cformsII

!! Please note that v13+ may only properly run on WP 3.2+ !!
Please see the version history for what’s new.

Do you have any [cforms specific] customized files?

cforms supports a separate custom user folder to store your tailored CSS, font and image files! Simply create the folder:
/plugins/cforms-custom
and move or copy your my-functions.php, CSS stylesheet file (including images!), font & background image files (for CAPTCHA, too) to it.

New InstallsInstalling from scratch is as simple as…

1. Download & extract plugin using its default directory
2. Upload plugin directory to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
3. Activate the plugin via ‘Plugins‘ in WordPress

UpgradingBefore you are getting ready for an update, you should…

Make a database backup (this is always a good thing to do!)

Keep a copy of your old cforms plugin folder

Deactivate cforms

Upload the new version

Reactivate it

Moving to a different siteWhen moving cforms to a new site make sure to…

Backup your cforms settings (under Global-Settings Tab/Backup)

Copy/Move cforms plugin folder to new site

Activate cforms (if already activated, toggle status!)

Check/Adjust abspath.php for correct path (in your cforms folder)

Check/Adjust js/cforms.js for correct path (var sajax_uri =…)

Clear your browser cache etc.

Generallyif you’re upgrading from an older release I recommend you skim through the ____HISTORY.txt file to keep up with all the enhancements and bug fixes, some may require re-configuration of your settings (e.g. multi-recipient fields etc.)!

Please see the version history & ____HISTORY.txt in the zip file for what is new.

General Features

Multi-Part / Multi-Page form chains

“Wizard Mode” to limiaid form creation process

Preset forms to “jump start” your own

Ajax supported form submission (incl. graceful fall-back)

Multiple forms on one or many pages / posts

WP Dashboard Support (showing last 5 entries)

“WP Comment/Message to author” Feature (supporting: extra comment fields, threaded comments, Comment Luv, Subscribe To Comment & WP Ajax Edit Comments)

Full localization support (see section below)

Tell-A-Friend functionality, see Help documentation

File attachments / Upload, fully configurable per form

Multiple upload fields allowed

Backup & Restore

Role Manager support

Database based tracking of submitted data (XML, CSV, TAB)

Cloning / duplication of forms

Drag and drop form management

Fully integrated with TinyMCE and default WP editor (via button)

Submission limits (e.g. registrations)

Timing of forms (start & end dates)

Widget support

Supported Form Fields

Inclusion of custom fields (from a post)

Read-only & disabled support

Fancy Javascript date picker

Configurable text elements (non input fields)

Custom field NAMES & ID’s

Various standard input fields:

fieldsets

single and multi-line input fields

select boxes (drop down)

multi select fields

check boxes

check box groups

radio buttons

…and a few special ones:

“CC me” check box for visitors

visitor verification

multiple form recipient (drop down list)

password fields

hidden fields

HTML support for field labels & err, success messages

No resetting of form for quick resubmission

Styling

Clean separation of CSS styling and form code

Fully customizable Look & Feel (optional label ID’s and list item ID’s!)

CSS can be completely turned off

Built in CSS theme selector and CSS editor

Set of predefined themes

Input & Validation

Supporting DISABLED form elements

Default values for single/multi-line input field

Form validation & regular expressions

Individual error messages (HTML enabled)

Submission status (success/failure) optionally via Alert Box

Fancy error display options (inline errors, field highlighting etc.)

Messaging

Fully customizable auto confirmation message & form email (TXT & HTML)

Auto confirmation messages can include an attachment

Message(s) can contain system variables and form based variables!

Multiple recipients per form (optionally selectable by visitor)

BCC to copy additional admin(s)

Anti SPAM / Security

SPAM protection Q &A

SPAM protection using CAPTCHA

Ajax driven CAPTCHA reset button

Full CAPTCHA image customization

Extensibility

API function to extract user data

APIs to control application logic

Post processing of submitted data via custom functions: filter and actions (see Help! page)

Support for alternative SMTP server (in case you can’t use PHP mail())

PHPmailer 2.0 included (for SSL/TLS support)

POP before SMTP authentication

Generate dynamic forms in real-time

Filtering & Download of recorded data

3rd party email tracking support, e.g. readnotify & didtheyreadit

Page redirection on successful form submission

Alternative form action supported (please read config info!)

Extend your WP comment form with extra fields!

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I attempt to keep the user interface in sync with the latest WP release. This could potentially cause slight layout issues with older WP versions, if you come across any UI problems, let me know.

The user interface supports Drag & Drop of form fields, color-, date- and time-picker as well as resizeable text areas to provide an intuitive user experience.

