WordPress Google Form v0.46-beta-2 available

This evening I posted the beta-2 version of WordPress Google Form v0.46 for download from this site. I have not posted this version to the WordPress plugin repository as it needs some testing.  This is a pretty significant change as beta-2 includes the new WordPress Google Form custom post type plus all of the features included in the last beta release.

Download the beta release and please let me know if you run into any issues.

Google Forms Beta (7985 downloads )

wpGForm Custom Post Type Preview

As I noted a couple days ago, I have started a “renovation” of sorts to my WordPress Google Forms plugin.  I have defined a Custom Post Type which makes it much easier to set up a form.  It is no longer necessary to worry about the syntax of a long complicated short code!  Here are a couple images of what the Dashboard UI looks like.

Adding a form to a post or page is as simple as adding the [wpgform id=’N’] short code where N maps to the form’s post id.  The short code syntax for each Google Form appears in the list of forms.

The Google Form Edit Screen has fields which map directly to all of the short code attributes that were defined in the original short code.

There is no change of operation on the front end – the form should continue to operate as it has previously.  If you’re interested in testing this new version, I hope to have a beta available fairly soon which also has some other new features.

Moving to a Custom Post Type may allow for some more robust field validation using the jQuery Validation plugin!  Stay tuned for  more details on that as I don’t think it will be in the first release of Custom Post Types.

Email Users v4.3.15 is now available

This afternoon I released v4.3.15 of Email Users. This update includes a number of enhancements, some bug fixes, and a bunch of translation improvements. Thanks in particular to Ponç J. Llaneras for helping with the myriad of translation issues.

  • Replaced use of deprecated function the_editor() with wp_editor().
  • Fixed Javascript conflict which affects Dashboard and Menu Management resulting from enqueing the WordPress ‘post’ library.
  • Fixed bug where user settings are not saved correctly when toggling user setting control.
  • Fixed bug when the dollar sign character ($) appears in the content of a page or post.
  • Added option to include sender in recipient list.
  • Numerous updates to make translation easier.
  • Updated Spanish and French translation files.

You can find the update on your Dashboard or in the WordPress Plugin Repository.

Email Users v4.3.15-beta-6 available

This morning I made a beta-6 version of Email Users v4.3.15 available for download from this site. I  hope this is the final beta version before the final release.  I am not aware of any outstanding bugs at this time.  This latest beta version has some more tweaks to aid in translation.

Download the beta release and please let me know if you run into any issues.

Email Users Beta (5012 downloads )

Adding Custom Post Types to WordPress Google Form

I have been thinking about migrating WordPress Google Form from a shortcode based solution to a Custom Post Type solution.  Today I decided to move from thinking about it to acting on it.  As I add more features the short code complexity has grown quite a bit.  Because the short code contains URLs with special characters, the chance of introducing a syntax error is very high and it is by far the most common support request I receive.

There are a lot of benefits to adding a custom Post Type, among them:

  1. Reduced syntax errors.
  2. Shorter short codes.
  3. No chance of misspelling attribute names.
  4. No chance of having duplicate (or triplicate!) attributes and wondering why the first value isn’t working.
  5. Possibility of having form specific CSS.

I plan to retain the current short code syntax so existing installations will continue to work but will introduce a new short code (likely [wpgform id=’N’]) which can be used in place of the current short code.  Over time I will likely deprecate the older short code but not anytime soon.

The primary reason I am doing this is my desire to connect Google Forms with PayPal which I think I can do using a hook in Woo Commerce.  Having the Google Form as a very simple short code will help me do what I want to do (I think).

Email Users v4.3.15-beta-3 available

This morning I made a beta-3 version of Email Users v4.3.15 available for download from this site. I still hope to incorporate as many translation package updates as I can before the final release.

This latest beta version fixes some bugs where the names and ids or users or roles was not displayed in the recipient lists.

Download the beta release and please let me know if you run into any issues.

Email Users Beta (5012 downloads )

Email Users v4.3.15-beta-2 available

This evening I have made a beta-2 version of Email Users v4.3.15 available for download from this site. I have not posted this version to the WordPress plugin repository yet as I’d like to incorporate as many translation package updates as I can before the final release.

This latest beta version includes translation catalog files generated with Poedit to help make the translation process easier.

Download the beta release and please let me know if you run into any issues.

Email Users Beta (5012 downloads )

Integrating PayPal and Google Forms

As I told a co-worker 20+ years ago, there is no better way to learn how to do something than having a problem to solve.  I need to solve a problem.  My WordPress Google Form plugin originally came from a project to help our Middle School Athletics Booster Club.  It solved the problem at hand but over time I’ve added more features to it, not because the Booster Club needed them but because people asked or they were interesting problems I was compelled to solve.

Our Booster Club now wants to have an Online Shop and after playing with a couple of eCommerce plugins, I’ve decided to go with WooCommerce.  The only thing really missing is the ability to sell a Booster Club Membership.  Our membership process isn’t easily handled by any of the eCommerce plugins I’ve looked at.  WooCommerce has a paid for add-on module that looks promising but I am reluctant to buy something without trying it first.

I’d really like to inject a PayPal “pay” button into WordPress Google Form and simply use it for our membership registration but doing so isn’t simple.  PayPal makes the Payment API look very simple in their documentation but from what I’ve read, it isn’t quite so simple.

With as much mucking around with the DOM I’ve done to Google Forms usiing jQuery I don’t think it would be too hard to insert a PayPal button in place of the Submit.  Handling all of the handshaking isn’t quite as simple though.  There doesn’t appear to be an easy solution but that is what makes for a good problem.  I’ll keep noodling on it, there has to be something I can.

Email Users v4.3.15-beta available

This morning I have made a beta version of Email Users v4.3.15 available for download from this site. I have not posted this version to the WordPress plugin repository yet as I’d like to get some additional testing done on it before doing so as well as incorporate any translation package updates as I can before the final release (which I will likely label v4.4.0).

There are a couple of significant new features and a number of bug fixes in this version.

  1. Fixed the problem where a dollar sign in the post or page content followed by a number disappears.  This was happening due to  preg_replace() seeing the $nn pattern as part of its regular expression processing.
  2. Fixed issues with user settings disappearing.
  3. Added the ability to include the sender in the recipient list as an options setting.
  4. Fixed bug which prevented WordPress Dashboard and Menu Manager from working correctly.
  5. Changed a number of strings to make the process of creating a language package much easier.

Download the beta release and please let me know if you run into any issues.

Email Users Beta (5012 downloads )

WordPress Google Form v0.46-beta available

This afternoon I made a beta version of WordPress Google Form v0.46 available for download from this site. I have not posted this version to the WordPress plugin repository yet as I’d like to get some additional testing done on it before doing so.

There are a could of significant new features and a few bug fixes in this version.

  1. Columns!  You can now have your form rendered in columns.  To have a two column form, add the attribute columns=’2′ to your short code.
  2. When enabled, the simple math CAPTCHA will now appear above the Submit button instead of below it.
  3. Some minor CSS updates to support the new column feature.

Download the beta release and please let me know if you run into any issues.  You can see an example of multi-column support on my Multi-Column Test Bed Form.

Google Forms Beta (7985 downloads )