look?



The second item is on having multiple forms. I need a litttle clarification as I'm new to the plug ins, etc. My forms & templates all contain different types and numbers of questions, etc. Do I need to duplicate the original product-form_hack.xml, make changes to it, and import it as a plug in for each of my forms? (and if so, which specific changes need to be made to the .xml file)

Or do I simply create multiple hooks off the original product-form_hack.xml which I imported?

I have tried both methods. When I have more than one active, the end result is that viewing the form shows a blank white page. Deactivating all except a single hook allows for that form to display properly. What am I missing? ***(I resolved this issue as well. I made a stupid typo in the plug in variable section, doh!)


Thanks for the help! This rocks! :-D

[murrtex]

super hack..but i have some problems.
i installed that and i did /newthread.php?do=form i fill that ..and sent..but where is that thread..i can see from topxstat and when i push "Generic form" it says no access permission..

what sould i do?

okkkeeyy

i solved..thanks

so,,how can we do the multiple forms ?

[Suzie]

I am getting a completely blank page, no errors nothing at all on the page. Any idea why?

[Abe1]

Originally Posted by Suzie

I am getting a completely blank page, no errors nothing at all on the page. Any idea why?

Nope.

[Bobbo]

Suzie,

I had a few instances where I got blank pages when I set mine up as well. In each case it was bad coding in my plugin php code. Usually a simple syntax error. Are you testing with the default mod or did you customize it?

[bigmo]

Hello,

i installed this hack, i was looking about something like that for days.

But now i have an question....

I´am using the hack whithin my vba-Home as a "fight-us"-Form (Clan-Page)
The problem is that the form apears in my vba-Home with logo, navbar, footer and so on. I only want to show the form itself, no other things. Which template or file i have to modify....

THX in advance!!!

[Suzie]

Originally Posted by Bobbo

Suzie,

I had a few instances where I got blank pages when I set mine up as well. In each case it was bad coding in my plugin php code. Usually a simple syntax error. Are you testing with the default mod or did you customize it?

I did change the questions to make it a product review form. I will check my code again. Thanks.

[Suzie]

I fixed the above problem. I had changed the template name.

I have a question. On the earlier version of the form hack, when I posted a thread it would read like this ...

Review: Papa Johns Pan Pizza

how can I add the Review: part to the thread title?

[life is boost]

Great hack here guys, one question. is there anyway to add a drop down menu to the form answers so the user can specify where the form goes? example. i have multiple areas that i would like to use this form. I tried using if statements and making multiple forms on the newthread button to direct to the correct form, but after adding 2 statements it gives an error.

so i would like to add a drop down box. this would allow them to post in either forum ID 2 or say 35.

anyway of doing this? I have tried with no luck on my own

[SirJonathan]

Hey Guys!

I'm having some serious challenges with this form.. I'm using it for a membership application to my community and I'm having some serious trouble with people filling out an entire application, putting a LOT of time and energy into it, and then bam.. losing the whole thing. They hit post and it just never goes through.

Many applications go through fine, I just have this sinking feeling that just as many aren't going through. There isn't much that's more discouraging than losing something you've really just put your heart and soul into..

Are there alternatives? Is there something I could do to make the form more secure? Has anyone else had trouble with this? =\

Thanks in advance guys, any help is much appreciated!

-Jonathan

[CnB]

seems there is a strange bug in the script
i got 3.5 gold installed
but when people fill in the form it gets posted in the assigned section
BUT the post is actually made
but in the main page from the forums where you can see all the sections
it does not show last poster and the new post icon does not change either

it only does this for the form
regular posts are not doing this

[Abe1]

Originally Posted by CnB

seems there is a strange bug in the script
i got 3.5 gold installed
but when people fill in the form it gets posted in the assigned section
BUT the post is actually made
but in the main page from the forums where you can see all the sections
it does not show last poster and the new post icon does not change either

it only does this for the form
regular posts are not doing this

This is very strainge as this form uses the vb function to add posts and threads. Can you tell me is this when adding a new thread or new post?

[CnB]

well this is how we did it we made a post with a admin account in which all the form posts end up
so its when adding it to a post/reply to thread

[silurius]

Originally Posted by Abe1

What happend if you disable all other hacks that use the newthread page? Try finiding out which one coses the probelm.

I finally found the problem. Disabling the sign a contract plugin re-enables your plugin. Since I need this hack more than the contract one, this will work for me for a little while.

Couple of questions:

1. I think I saw someone ask about enabling attachment uploads. Is this on the roadmap at all?

2. Someone else asked about adding dropdown (select) options as an alternative to radio. Anyone have an example of how to best accomplish this?