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Kind of a long story, but it's necessary for context.

My site was compromised and hacked necessitating a complete dump of the Joomla install and installing a clean version along with new versions of all my plugins, including Chronoforms (not an upgrade but a fresh install of the latest version).

At first look, all seemed OK, the forms all showed up and I could access them and their associated databases from the back end. It was only when giving them a dry run that I found some big problems.

I noticed that the radio buttons didn't have unique buttons for each entry (I suppose some new way of parsing the options field?) I corrected that via the form wizard, but then found the troubles began when trying to test the forms.

Namely, on submit, they no longer posted to the database, no email was sent nor did they redirect to the assigned url on submit (they simply opened a completely blank page, no error message). Even trying to enter de-bug doesn't work -I simply get a blank page (no error message).

The obvious solution is to dump the lot and rebuild the whole shebang, but I have in the neighborhood of 20 unique forms as well as the associated databases. I am hoping someone might be able to suggest an alternate solution.

thanks

Marc

Hi MarcHudgins,

Do you know what version of ChronoForms you had before the rebuild? I'm guessing that it was an older version than you have re-installed?

It looks as though you have a full database backup that you are using so that wasn't lost?

At a minimum you will need to:

(a) refresh the DB Connections - open the tab, set the DB Conenction to 'No', click the Apply icon to save the form, then set the Conenction back to Yes and Applay again.

(b) Check that the emails are enabled in the Email Setup Properties box, it seems that when you restore a form this setting often goes back to No.

Bob

My version was embarrassingly old: V3.1 -hey it worked right?

And yes, the DB is intact so all the forms are there and other than a few noticeable problems (the radio buttons for example), everything seems OK, the forms "work" on the site until submission, then it all falls apart.

The emails all say they are enabled, but perhaps a round of disable/enable would be something to try as well? I've noticed any number of plugins have required some on/off toggling before they restored properly in the aftermath of my repair job.

I'll run through your suggestions as soon as possible and report back when I know something.

Thanks for the quick reply.

Marc

I realize it's been a while since my first post, but as it will, life got in the way I just got back to this issue.

Here's the story -none of the above mentioned ideas got me any results. Still the same old problem as described.

So I decided to build a new form from scratch to see how that worked out, and I am having all new problems so far. The following occurs in de-bug mode:

Off the bat, when loading the form to test it (in debug, new form, new table created and connected), I get this error at the top of the form:

"Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting ',' or ';' in /home/content/s/p/o/spoutwoodorg/html/components/com_chronocontact/chronocontact.php(53) : eval()'d code on line 17"

It doesn't seem to stop anything dead, but it can't be a good thing.

Next, if the anti-spam is enabled, it throws an " 1. You have entered an incorrect verification code at the bottom of the form." Always, and I made sure I had it right several times just to be sure.

If I disable it, I can complete the submission, but then get this:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting ',' or ';' in /home/content/s/p/o/spoutwoodorg/html/components/com_chronocontact/chronocontact.php(53) : eval()'d code on line 17

Thank you for your interest in volunteering! Our volunteer coordinator will be in contact with you soon.

Fatal error: Call to a member function bind() on a non-object in /home/content/s/p/o/spoutwoodorg/html/components/com_chronocontact/libraries/customcode.php(71) : eval()'d code on line 13

Obviously this is immensely frustrating as I don't even know where to begin to fix this as it seems that no forms, old or new work anymore. I was really happy with my former version of Chronoforms and used it with nary a hitch in the past. I really like the newere features and would like to make use of this. In fact, I really need to get this working soon as we have a mjor festival coming up and I need to get half a dozen different applications up and running ASAP.

Could any of this be related to the conditions I described at the start? That I had to do a completely new Joomla install and then re-installed Chronoforms ? If so, is there a good way to get a truly clean slate so I can be sure where the problem lies. Right now I'm questioning the Chonoforms install, but to be honest, I don't have the expertise to make that call.

I really appreciate all the help I've received in the past and am crossing my fingers that together we can sort this out.

Thanks again,

Marc

Hi Marc,

The part of the Error message that reads "eval()'d code on line 17" indicates that the error is in code from one of the Form Code boxes.

The part that says "chronocontact.php(53)" and "libraries/customcode.php(71)" both tell us that this is from the DB Connection code so is probably an invalid or mis-matched column name.

Have you used the "Upgrade SQL and Load Demo Form" link? Backup your DB tables first. You may also need to refresh the DB Connection (see below).

Bob

You need to refresh the DB Connection after any changes to database column names. In the Form Editor click the DB Connection tab and set the Connection to 'No'. Click the 'Apply icon in the toolbar to save the form, open the DB Connection tab, set the Connection back to 'Yes' and re-save the form. This will refresh the copy of the table information that ChronoForms uses.

I followed the steps as suggested, but still no dice. If I use an "old" form, it runs through the process without errors, but also without adding the result to the DB. It also ignores the page redirect instructions and sends me to a blank page (url="http://www.spoutwood.org/index.php?option=com_chronocontact&task=send&chronoformname=MEHF_Vol_App")

Without doing anything to the "new form" to address the errors you mentioned, I got :

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting ',' or ';' in /home/content/s/p/o/spoutwoodorg/html/components/com_chronocontact/chronocontact.php(53) : eval()'d code on line 17

Thank you for your interest in volunteering! Our volunteer coordinator will be in contact with you soon.

Fatal error: Call to a member function bind() on a non-object in /home/content/s/p/o/spoutwoodorg/html/components/com_chronocontact/libraries/customcode.php(71) : eval()'d code on line 13

So essentially Uprade SQL and toggling the DB connection didn't change the status of the problem.

Hi Marc,

By all means email or PM me the site URL and a SuperAdmin login and I'l take a quick look.

Bob

Thanks. I did a dumb thing and uninstalled the component and now can't get it to reinstall. Tried installing the zip and tried a manual install and both are failing. If there is anything you can suggest I do before going further, I'd be happy to hear.

Is it pointless giving you a login until I have it re-installed?

Marc

A quick update: not sure why, but after just stubbornly banging onthe install process, I got a successful install.

I will see what's what with the forms and get back.

OK, got the install back, but still when trying to test a form with debug on, I get sent to a blank page (http://www.spoutwood.org/index.php?option=com_chronocontact&task=send&chronoformname=MEHF_Vol_App) and no data is entered in the database.

I started with a completely new application for testing purposes.

At least all the error messages are gone (I started clean and dropped all the old tables just in case -maybe helped?)

Marc

Hi Marc,

The good news is that your form is now working.

After a lot of testing one element at a time I found that the 'blank page' was caused by the element with name='email' I changed this to name='email_x' and the error disappears.

The not so good news is that I have absolutely no idea why this is happening :-( I've used name='email' dozens of times with no problem at all.

Bob

PS I noticed that your new table was missing most of the form inputs (it's a problem with the icons in the UI - a **green bar** = selected). I recreated it complete with the new email_x column name.

Thanks bob, I REALLY appreciate the help. I'll create the rest of the forms I need for our upcoming event and see how it goes, noting the email label problem -really weird.

Again, many, many thanks.

Marc