Joomla Forms – An update
I had a worrying email this morning, someone thought I had abandoned Joomla Forms! Well I know its been a long time since the first release of Joomla Forms was made but really 
I apologize for the long time between releases, however Christmas, New Year, Wife separation, Kids etc all got/get in the way..
I’m working very hard on the code base for forms, along with a rebrand to a new name (Blue Flame Forms (bfForms)) and wanted to blog about the upcoming release as a taster for those waiting (patiently – Eighteen 5 STAR Reviews) and those critics that leave negative reviews (One person!).
So what has been acheived so far:
+ NEW FEATURE !! – Manual resize of textareas when submitting forms
+ NEW FEATURE !! – Automatic resize of textareas when submitting forms
+ NEW FEATURE !! – Fancy Multiple Select Alternative
+ NEW FEATURE !! – Redirect Browser with POST/GET of submitted data
+ NEW FEATURE !! – sh404SEF SEF Extension, now all urls to forms are SEF
+ NEW FEATURE !! – Automatically Generate the content of the emails send – ONE CLICK!
+ NEW FEATURE !! – Ability to set the default checked checkboxes and radioboxes
+ NEW FEATURE !! – Ability to copy form elements and have them actually work
+ NEW FEATURE !! – Integration with ListMessenger to subscribe/unsubscribe behind the scenes
+ NEW FEATURE !! – Execute ANY PHP script on form submission – thanks Kenneth
And the number one requested feature:
+ NEW FEATURE !! -Ability to embed forms in module areas or content items!
Along with this over 50 bugs have been identified, researched, fixed and are awaiting this next release. We have also made some sweeping changes to our own framework so that the overall speed of the application has increased, making creating great forms with Joomla even faster!
However, with all these changes we have had some regressions, in-particular the handling of validations has had to be completely overhauled to make it work under the new framework, and as a solution we are implementing a brand new way of displaying the validation errors This will all improve the ability for YOU to modify the layout and style of the validation errors (yeah we admit it looked rubbish in the first release )
When can you get the next version?
Again, I’m sorry its taking so long, but I will get there and release when I am happy of the quality of the product and its new features, and not before.
Thanks for all your support, for a tiny sum that most of you paid for this application (Only £9.99) I think you are getting a lot more than your moneys worth 
Update: WOW It was 12 July 2008 when I last released forms! Sorry about the delay – it seems a long long time ago because it is…
Joomla Forms :: Update On Development Progress
Dear Fans
Well its been a while since we released a version of Joomla! Forms and now a lot of you are asking for it!
I want to apologise for the delay in this version, which is not only a bug fix version, but also has a MAJOR new feature which can be found in a, so-called, “competing product” but was not really a core feature of phil-a-form or Joomla Forms before. We need a bit of time to implement this as it meant major structure changes in our code, plus we also wanted all forms to be backwardly compatible.
I am pleased to say we are “almost” there!, but not quite.
Recently I have been forced to move house and have had other personal issues to resolve this side of my monitor, and therefore code has taken second place to support and emails.
The number one requested feature so far has to be the inclusion of forms in Content Items and Module Positions. This feature has not yet been coded, but I am hopeful that it will make it in the next release mentioned above.
We have also made huge improvements in validation rules, new field types and custom submit actions – so keep all eyes peeled on this blog for more announcements to follow…
July 22 2009 – Joomla 1.0.x Will No Longer Be Supported
Finally, as speculated by some, the official announcement has now been made.
Joomla 1.0.x will receive no support or security updates AFTER July 22 2009
As of July 22, 2009, the Joomla 1.0.x series will no longer be supported. As a user, is it required that you upgrade from Joomla 1.0.x? Absolutely not since security upgrades will be supported until this date.
How to speed up Joomla Admin
Well our first release of Google Gears Support For Joomla 1.5 was very well received with a NINE, 5 star ratings on the JED listing !
We have just released v1.0.2 of this FREE PLUGIN that speeds up your Joomla 1.5.x admin console.
In the latest version we now have added support for Windows Servers/Hosts and Google Chrome browser (which doesn’t like comments in CSS files!)
Enjoy!
Sending Secure Emails to Us
Those that follow our blog and things we do online know that we take security very seriously. This is one of the reasons that we are (AFAIK) the ONLY Joomla Developer/Consultant that has an Extended Validation SSL Certificate (EV SSL) on their site (This means that someone in a position of authority, digicert in our case, have verified that we are who we say we are by researching our legal status, business, accounts and business relationships!) It really is a symbol of assurance of our identity and commitment to security.
Furthermore we subscribe to the very expensive daily scanning by McAfee Secure (Formally ScanAlert HackerSafe Mark). This scans our sites, servers and infrastructure daily to identify issues. This is what gives us the PCI Certification standard – meaning that VISA and Mastercard allow us to directly accept payments on our servers (although we personally dont, some hosting customers do).
We also use mod_security, complex passwords, ssh key login and a load more security procedures on our servers.
(Note: This is not an invitation to try and hack us
The reason for this post was to unveil a way of communicating with us in a secure manner. We understand that for whatever reasons, some people just dont “get” encrypting emails, or dont have time to understand this, or what GPG is… well GPG is a way to encrypt text with someones public key so only THEY can decrypt it.
You can now do this in a simple secure way over EV SSL at:
https://secure.phil-taylor.com/encrypt
The output of this form can then be emailed direct to us to read. Meaning you can now send us sensitive information by email – if you so wish
Turbo Charge Your Joomla 1.5.x Admin Console
Have you noticed how slow Joomla Admin console can be when you have a WYSIWYG Editor installed and lots of other things installed?
