unlikelysource.com

Overview

This is a Joomla module which implements a simple email form. 
To install, login as the Joomla administrator, and select "Extensions" - "Install/Uninstall". 
Browse for the downloaded ZIP file and click "Upload File and Install". 

After installation, typical usage would be to configure it to load inside a Joomla article

(as is the case here). 
The way to do this is as follows:

1. Go to "Extensions" - "Module Manager" and select the module.
2. In the "Details" box, modify "Position" to "user99" (or anything, really)
   NOTE: you'll have to type this in manually -- it's not on the list.
   
3. In your target article, add this line: "{loadposition user99}"
   NOTE: don't put a space between "{" and"loadposition" and also don't put
   a space between"user99" and "}"! 
4.  If it still doesn't load, go to "Extensions" - "Plugin Manager" and make sure that the
   "Content - Load Module" plugin is enabled.
    

Quick Start

• Click here to get to the download section
• Click here to get to the demo
• Click here to get to the troubleshooting section
• Click here to get to the bugs & version history section
• Click here to see the "official" Joomla Extension listing

 Features

• NEW!!! Supports Joomla 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 and 2.5!
• Six configurable fields: you configure the labels and sizes
• "From" field appears automatically (and is mandatory but label and size are configurable)
• "From" field is checked to make sure it's a valid email address (using regex, not a realtime check)
• "Reply-To" header can now be activated
• Fields 1 - 5 can be set to "Active," "Required," or inactive in the module configuration, as needed
• Body of email message contains labels + user input data for active fields
• There is also an optional textarea field with configurable rows and columns
• You can configure a recipient of the submitted email form plus optional CC and/or BCC
• Optional "Send Copy to Me" field or automatic user copy
• You can set the space between the labels and the input fields
• You can specify an optional redirect URL if the form is submitted successfully
• Info in form fields can be either reset or retained after form submission
• Includes a field to upload an email file attachment
• Email attachments can be filtered by filename extension
• Max length of each field can be set (thanks to Rui Castro Lobo!)
• NEW!!! 17 language files are included: Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, French,
  German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portugese (Brazilian), Russian,
  Spanish, Swedish, Thai and Turkish
• An optional "Captcha" can be activated
  • Uses PEAR library Text_CAPTCHA (included)
  • Requires that the GD extension be compiled with your PHP installation
  • Uses open source FreeSansBold.ttf font (included)
  • You can configure the width and height
  • Colors of the text, lines, and background can be configured
  • CAPTCHA files older than 5 minutes are deleted
  • CAPTCHA can be either an image or text
  All configuration is done by module manager: no complicated components to install!

Download Module

http://opensource.unlikelysource.com/mod_simpleemailform_1.7.05.zip (NEW!!! latest stable version)
(Includes 17 languages: Russian, Brazilian Portugese, Dutch, English, Estonian, French, German, Greek, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Danish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Swedish, Thai and Turkish.)

(Thanks to: Lars Dahlberg, Mats Arvendal, Lauri Liikane, Muneca Osorio, Jean-Michel Delor, Nasos Liagos, Cristian Lorenzini, Uwe Stockinger, Michał Przekopowski, Ernesto, Polgar Istvan, Alex Breems, Alexandre Lahoz Fernandez, Dror Lamdan, Noona Khongpanit and Nurettin Acar!!!)

http://opensource.unlikelysource.com/mod_simpleemailform_1.7.03.zip (previous version)

Demo

From (email)
Subject
Name
Company
Comments
Please enter the following		Help us prevent SPAM!
		Send me a copy

Tips

• Email checking is pretty loose at the moment; debating whether or not to strengthen it (comments?)
• You MUST create the directory where file attachments are stored, and make sure Joomla has rights to write files into this directory.  (You could use the Media Manager to do this -- see the next tip.)
• You MUST indicate the absolute path to this directory in the configuration.  If you are unsure of the exact path, login as a Joomla admin, and go to the Site - Media Manager menu.  Under Files you will see the absolute path to where your images are stored.  (You could even create an "uploads" folder here, and use the path specified when configuring the Directory to save attachments parameter.)
• Requires PHP 5 to work!
• Make sure that the Joomla Content - Load Module plugin is enabled
• Make sure simple email form module is assigned to the same menu as the the article which contains the module
• If you plan to use the CAPTCHA:
  • You MUST create a directory where the CAPTCHA will be written
  • If you are unsure of the exact path, login as a Joomla admin, and go to the Site - Media Manager menu.  Under Files you will see the absolute path to where your images are stored.  (You could even create a "captcha" folder here, and use the path specified when configuring the Directory to write captchas parameter.)
  • Joomla needs read and write rights to this directory
  • The directory must be publicly accessible via a URL
    I.e.  the CAPTCHA directory is /var/www/yoursite.com/images/captcha
    the URL would be http://yoursite.com/images/captcha
  • 1.0.8+ version creates CAPTCHA files with prefix "captcha_" and erases old images
  • Currently, you MUST set the CAPTCHA word length to 8 -- this will change in future releases!