Inserting a form (or several) into your posts and pages couldn’t be any easier: cforms offers -if enabled- a TinyMCE button. Alternatively you can of course insert a cforms form tag manually as well (e.g. in the Code Editor).

Don’t like the default theme or need to change/adjust it to your CI ? Check out the Help! section for lots more info and examples on how to change the look and feel of your forms, how to setup the various input fields and other special fields/features.

Would you like to track submissions and export later? Make sure to enable cforms’ DB tracking feature which will give you a safety net in case an email gets lost…

…with the ability to export later in XML, TAB & CSV formats.

On a general note: Always keep backups! cforms allows you to backup either individual forms & settings or all cforms options in one backup file (see Global-Settings). Individual form backups may come handy when you setup a lot of similar forms, complete backups for when you have to re-install WP or move to a different site.

cforms offers several themes (select via the Styling sub menu tab) that have been revised to work with the default or any other additional form you’ve created. If you want to further tailor the CSS to meet your individual needs, you can use the CSS Editor on the same page to do so. You may also find these quickly thrown together guides (PDF ~230KB) useful.

My recommended approach: Get Firefox & Firebug as an excellent basis for CSS (web) development. If you’d like to take the customization further you can activate Label and Input Field ID’s (via Styling), which will add a unique label ID to each label element.

And finally, many WP theme developers aren’t particularly cautious and tend to use global CSS declarations that may have an impact on how cforms’ forms are rendered – hate to say, but if your form doesn’t look right, 99.5% it’s your WP theme that interferes.

Do you require more flexibility in your forms? Then create and deploy forms at run-time. Mind you, to use this feature it requires basic and possibly more advanced PHP knowledge, examples you’ll find in the HELP! section of plugin admin pages.

This will essentially allow you to pull data from an external source and feed it into your ad-hoc created form fields. I’ve deliberately not included any sort of external data administration, as everyone will have a different file or database table syntax. Any of the fields described in the HELP! section can be created at run-time and shown online. Minor drawback: this works only in non-Ajax mode.

Post processing of user inputcforms comes with several adjustable functions (and examples) that allow you to filter and modify user input on the fly as well as trigger an action after user input has been accepted, you can even change cforms settings during run-time, such as page redirection & admin email. All great capabilities to incorporate your own application and business logic!

If you’d like to contribute a language translation, please get in touch.

Here is the current .pot file, poedit, 10 (general) steps that should get you started. If you have suggestions or would like to point out typos etc, please contact the actual author (see list below) of the respective localization:

Azerbaijani * Author: Madat Mammadov (download)
Arabic * Author: salim jerry (download)
Bahasa Indonesia * Author: Dedy/Hendry Lee (site1,site2)
Belarusian * Author: Marcis G. (download)
Bulgarian * Author: Sonu (download)
Chinese, Simplified * Author: Jackly (download)
Chinese, Traditional * Author: nyflorac (download)
Croatian * Author: Tia (download)
NEW * Czech * Author: Ted Mosby (download)
Danish * Author: Mads Christian Jensen (download)
NEW *Estonian * Author: Iflexion  (download)
Dutch * Author: Anja (download)
French * Author: kalyx.fr (download)
German * Author: Martin Römhild & Team (download)
Hindi * Author: Ashish (download)
Hungarian * Author: Ungvári Béla (download)
Irish * Author: Ray Gren (download)
Italian * Author: Gianni (download)
Japanese * Author: Hiroaki Miyashita (download)
Norwegian * Author: Gill Ajoft (download)
Polish * Authors: Kasia Nocek & WEST28 (site1, site2)
Portuguese (Brazilian) * Authors: Cátia Kitahara e Pedro Germani (download)
Romanian * Author: George Hari Popescu (download)
Romanian II * Author: Web Geek Science (download)
Russian * Author: Sofia Panchenko (download)
Serbian * Author: Ashish Jha (download)
Spanish * Author: Samuel Aguilera (download)
Turkish * Author: Resat Diker (download)
Ukrainian * Author: Stas Mykhajlyuk (download)

Please note that I’m not a full time programmer and this plugin doesn’t claim state of the art programming principles. I’m not sure I’ve covered every possible exception, nor have I checked compatibility with the zillions of other plugins out there.

I believe that the use of the plugin and it’s functionality is pretty self-explanatory (make sure to visit the Help! section in the plugin admin pages), however do check with the Frequently Asked Questions page and the cforms support forum in case you need further help.

Take a look at the version history to keep up with WHAT’S NEW and bug fixes.

The good news are, cforms of course remains free for everyone! Heck, it’s even released under GPL now! Feel free to use it free of charge on your personal or commercial blog.

If however you’re happy with cforms feel free to support future development/support with a donation.

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