Bugs + Enhancement Requests

I am trying the ChronoForms version 2.3RC1 (using ChronoForms for the first time).
I have noticed the followings bugs/enhancements which will help make your component much more joomla friendly

1) email template should allow PHP code
2) allow non HTML email template, eg newline should be \n and not <br/>
3) configure CC and BCC form fields for the email
4) when i create a new form with the option "email the results" an specify the Email address(es) field in the "General Tab" and mention the Email field in the Special fields, an email is sent to both the addresses, both in the TO field of the email.
5) Global configuration settings showing only FormName and MySQL database fields. The "ChronoForms Global options" and "Menu item specific options" are showing an <HR/>
6) allow form to be posted to another page and then posted to the target URL
(Currently there is a feature of a redirect)
7) Delete records from the DB
8) Display a table with all columns and ordering rather than only a Record # link
9) Provide a feature to specify application level logical unique keys (non duplicate fields) in the DB which will be valid only when a table is created in the DB
10) Export to excel is not working correctly, since the rows do not begin from the first column

Hi btushar,

Nice list, I've added a few comments below.
[list=1]

email template should allow PHP code
Yes, might be a good extension for the future, you might be able to work-around a bit if there was some particular feature that you wanted to see.

allow non HTML email template, e.g. newline should be n and not <br/>
At present it's straight html which is consistent with the rest of the component; I wasn't aware that Joomla made much use of '/n'.

configure CC and BCC form fields for the email
Good idea for an 'advanced feature' maybe in the future - one of Max's concerns is to balance between features and simplicity, many users have little or no coding experience. (You can easily work around this if you need it with a small hack to the code and a little OnSubmit - before e-mail code).

when i create a new form with the option "email the results" an specify the Email address(es) field in the "General Tab" and mention the Email field in the Special fields, an email is sent to both the addresses, both in the TO field of the email.
Yes, would you prefer something else? and, if so, what?

Global configuration settings showing only FormName and MySQL database fields. The "ChronoForms Global options" and "Menu item specific options" are showing an <HR/>
Agreed, needs tidying up.

allow form to be posted to another page and then posted to the target URL (Currently there is a feature of a redirect)
Please can you say a bit more, I think I'm missing something here.

Delete records from the DB
Agreed, there is a hack in the forums that does this, I expect that it will get added to the core code soon.

Display a table with all columns and ordering rather than only a Record # link
You can do this now from the DataView fields tab.

Provide a feature to specify application level logical unique keys (non duplicate fields) in the DB which will be valid only when a table is created in the DB
Again, can you say a bit more, each record saved to the database has a unique id so 'table-name + cf_id' gives you this - or am I not understanding correctly?

Export to excel is not working correctly, since the rows do not begin from the first column
That does sound like a little bug, I've no idea how that code works yet. Hopefully it can easily be fixed.

[/list:o]
Bob
Later: edited to correct answer to Point 1.<br><br>Post edited by: GreyHead, at: 2007/08/17 16:40

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your reply.
Here is my take on your comments - pointwise.

1. I had actually not tried this myself, but assumed so because there was no mention of any capability to do so (like in other fields under the same tab). I "blindly trusted" the GUI... which by all rules of a developer should never be done🙂 Anyways a simple message / tooltip would help users explore this powerful feature as well. It seems that it does exist in tht current version since I can display the mosConfig_mailfrom in the emails.

2. It is a suggestion since some people might not even know how to insert a newline in HTML (there are all sorts of people in this world, who knows who is the admin😉 ) So I would suggest that whatever text has been typed inside the email template field be displayed AS IS in the email with just the field values replaced.
Hope my point is clear

3. Yes infact I was not talking about any coding. Was simply saying that in the fields, add another two fields which contain the default and form specific CC and BCC fields list (as is present for the TO field)

4. I was expecting the Email field in the Special fields to override the default Email address(es). If this is not the case then it is fine if the email is sent to BOTH the email addresses. But I would expect that the default be placed in CC or BCC and the other one in the TO.
This is because I see this feature as the following.
In the default Email address(es) field, I would put the admin's email
In the Email field I would put the field name of the TO field in the specific form.
So the user can enter his email in another FROM field and send an email through the website TO another person with a CC/BCC to the admin
Thats how I look at it.

5. I did not understand whether it is a bug that does not show certain configuration fields or is it just a GUI bug that shows something instead of not being there at all? I did not understand the tooltips of the two fields as well. Please let me know what these 2 field are meant for.

6. I expected you would ask a detailed explanation and so here it is.
While creating a form, I have two URLs: 1) redirect URL and 2) sumbit URL (which is usually left blank for the component to do its magic bit😉)
I feel many users will have the requirement of intercepting the submit with their own custom PHPs in order to process the request ( and maybe post it to other components for processing ) and then submit the form again to your component to carry on its work. Or maybe they would like to intercept the request after your component has successfully inserted the values in the database (and sent email). I would suggest adding another couple of fields in the URLs tab, which would be postBeforeInsertURL and postAfterInsertURL which would do exactly what the field names says in order to integrate the forms made using your amazing component easily to other components. Using the redirectURL would not help since the POST request of the form will be lost.
Hope the point is clear.

7. Yes, in fact later I saw the hack. Have yet to use it though. Hope you guys integrate it soon in your component since its a great core feature to have.

8. Now? From which version? I have downloaded the 2.3 RC 1 and dont have this feature. There is just a "Show Data" button which displays Record # hyperlink only and not all the columns

9. Infact I am not talking about the key that you use internally. But the option of letting the user decide which field is a key from the configuration of the form. This would help since I can for eg. use the form to create a subscribers list and would not want to have the same subscriber (email) twice in the ChronoForm created table. So I suggest that the user while creating the form can say that this field should be unique in the DB (and for that matter even more fields together should be unique) So when the user enters the same value again, then an error is thrown specifying that the {field_name}'s {field_value} already exists in the DB

10. Hope to have a fix on this soon, since it is a bit annoying bug after having such a great feature to play with.

I am adding just another bug report here:
If I do not create a table for a particular form, and click on the "Show Data" button and then from that page (which says no table exists), click "cancel", I am getting a javascript error and remain on that page (am using firefox)

Regards,
Tushar

Hi tushar,

First off, this is Max's component, he does all (well almost all) the design and coding, I just help out with a bit of support.

[list=1]

I went back and changed my answer on this but I think that I was wrong to do so. I guess Max changed this in the last release and I didn't notice. The template is now eval'd so can contain php code - just the tooltip is out of date.

Understand.

Understand, maybe Max will put this in a future version.

Understand, I'd need to think through the application (or rather Max will).

Just housekeeping that needs tidying up I think.

Understand that too (I think) - thanks, I believe that Max is looking at the PayPal issue where you want to do something like this. Your other posting about the Newsletter component is an instance of this I guess?

Yes, I was surprised that it wasn't in the last release, I expect to see it in the next.

Should be in 2.3 - look along the Forms Manager tabs for the DataView fields tab, you can add a comma separated field list in there and then Show Data will show you the fields you've selected.

Understand

Agree

Confirm the bug, I get the same.

[/list:o]
Bob

Well, Thanks Guys!!!🙂