 PLEASE don't email me until you've read the documentation on how to make a Joomla module appear inside an article!!!

Here are some references to help you:

http://docs.joomla.org/How_do_you_put_a_module_inside_an_article%3F

http://www.joomlabamboo.com/blog/tutorials/using-the-loadposition-plugin-in-joomla

To Do / User Suggestions

• Ability to control the length of the CAPTCHA word (currently fixed at 8 characters)
• Have the name in the "From" field be the customer's name
• Ability to control the  size of the File Upload field
• Ability to populate the text area with a pre-formatted message
• Ability to configure the form fields to auto-reset after successful submission
• Switch a field from one line to textarea
• Change the order of the "mandatory" fields (i.e. From and Subject)
• Support for a template to provide pre-formatted HTML emails
• The subject field should appear directly over the text area message box. When I enable extra fields they appear below the subject, but above the text area
  (thanks to Richard for the last 2 suggestions)
   

Please help support our programming efforts!

How to Change the CAPTCHA Background Color

1. Login as Joomla admin
2. Select "Extensions - Module Manager"
3. Locate "Simple Email Form" and click on it
4. In the section to the right labeled "Module Parameters" locate "Captcha Background Color"
5. Enter an appropriate HTML color code

Troubleshooting

If emails are not getting sent:

Verfiy that your email addresses are correct

UPGRADE to version 1.7.05+

Activate "Test Mode" and confirm there are no mail server errors
 

"Invalid address: Invalid address: Invalid address:"

Solution: UPGRADE to version 1.7.04+

If you see this error message:

Warning: Missing argument 4 for sendResults(), called in <some/directory/path> on line 476 and defined in \path\to\joomla\modules\mod_simpleemailform\mod_simpleemailform.php on line 214

Solution: UPGRADE to version 1.1.12

If you see this error message:

Error: Unable to cleanup old captchas

Warning: file_put_contents(/company/homepages/9/xyz/htdocs/images/captcha/captcha_12345.png) [function.file-put-contents]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /company/homepages/9/xyz/htdocs/FurtherIndications/modules/mod_simpleemailform/mod_simpleemailform.php on line 347

Most likely it is because:

(A) You have not configured a directory in which the program can write the CAPTCHA images, or
(B) You have misspelled the directory name, or
(C) You do not have the permissions set properly so that Joomla can write to this directory

Try the following:

1. Look carefully at the directory path which is displayed in the error message. Notice, in the example above, "/company/homepages/9/xyz/htdocs/images/captcha/captcha_12345.png" is the file which could not be written.
2. Login as the Joomla Adminstrator
3. Select Extensions - Module Manager
4. Locate and click on the link for the Simple Email Form module
5. Look for "Directory to Write Captchas"
6. Make sure that the directory path matches the one you see in the error message
   (In this example, it would be "/company/homepages/9/xyz/htdocs/images/captcha")

If the module doesn't appear

(Thanks to Chad for this tip)

(A) Make sure the module is enabled (that one has caught me LOTS of time and I wrote the dang module!).
(B) In the module manager, make sure that "Menu Assignments" is set to ALL (or whatever menu the article appears under).
(C) Go into the article which contains the module and make sure you correctly spelled {loadposition user99}
(or whatever user position you chose to use -- doesn't have to be "user99", it could be "emailform" or any other unique word -- BUT ... see note below).
(D) Make sure that whatever user position you chose matches the user position you specified in the module manager
(E) Go to "Extensions" - "Plugin Manager" and make sure that the "Content - Load Module" plugin is enabled.

(Thanks to Lars for this strange quirk)

If you go through all the suggestions above, and the module STILL does not appear, try changing the to something which starts with "user". Some templates are very particular about this. So, for example, if you used {loadposition emailform} change it to {loadposition user99}. Also, make sure that you go to Extensions - Module Manager - Simple Email Form, and change the position to match whatever you just used in the article which invokes the fast and easy email form.

(Thanks to Alzibiff for this tip)

If you see a T_STRING required on line 65 error, check and see if your server is runing PHP 4. This module uses Object Oriented Programming and won't work in PHP 4!

