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mefoo
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Joined: Sep 03, 2010
Posts: 57

PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 8:07 am Reply with quote

Once again I have another question.

I've stumbled across Tim's "Pro Forms" modules and that thing is freaking awesome. It's perfect for small businesses to implement within their site. (such as ours)

Question is... does anyone know if he's still selling/supporting Pro Forms and if not... does anyone have the pull to get him to release his source so that those of us who would like to further develop could do so? If neither is possible... is there anything else out there that comes close to his product??? (we are willing to pay)

There are still so many bugs with the "unlicensed" version and I can't tell by his site if he's still supporting/selling this module.

----------------

For the raven dev's... a forms system would be a perfect module for ravennuke to have available within RN so that small business could adapt their needs with ravennuke.
 
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Palbin
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Posts: 2583
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 9:25 am Reply with quote

Do you have a link?

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mefoo







PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 10:35 am Reply with quote

Palbin-

Thank you SOOOO much for even entertaining my suggestions. I really appreciate it as i've been sitting in limbo trying to get ahold of "TIM" (on this site.... DBF_Tim) to find out what is the progress of his work. (I'm under time constraints and really REALLY need a "custom forms" module such as his to get our site off the ground)

His site is....
[ Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! ] - Pro Forms v2 (guessing still beta??)

However sir, if your guys could implement a similar module within RN itself.... it would be HUGELY beneficial for small business owners as we could have a platform for running a web driven business more efficiently.


*** Similar product for dotnetnuke [ Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! ]
-------------------

On a separate note... It may even be possible that this type of feature could be incorporated with the project tracking modules. (don't know if you read my other topic in this forum) Either way... those two features would be extremely beneficial for people such as myself who love RN but have to come up with crude modifications to make it work for us. Thanks a million Palbin!!
 
mefoo







PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 11:00 am Reply with quote

Sorry for double post (no save button or cancel in the "edit" page)

I forgot to mention that he uses Ioncube so that eliminates the option to correct his faulty code as well as future development. That may also be a reason why some of his codes doesn't work correctly either??? (not sure)

In any case.... if there's anything I can do to help this along somehow please let me know. Thanks again!
 
fkelly
Former Moderator in Good Standing



Joined: Aug 30, 2005
Posts: 3312
Location: near Albany NY

PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 2:55 pm Reply with quote

I am seeing "down for maintenance" when I went to the PROWHS site. However, when I looked at the page I thought, "wow, that looks like Zencart" and then up in the title bar I saw a reference to Zencart. If so, it is a standalone product that you can install. I have installed it on a test basis. I don't know how you would ever integrate it into a CMS like Ravennuke but you could possibly build some kind of bridge like we are talking about with PHPBB3. Or, just have a link on your home page for your CMS where if someone wants to buy something they go to your Zencart link.

the dotnetnuke product looks interesting but their requirements include:

.Net Framework Supports .Net Framework 3.5 and above ONLY
Database Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008
DotNetNuke 4.x, 5.x
Install Package PA Installation Package
Source Code Not Included (Please contact for availability)

no reference to MYSQL and definitely not open source.

But, yes, a product like this that generates forms (and their validation) reliably and with a minimum of programming would be great.
 
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mefoo







PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:10 pm Reply with quote

Site is working fine for me. direct link (after redirect)
[ Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! ]

silver on black theme with very few members and about the same forum posts.

his "store" site is
[ Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! ]

which is down and is why I was asking whether anyone knew if he was still selling this product. (last real anything related I can find him talking about is in Feb-Mar. of this year)

But yes.... custom forms would be absolutely amazing on RN. The way this guy put together his forms system is just amazing. Forms can be modded all sorts of ways, drop down list view for users & tons of other features. It would be PERFECT for small biz and just about any other type of site out there and just one more feature that could be "standard" with RN. (how about replacing journal with this Very Happy)
 
fkelly







PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:30 pm Reply with quote

I can't see anything about his software on his site. I tried registering thinking I would see more but I can't get registered either -- get all sorts of errors. I give up. Yes, custom forms would be great. We've looked at a number of options, including using one of the PHP frameworks that provide form helpers. Unfortunately, we haven't found the magic bullet yet. The way Zencart builds forms is interesting, I've looked at a bit of their code. But it would not be easy to build into a RN type of product.
 
mefoo







PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:42 pm Reply with quote

He has his module locked down with IonCube and it "seems" as he's just dropped off the face of the planet. His system is just about perfect with the features it offers.

If you want to download it and test it out...
[ Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! ]

Release notes say that it's a beta build or for testing (can't remember) and with the errors I had with it... I'd agree. However, supposedly he's got this thing working with RN, EVO & some others.