Well take control! Turbo Charge your Joomla 1.5.x Admin Console today with this FREE Plugin! (requires Google Gears, free also!).
Just follow these instructions:
- Download the FREE plugin (CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD)
- Install it in Joomla 1.5.x Admin console the normal way for plugins
- Select Plugin Manager from the Extensions Menu
- Locate the “System – System – Google Gears Support” plugin
- Publish it and WAIT 5 Seconds for a new link to appear
- The new “Update Gears” link will appear top right next to the Preview link
- Click the Update Gears link and follow the prompts (this is where Google Gears might need installing if you dont already have it)
- Once the 900+ files are updated to gears you will be able to browse your admin console MUCH faster!!!
Based on the work done in Wordpress (in the core!), this plugin will have a major impact on how you work with your site – well QUICKER!
Please provide feedback to phil@phil-taylor.com or leave comments here.
v1.0.2 – Support for windows web hosts and google chrome browser!
Update:
When you update gears, if you get a message: ”
Error: Invalid manifest - * Line 1, Column 1 Syntax error: value, object or array expected.
Then the manifest file is displaying an error. To view the manifest file please load the followinf url in your browser (replace domain.com with your domain!)
domain.com/plugins/system/GoogleGears/gears-manifest.php
If you dont understand the error shown on that page then email me the URL and I’ll do my best to help out.
PHP5 Compatible ONLY
if, when viewing the gears-manifest.php file, you get an error like:
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting T_OLD_FUNCTION or T_FUNCTION or T_VAR or '}' in /plugins/system/GoogleGears/gears-manifest.php on line 16
Then you are running PHP4 and cannot use our plugin. You should upgrade to PHP5 ASAP!
Joomla 1.5.x Install Addon from Directory Method
Several webhosts have set very stringent time limits and size limits on what you can and cannot upload. For example 2Mb seems to be the standard maximum size for a file upload on the majority of web hosts (Joomla KB and Mailing List are both bigger than 2Mb!), Some other hosts limit the PHP excecution time to 30seconds – so if it takes longer to upload than 30seconds an error is produced.
To install a Joomla Extension using the “Install from directory” method follow these simple steps (Joomla 1.5.x):
- Download your components Zip file to your PC.
- Extract the Zip files contents
- Create a folder in your webspace (under the public_hmtl/tmp/ is a good place, for this example call it “kb”)
- Use FTP to upload your extracted Zip files to the /public_html/tmp/kb/ folder
- Login to Joomla Admin,
- Select Extensions
- Select Install/Uninstall
- In the “Install Directory:” path enter the full path to your files you uploaded (public_html/tmp/kb/ in our example above)
- Click “Upload File & Install” Button
- Thats It !
This will help you overcome any file upload or time limit restrictions set by your web hosts !
NEW ListMessenger For Joomla 1.5.x RELEASED !!!!
We are proud to announce the immediate release of ListMessenger for Joomla 1.5.x!
Please visit the main website for FULL DETAILS
http://www.Joomla-Mailing-List.com
There you can play with the 100% FREE DEMO
ListMessenger For Joomla 1.5.x – Almost There
New Site Preview:
ListMessenger For Joomla 1.5.x New Website
ListMessenger For Joomla 1.5.x exceeds expectations as a Mass Mail/Newsletter Extension that extends Joomla to allow you to send mass emails (Like newsletters) when ever you want DIRECT from your Joomla site.
LM also works on shared hosts that impose limits on sending email, and provides you with a great tool for sending professional newsletters, simply yet very powerful!
ListMessenger for Joomla 1.5.x has been developed by Matt Simpson, and integrated and features added by Phil Taylor, Blue Flame IT (Jersey) Ltd. It is based on the yet unreleased ListMessenger 2.2 standalone version.
This product is one of many that have been released by Blue Flame over the years, and is fully supported by Phil and the team at Blue Flame IT.
ListMessenger For Joomla 1.5.x only works with Joomla 1.5.x on servers running PHP5.x
Powerful, Integrated, Huge Feature List
Here’s a sample of what you can get with ListMessenger:
- Fully Integrated Admin Console
- Runs on YOUR server
- Allows UNLIMITED subscribers & messages
- Allows UNLIMITED Mailing Groups – Send to 1 or many!
- Allows UNLIMITED Custom Fields/Placeholders
- Allows attachments to the messages
- Design & Create your newsletter online, or just paste in your own HTML/Text
- Subscribe/Unsubscribe statistics
- Import/Export from CSV, Typed Entries, Excel Files
Coming Very Soon: ListMessenger For Joomla 1.5
Following on from our years of success of mosListMessenger (based on ListMessenger 1.1) we are pelased to announce that we are adding the finishing touches to ListMessenger for Joomla 1.5 (Based on the yet unreleased ListMessenger 2.2)
ListMessenger for Joomla 1.5 is a fully integrated Mailing List suite that allows you to send mass emails to your mailing list (or your Joomla users by access group!). ListMessenger for Joomla 1.5 has many new features over the old mosListMessenger (Which is NOT Joomla 1.5 compatible!) as it is based on the brand new LM2.2 code developed by Matt Simpson (ListMessenger for Joomla 1.5 is developed under license and with full permission from the original developer.
Here are some screen shots to tempt you…
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- Subscribers
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- Statistics
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- Controlpanel