(Thanks to Tom for this one)

When I first installed the {loadposition user99} in an article, I copied the line of code from this page and pasted in into the editor in WYSIWYG mode. The editor inserted some extra html that was not displayed so the code looked OK but would not work. Once I edited the HTML and took out the /span statements, everything worked great. Maybe to is obvious but to noobs like me it all takes extra time. Thanks.

If the CAPTCHA image does not appear

FIRST -- check the tips above and make sure you've gone through all of that!

Q: The permissions on the actual captcha image are not getting set to allow it to display. The directory permissions are OK and when I check the recurse into subdir the captcha image permission update and it becomes visible on my website. How do I control the file permissions on the captcha image?

A: Check with your system adminstrator to make sure that the Joomla user's "umask" value is set properly. This is a file system issue and has nothing to do with the module!

Q: Thanks so much for the quick reply. This is my first Joomla website so I'm climbing a steep learning curve right now. My site is hosted at Network Solutions and they said they are not able to change the unmask parameter for security reasons. It appears that my /images/captcha directory has all the permissions necessary (777) but the image file is not accessible until I manually change the permissions, from 644 to 777. It seems odd that the file does not inherit the directory permissions. I'm kind of stuck at this point so I guess I'll keep hacking until I find a solution.

If you do not receive emails after posting the form:

The Simple Email Form module uses Joomla mail.  There are several reasons why you might not be receiving email after posting the form.  Please review these steps before asking me for help!!!

• Check your Joomla configuration and make sure you're set up properly for mail
• Does your server have "sendmail"?  If not, then PHP mail (and the module) will not work.
• Are you running on a test server which is local?  Do you have a full Mail Transfer Agent installed (i.e. exim)? 
  -- If not, then your server cannot send mail, which means the module won't work.
• Is your ISP blocking ports so that you are not able to send mail?  (Some of them do, trust me!!!) 
  -- If so, contact your ISP and resolve the situation
   

You can click here to download a tool email_test.zip.  Unzip the file somewhere off your document root and then run email_test.php.  It's a simple PHP email program which you can use to test to see if your server is able to send email from PHP.

If you have problems posting new articles after running the simple email form module:

Upgrade to version 1.1.09 or above.

The problem was due to a bug in earlier versions where the default date/timezone was set to a fixed locale.  This was fixed in 1.1.09 by eliminating the setting and using Joomla's built-in date API instead of using straight PHP function calls.

If after posting a form you see mangled text when using international character sets:

Symptom: after posting a form you see something like this: ��α�α� in the input fields.

Solution: Upgrade to 1.1.10. 

Previous versions used 'htmlentities()' which does not have good support for multibyte character encodings.  1.1.10 switched to 'htmlspecialchars()' which has better support.

Bugs

[2012-02-15 -- thanks to Gregorio]

Hi Doug, I am trying to get your very nice module and I am getting the 
> following error message above the form after successfully sending the 
> email(see pic below)
> "Invalid address: Invalid address: Invalid address:"

FIXED: version 1.7.04

> Is there any chance you could help me to solve this issue?

[2011-12-19 -- Bruno from Italy!] Warning:
      require_once(): open_basedir restriction in effect.
      File(/usr/share/php/PEAR.php) is not within the allowed
      path(s): (/tmp:/var/tmp:/home/web/www.company.com/www) in
      /home/web/www.company.com/www/modules/mod_simpleemailform/CAPTCHA.php
      on line 22 Warning: require_once(/usr/share/php/PEAR.php):
      failed to open stream: Operation not permitted in
      /home/web/www.company.com/www/modules/mod_simpleemailform/CAPTCHA.php
      on line 22 Fatal error: require_once(): Failed opening
      required 'PEAR.php'
      (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear') in
      /home/web/www.company.com/www/modules/mod_simpleemailform/CAPTCHA.php
      on line 22
     