----------------------------------------------

Description

Pro Forms is a commercial/pro script coded to work inside phpNuke CMS. It requires php 5.x.x, ionCube support and mySQL on your web server. The module also comes with all the documentations or installation instructions. Please backup your website before you attempt to install this script.
Requires PHP v5.x.x and IonCube support.

1.

Multiple forms for different uses.
2.

Nearly unlimited number of forms and questions on forms.
3.

Anonymous access to forms allowed by option.
4.

Choose forum and group for review of each form
5.

Record User IP in application database
6.

User input options:
1.

Label
2.

Entry
1.

With default text in entry.
3.

Validated Entry
1.

Using regular expressions.
4.

Text Area
1.

Admin sizable box
5.

Password
6.

Check Box
7.

Check Box List
8.

Drop down List
9.

Radio Buttons
10.

Date input
11.

Read-Only Text Area
7.

All question and response pairs can be framed on the form.
8.

All question and response pairs are now set in a 3 column format allowing greater creativity in formatting the form.
9.

Responses can now be positioned in relation to the question. Right, Bottom, Left, and Top are available.
10.

Each question and response now has left, center, and right alignment options.
11.

Most user inputs can be passive or required.
12.

Completed applications are stored in a database table.
13.

Fields validated before the page is reloaded (via JAVA Script)
14.

Editor Compatible switch turns this off due to conflicts with add-on Java-Script editors.
15.

User can be added to a selected group when their application is approved.
1.

Advanced User Color is supported as well as rank.
2.

There is now a switch for AUC support
16.

Application notification options:
1.

Small notice emailed to admin.
2.

Detailed (complete application) emailed to admin.
3.

Posted to a forum
1.

Topic watch can be set on for the selected group for that forum
2.

The selected group can be e-mailed
3.

A single group can be set to manage application status
4.

Edit post on status change. This means the post is updated with the new status.
5.

You can now create a poll for each form that will be part of the initial post for each completed app.
4.

Notify user by e-mail on Application status change
5.

HTML or text formatted emails with PHP-Nuke Mailer support.
6.

The user ip is now shown in the admin detailed email
7.

The admin can now write a custom message when an app is accepted or declined and it is appended to the user email and the forum post.
8.

Forms can be limited to a group.
1.

If this is set on, the drop down list will only show forms the user can access because of group permissions.
9.

Example user Application Blocks included.
1.

Colors for status text admin controlled.
2.

Display application in block selectable for each form.
3.

Show user name in block selectable for each form.
4.

Set block as marque or static
17.

Other Admin options or features
1.

Set status for applications in the admin panel
2.

Set status for applications in forum post. (Must already be logged in as admin or set as form manager)
3.

Applications can be deleted from admin interface.
4.

Forms can be deleted from admin interface.
5.

Customizable welcome or terms text.
6.

Customizable Thank You text.
7.

Set number of applications taken.
8.

Customizable "No longer taking applications" text.
9.

Customizable "Application accepted" text.
10.

Customizable "Application declined" text.
11.

You now stay in the same admin section when you switch forms.
12.

Customizable form completed message
13.

We added search functionality to the completed applications list.
14.

We added sort functionality to the comleted applications list.
15.

We made the form submit button text customizable.
16.

There is now a Pre-App terms page
17.

The Admin can now define the status words for each form.
18.

The Admin panel now has Tooltips from the Yahoo AJAX Library
19.

We added tabs to the admin interface to put associated or similar settings together.
18.

Other Features
1.

More intelligent installer.
2.

Drop-down list of all application forms available on the top of application forms.
1.

This is admin selectable on each form.
3.

Full multi-language support.
1.

US English is included.
4.

Pro Forms can stand alone.
5.

Re-structure database for more efficiency.
6.

We now Force JavaScript for the user to be able to fill out the form.
-------------------------------------------------------------

This system as a "core" function would be amazing.
 
mefoo







PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 3:46 pm Reply with quote

He has his module locked down with IonCube and it "seems" as he's just dropped off the face of the planet. His system is just about perfect with the features it offers.

If you want to download it and test it out...
[ Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! ]

Release notes say that it's a beta build or for testing (can't remember) and with the errors I had with it... I'd agree. However, supposedly he's got this thing working with RN, EVO & some others.

RN article:
[ Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! ]

This system as a "core" function would be amazing.
 
fkelly







PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 4:25 pm Reply with quote

I downloaded. However, as it appeared, it's all encoded so you can't see the source. It might be good stuff, it might not. A nice features list by itself doesn't mean much. The fact that it hasn't been supported for 2 years and is encoded makes it pretty much useless.

I don't mean to be negative. A whole CMS that was built around a forms builder that produced valid, reliable code would be great. I just can't see how this is that.
 
mefoo







PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 4:59 pm Reply with quote

No no no. I'm not asking for the entire CMS to built around this.... but there are SOOO many different uses that can be had from a forms "system" implemented "WITHIN" RN.

