Overview
Simple Email Form
- Details
- Category: Simple Email Module
- Published on Saturday, 26 November 2011 15:36
- Written by doug
- Hits: 90452
The Simple Email Form is, as the name implies, very easy to install and to configure. Its main usage is embedded in a Joomla article. It functions perfectly well as an ordinary module too, which means you can configure it to appear left, right or center.
There are six configurable fields, five of them standard one line HTML input fields. The sixth is an HTML text area which is typically used to collect comments, suggestions, or any input where you need multiple lines of user input. In addition, there is a "From" field, in which an email address is required, and also a "Subject" field, but mandatory. [NOTE: under consideration is making the "Subject" field hidden and automatic.]
By default, the configurable fields are not active. They can be activated in the module configuration screen by selecting "Yes" or "Required". "Required", as implied, means you must enter a value for that field. If no value is entered, the form fails to submit, and an appropriate message is displayed immediately below the field. If marked "Yes" entry to the field is optional.
For all fields, you can enter a label, configure the size, maximum length of data which can be entered in the field, etc. You can also specify label alignment: left, right or center.
For styling purposes, there are limited options, although this will change in the next release. Currently you can configure the amount of space in pixels between the labels and the input fields. In addition you can specify a CSS class which creates a <div> tag which surrounds the form. In addition the module generates an "id" attribute for each input field with a unique name. The id begins with "mod_simpleemailform_" and ends with the name of the field (i.e. "from_field", "subject", "field1", "field2" etc.
The "Reply-To" option, when activated and configured, the outgoing email message will include your "Reply To" email address in the header. Also, as of version 1.7.02, the configurable To, CC and BCC fields can contain multiple email addresses: simply separate the various addresses with either commas or spaces.
New features in 1.7.07 include the ability to add an anchor tag (thanks to Joanne Lewis) so that the form appears at the top of the page when submitted. You can also now disable validation of the email address in the "From" field, and can invoke "Test Mode" to help in troubleshooting your configuration.
Summary of Features
- 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 field can be configured and attached to outgoing email message
- 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
- If you want multiple recipients for the To, CC or BCC fields,
just specify as many as you want separated by spaces or commas - Space between the labels and the input fields can be adjusted
- Module adds an optional CSS <div> tag with a custom class you can configure
- If this is configured, this version also adds your_class_th, your_class_td, etc. within form
- Optional "Send Copy to Me" field
- 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 toRui Castro Lobo!)
- You can specify a redirect URL when the form submits successfully
- Form fields can be set to retain info or to automatically be reset after successful form submission
- Anchor tag can be set so that upon form submission you see the form
(thanks to Joanne Lewis!) - Test mode lets you see the status of the email object as it is sent
- 19 language files are included: Arabic, Czech, 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
Supports Joomla 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 and 2.5!