FIXED in 1.7.01

[2011-08-29 -- Moses from Kenya!] Warning: Missing argument 4 for sendResults(), called in C:\wamp\www\some_path\modules\mod_simpleemailform\mod_simpleemailform.php on line 476 and defined in C:\wamp\www\some_path\modules\mod_simpleemailform\mod_simpleemailform.php on line 214 FIXED in 1.1.12 [2011-07-22 -- thanks to Rui Castro Lobo from Portugal!]I noted a little problem in the email received, the field1 and field2 have the same label (of field2) so I have corrected it. It would be nice that you corrected the original file, for others sake. Thanks. FIXED in 1.1.11 [2011-05-24 -- thanks to Stamatis for point this out with the Greek] i am using your module "Simple Email Form" in my joomla website version 1.5.23. I have installed the module successfully, but i used it in Greek language and when ι write in Greek in the fields, after form has been sent, the Greek letters are shown like "Chinese"  Ï�Ï�αÏ�αÏ�. FIXED in 1.1.10 [2011-05-05 -- thanks to Agostino Zanutto for spotting this one!] The bug can be quite serious if timing of posting articles is critical. "... on line 41 of mod_simpleemailform.php you set timezone, without reset to original system tz before exit. This can block publishing of new articles..." FIXED in 1.1.09 [2011-03-26 -- from Tom] Doug, thanks for your nice Joomla extension.  Could you check my page at http://www.name-changed-to-protect-the-innocent.com/index.php/mail-list?  When the form gets submitted, it yields a couple of errors like: < script language= ' maxlength=255 /> I notice someone else (http://goo.gl/ZQwy9) had the problem, but no solution was posted. FIXED in 1.1.08

[2010-05-19 unconfirmed -- made changes which should fix any upload problems]
After I upload file (file is uploaded) in From field is fragment of code:  
FIXED in 1.0.5

[2010-07-12 -- from Dean]
I have noticed that your module shows the same captcha in IE/Opera and Firefox when Joomla site cacheing is turned on. However with your module it causes confusion and problems on the submit. The method I am using it is this: I have the module in a spare position called 'contact' and I'm calling it in a content item with {loadposition contact}  The form shows up and works in FF. If I open up Opera I see exactly the same captcha. I also see the same in IE. When the form is submitted IE has a wobble and eturns a blank screen, Opera does not like the captcha and tells you so, a page refresh can return the same captcha. I turn off site cacheing and it all works well.
FIXED in 1.0.6

[2010-08-02 -- from Ian]
When CAPTCHA is entered incorrectly, all text below the error message appears in red.
FIXED in 1.0.7 

[2010-08-03 -- from Muneca]
error: Warning: rand() expects exactly 2 parameters, 1 given in /hermes/bosweb/web152/b1523/d5.dangerou/public_html/lamunecarocks.com/modules/mod_simpleemailform/mod_simpleemailform.php on line 423
FIXED in 1.0.8


 

Version 1.7.04 -- 15 February 2012 

• Fixed bug originating from JMailer "Invalid address: Invalid address: Invalid address:"

Version 1.7.02 -- 7 February 2012 

• Change language option to type "list" (see http://docs.joomla.org/List_parameter_type)
• Added optional Reply-To field
• Modified To, CC, BCC to accept multiple values separated by commas or spaces

Version 1.7.01 -- 19 Dec 2011

• If CSS class designated, creates xxx_table, xxx_row, xxx_th and xxx_td classes inside form.
• Fixed problem with CAPTCHA library: added directory path variable and specified absolute path for require_once statements
• Added check and only display error message row if there is a message
• Fixed problem from htmlentities display of email address in "from" field: converted '&#64;' into '@'

Version 1.1.12 -- 01 Sep 2011

• Converted to OOP
• Works on Joomla 1.6 and 1.7
• Added Thai translation (thanks to Noona Khongpanit!)
• Added space between labels and input fields
• Added redirect URL upon successful form submission
• Added option to either reset fields or leave info as is after form submission

Version 1.1.12 -- 01 Sep 2011

• Fixed bug in line 476 calling sendResults()

Version 1.1.11 -- 24 Aug 2011

• Converted field display from htmlentities to htmlspecialchars
• Fixed problem in the email received where field1 and field2 have the same label (of field2)
  Thanks to Rui Castro Lobo and "drunkenmanwalking" for spotting this bug!
• Added an 'auto copy' option which sends a copy to user automatically
• Added max length option to fields thanks to Rui Castro Lobo

Version 1.1.10 -- 24 May 2011

• Fixed a bug whereby redisplaying input values in posted forms mangled multibyte character display.  Determined problem stemmed from limited support for international character sets in the PHP 'htmlentities()' function.  Switched to 'htmlspecialchars()'.  Thanks to Stamatis for both pointing out the problem as well as confirming that the fix worked.