Examples:

clan could create clan app
biz 1 could create service request
biz 2 could create product request
etc etc etc.

There are so many different uses that could be had from having a built in "Custom Forms Creator" within RN itself as a standard "module". (just like Your_Account)

The "Pro Forms v2.0" can be "Integrated" with nuke as it stands now. To understand just how many possibilities you would have with a system like that... you'd have to install it on a test site and see it in action at it's present state (bugs n' all). It is possible to have something like this and seeing most everyone can benefit from it... the idea should seriously be looked at.

It however, can also stand alone. (see documentation in the download for integrating with nuke)

Here is a site that has a form up n' running:
[ Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! ]

(notice at the bottom that it's the "unlicensed version" of the file. probably due to lack of purchase option)

Customizable form creation WITHIN RN itself? Are you kidding me?? <drooling>

I'll reinstall the module and take screenshots of the backend so that everyone can get an idea of how easy it is to manage the submissions.
 
fkelly







PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 5:33 pm Reply with quote

I'm not sure how the other developers feel, but I would be very reluctant to "integrate" anything where I don't have access to the code. There are both security and support issues implicit. We couldn't even fix the bugs (as we did with the RNYA module) without access to the code.

And, honestly, it's not THAT difficult to write a form within the current RN structure. What gets to be a pain in the ... is that you keep having to do the same thing over and over again for many forms and also code validation etc. And that developers don't follow any consistent standard for forms (there isn't one really) so you get a hit and miss in terms of appearance. Some of this will be worked out (consistent validation for instance) in the next generation of RN but a form helper would also help.

We'll still look forward to reviewing whatever other details you can provide.
 
mefoo







PostPosted: Mon Sep 06, 2010 5:34 pm Reply with quote

Please understand me... I'm not asking for "THIS" particular module... but since it appears he's no longer going to support this idea (and the source is locked down)... "COULD" this type of setup be incorporated into RN? (That's what i'm getting at)

It's a brilliant idea... yet it's not being supported anymore and it appears that no one is developing something similar. Again... just an idea.

Screenshots of the admin panel:

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
 
mefoo







PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 7:32 am Reply with quote

Sorry for the double post... but I received an email this morning confirming what I was worried about.

DBF_Tim (this site) A.k.A. Tim Leitz passed away.
 
fkelly







PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 8:01 am Reply with quote

Sorry to hear that. The application design looks great too. Maybe someone responsible for his legacy could release the code as Open Source in his memory.
 
mefoo







PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 8:12 am Reply with quote

I'm in emails with his widow trying to accomplish that now. If she's willing... I *hope* to get her in touch with Raven or Pablin and have her release his source to them so they can incorporate it with the RN distro.

That all depends on her and I can't hold it against her if she doesn't want to. Keep your fingers crossed because his forms system is out of this world but needs a little polishing.
 
catweazle
Regular
Regular



Joined: Oct 14, 2006
Posts: 60
Location: Norway

PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 2:06 pm Reply with quote

Not sure about how advanced you want/need the form creator to be?

I've used "phpFormCreator" for quite some time, and it has met all my needs for a form this far. It works as an online form creator.
All you have to do is uploade the files to your site, set the right permissions on directories and files - and off you go. Best of all -> it's open source.
You can change whatever you want to make the final layout look just the way you want. Should be rather easy to put inside a Module as well...

It's available at (http://sourceforge.net): phpFormCreator v2.09

Just thought I should mention this in case you weren't aware of it.
Give it a try - it's easy to install (no use of SQL), and easy to uninstall/remove if you don't like it Wink

It's a great and very easy to use program...

[edit] Forgot to mention that you can use SQL if you want to... [/edit]

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Catweazle.

Last edited by catweazle on Fri Sep 10, 2010 6:39 am; edited 2 times in total 
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mefoo







PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 2:09 pm Reply with quote

Thanks for the tip catweazle!!!! Appreciate it very much!
 
fkelly







PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 3:35 pm Reply with quote

I am not finding phpFormCreator v2.09 on sourceforge. I tried searching withing Sourceforge and googling the thing. No luck.
 
mefoo







PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 3:36 pm Reply with quote

Try this
[ Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registered or login! ]
 
catweazle







PostPosted: Thu Sep 09, 2010 6:57 pm Reply with quote

I tried some different methods to get phpFormCreator running as a Module,
but most of which gave nothing but the "installer check" errors from the phpFormCreator:
That all the required directories and files didn't have the right permissions (even though they had!).

I don't have much time to fiddle around with programming at the moment, so I ended up using iframe for now.
I'm sure one of the greater skilled gurus on here kan make this thing a "real" Module for RavenNuke(tm) in notime Wink

Here's what I did:
Created the following directory on my site: modules/Form_Creator
Copied all phpform/*.* files from within the archive into the above directory (NOT the phpform folder itself, and NOT the phpform/README.txt file)
Ensured that all the required directories and files had the right permissions
Renamed the modules/Form_Creator/index.php to phpform.php
Then made the following index.php file to replase the original one:

Code:
<?


if (!eregi("modules.php", $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'])) {
  die ("You can't access this file directly...");
}

$index=0; // Don't show right blocks (1 = Show right blocks) //

$go_to_thisaddress="http://yoursite.com/modules/Form_Creator/phpform.php";
$go_to_address=rawurldecode($go_to_thisaddress);
include("header.php");

OpenTable();
echo "<center><a href=\"index.php\">Click here to close!</a></center>";
echo "<iframe SRC=\"".$go_to_address."\" width=\"100%\" height=\"1500\" framespacing=\"0\" frameborder=\"no\" border=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\"></iframe>";
echo "<br><center>NB! This side are using iframes.</center><br>";
CloseTable();
include("footer.php");
die;

?>


Dont forget to replace "yoursite.com" in the above code with YOUR actual domaine name! Smile
 
fkelly







PostPosted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 8:30 am Reply with quote

Thanks for the url reference. After a quick fly-by review:

- the program has its own header areas (doctype and the like) which would need to be removed to run under RN). These are repeated in many of the PHP programs in the "distribution".

- it does its own MYSQL connection, so you'd need to modify this to use the RN standard

- there are many compliance issues. Example (picked just randomly):

echo "<table border=0 width='100%'><tr><td class='small' bgcolor='#000000'>";

which should be echo '<table border="0" width="100%"><tr><td class="small", bgcolor="#000000">';

trivial in a single instance but significant in terms of converting the whole thing to run as a RN module.

----

From a larger perspective, it is not THAT DIFFICULT, at present to create a form in RN. What does create difficulties and unnecessary duplicate code and security exposures is that we have no standard approach that's documented and no "helpers" etc. We have been moving that way, especially with steps towards using standard input validation in a future RN version but most of those steps are not yet visible to the average RN administrator. Also, using the JQUERY validation library would assist in consistency ... if it was applied across all forms. Entering a date, or phone number, or zip code? Right now most developers would write their own JS validation code, if they wrote any at all. That leads to a tower of babble. Have a text input form field that is supposed to contain integer values between 1 and 99? Right now the RN developer is left on his/her own. Do I write JS validation for that and when is it executed ... after the user leaves the field or when the form is submitted? How does it work with subsequent PHP validation of the same thing?

Current RN forms are usually embedded in tables. More recent standards would suggest using lists with labels and formatting using style sheets. But we have nothing on that for the developer to use. You can also use JQUERY cluetips and the title attribute to give the user additional selective information on filling out the form. But we have no standard implementation of that, though again we are moving towards that.

This is not to suggest that a form generator is a bad thing in itself. But its priority needs to be put in context. If the form generator is going to generate a lot of outdated and non-compliant forms, then it could create more work than it saves.
 
montego
Site Admin



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Posts: 9457
Location: Arizona

PostPosted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:36 am Reply with quote

BTW, if there is any script that is encoded, such as with IonCube, and the script is GPL, upon request, the author MUST provide you the un-encoded source! Otherwise, they are in violation of the GPL.

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Raven
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Joined: Aug 27, 2002
Posts: 17088

PostPosted: Sun Sep 12, 2010 1:13 pm Reply with quote

The script is not GPL. I knew Tim (via Internet) for several years. I was not aware that he had passed Sad. I knew that he was no longer supporting ProForms or anything actually. Here is the last correspondence I had with him from last March (2009).
Tim Leitz wrote:

Gaylen,

Just wanted to let you know, I have stopped the sales and distribution of Pro Forms as well as Member Application. I saw a distinct lack of interest from the CMS community as a whole. I do continue to provide support for both programs through a support ticket system at PROWHS.com.

The future for this software is very much in doubt. As are other projects I had initialized. I believe it is time to step away from programming for a bit and re-evaluate what I may or may not want to pursue.

Feel free to remove the banner ad. This in no way affects the licenses I sent you.

Thank you,

Tim



mefoo,

Thank you for this information, albeit sad. I would like to contact his wife, for personal reasons, concerning Tim. Would you please send to me a PM with her email address? Also, if you do succeed in getting the source, please send it along to me and we will look at it to see what might be possible.

Thanks,
Raven
 
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mefoo







PostPosted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 8:15 am Reply with quote

Raven-

I will definitely provide you with her contact information. At the present time she's still dealing with the trama so I'm not pressuring here make any rash decisions on his work.

I didn't know Tim and hence I was bringing this information to the CMS community because I hadn't really found any other information on him while I was digging around. I'm glad to hear that you have more of a tie to them than I do.
 
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