Version 1.1.09 -- 31 Mar 2011

• Added Hebrew translation thanks to Dror Lamdan

• Added Turkish translation thanks to Nurettin Acar

• Fixed bug where the simple email module sets the default date/timezone to a fixed locale potentially causing problems later when posting new articles, etc.  The solution was to replace  straight PHP date/time function calls with Joomla date API calls

Version 1.1.08 -- 31 Mar 2011

• Added Russian translation thanks to Alex Breems

• Fixed bug where the simple email module conflicts with certain Joomla anti-spam security measures. Certain security measures are designed to capture any attempt to display a "raw" email address, and convert it into a spambot unreadable form using javascript. The simple email module has its own security measures which absolutely prevent injecting javascript into any input field! A simple work around was arrived at whereby the email address is rendered as This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it instead of This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

• "From" field now included in the body of the email message

Version 1.1.07 -- 28 Feb 2011

• Added Danish translation thanks to Ernesto

• Added Hungarian translation thanks to Polgar Istvan

Version 1.1.06 -- 14 Dec 2010

• Added Polish translation -- thanks to Michał Przekopowski

• Added German translation -- thanks to Uwe Stockinger

• Added Greek translation -- thanks to Nasos Liagos

• Fixed bug where a notice of an undefined index was returned + added default length and labels for optional fields 1 - 5

• Fixed bug where fields 1 - 5 were not showing up

• Fixed incompatibility with certain other Joomla modules due to language translation technique

Version 1.1.05 -- 13 Dec 2010

• *** WITHDRAWN -- dont' use!!! ***

Version 1.1.04 -- 30 Oct 2010

• Added Italian translation -- thanks to Cristian Lorenzini

Version 1.1.03 -- 19 Oct 2010

• Added Estonian translation -- thanks to Lauri Liikane

Version 1.1.02 -- 28 Sep 2010

• Body of email message now contains labels + user input data

Version 1.1.01 -- 15 Sep 2010

• 6 language files are included: Dutch, English, French, Portugese (Brazilian), Spanish, and Swedish

Version 1.1.0 -- 1 Sep 2010

• Improved language support using separate INI files
• Language files included: English, Spanish, Swedish and Dutch
• Captcha images are only deleted if more than 5 minutes old
• Added ability to make fields 1 to 5 active, required (mandatory), or not active
• There is a new "Allowed Filenames" field in the module configuration which lets you add a list of filename extensions separated by commas; leave blank for all
• Added a "text" CAPTCHA for those having difficulty getting image CAPTCHAs configured properly
• Added advanced diagnostics which give recommendations for image CAPTCHA settings in case of error
• Added parameters which allow you to change the color of "success" or "failure" message instead of just HTML red or green
• Error messages appear under the fields they are associated with

Version 1.0.8 EN / SE / ES

• Fixed a bug with an improper number of parameters to rand()
• Thanks to Muneca Osorio for the Spanish translation!

Version 1.0.7 EN and SE

• Fixed bug where when CAPTCHA value was entered incorrectly all text after error message appeared in red
• Aligned the "Copy Me" checkbox, and SUBMIT and RESET buttons, with the other input field
• Set CAPTCHA to not cache by randomly generating a new filename for each new CAPTCHA

Version 1.0.6 EN and SE

• Added PEAR5.php library file to fix the following error seen on Windows servers (thanks Edwin!):
  Warning: include_once(PEAR5.php) [function.include-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in D:\Hosting\*******\html\joomla\modules\mod_simpleemailform\PEAR.php on line 766
  
  Warning: include_once() [function.include]: Failed opening 'PEAR5.php' for inclusion (include_path='.;C:\php5\pear') in D:\Hosting\*******\html\joomla\modules\mod_simpleemailform\PEAR.php on line 766

Version 1.0.5 EN and SE

• Streamlined file attachment process
• Got rid of "Upload" button -- no need for the extra step!

Version 1.0.4 EN and SE

• Added "Send Copy to Me" field
• Removed slashes in front of ' and " in text area
• Added "Reset" button
• Internal translation fields for buttons (thanks to Mat and Lars!)

Version 1.0.3

• Improved internal language support
• Modified CAPTCHA process
  • Adds prefix "captcha_"
  • Erases old CAPTCHA files
  • Now uses native Joomla JFile::write() instead if "file_put_contents()" to write

Version 1.0.2.se

• Swedish translation of "front-end" strings
• Adjusted date/timezone to "Europe/Stockholm"
• Note: administrative back-end is still in English
• Contributors:
  Lars Dahlberg
  Mats Arvendal

Version 1.0.2

• Added left, right and center config option for labels (thanks to Mats for this suggestion)
• Version 1.0.2.se is in Swedish (thanks to Lars Dahlberg!).

Version 1.0.1

• Added ability to deactive file upload field