phpFormGenerator News

After some downtime due to problems caused by source forge server upgrades, the phpFormGenerator v3.0 demo site is back up and running. http://www.phpformgen.com

Dear users,

I'm proud to announce that v3.0 has passed the development stage and is ready to be tested out. Before I actually release it on SourceForge for public download, I have setup a demo site where users can test drive the program. Users will be able to generate and "DOWNLOAD" forms directly from the demo website. This allows users to check the program out before installing it themselves. The demo site is located at: http://www.phpformgen.com ... read more

In wake of the recent earthquake disaster in the South East Asia, I am setting up a fund to raise money to help the victims. The unofficial death toll estimate has passed 100,000 leaving the citizens of the region completely devastated. I request the phpFormGenerator user community to donate whatever you can. Please visit the project homepage to make a donation: http://phpformgen.sourceforge.net

I have posted a test link for a very preliminary version of phpFormGenerator v3.0, the brand new, rewritten from scratch version. If you would like to test it out, check out the forums: http://www.microterra.net/forums under phpFormGenerator. User feedback is critical at this stage, so participate if you can.

Thats right people, the next big release of phpFormGenerator is under development. This version is going to be action packed. I am totally rebuilding the program from scratch with a completely new design and engine. The new interface is extremely idiot proof and yet much more powerful than the current version in terms of flexiblity, feature-richness, stability, and security.
Here's a teaser, I have posted a couple of screenshots of the new version:
http://phpformgen.sourceforge.net/shot1.png
http://phpformgen.sourceforge.net/shot2.png ... read more

Small feature enhancement. The admin portal now comes with a "print record" functionality that lets you view a printable version of your form entries.

Microterra Solutions is open for business! This is the (much anticipated) service that I had been working on launching for a while now, and its finally here! Microterra offers webhosting solutions and contract web application development. Currently, we are offering a "Universal Hosting Solution" that features 1GB of disk space and 100GB of data transfer per month, and it comes with a shell account with background processes and official phpFormGenerator support. For more details, please visit the website: http://www.microterra.net... read more

Hey everyone,
As most of you already know, I am the author of phpFormGenerator. Due to the major issues and frequent confusions with the ISPs providing hosting and support for phpFormGenerator, I am considering starting my own service to the users. I am basically thinking about buying a couple of fast dedicated servers and providing web hosting solutions, along with "official" phpFormGenerator support to the customers. If you guys think this is a good idea, let me know. Also, if anyone would want to help out in the initial startup of this "small company", drop me a line.
Email me at musawir at gmail dot com... read more

As you might have noticed, phpFormGenerator is now able to use different template files to give forms cool looks. The template creation process is a little convoluted though, but one can figure out after some examination. It would be great if users and open source developers can contribute some good looking themes (templates) that I can put up for download. You can find some sample template files in the "templates" directory. Looking forward to some submissions!

Many people are still downloading the old v2.09. The updated version, v2.09b, is a complete release on its own. It doesn't need any previously installed version of the program. So simply download the v2.09b release and start using it.

Some people reported that they had problems untarring the v2.09b tarball. Therefore, I have recreated the tarball and have replaced the old one with it. Hopefully there won't be any issues with this one.

Some users complained that they could not delete the forms created by the phpFormGenerator. For that reason, I will be releasing an updated version of v2.09 that will include a feature to delete old forms. The new release will be posted soon.

A new version has been released. In this version, I have made it easy to generate multiple forms. The user will be prompted for a project name for every form they create. Therefore, the old forms created will not be overwritten. Before, the user had to manually copy the directory, this is now done by the program itself.

phpFormGenerator passed the 50,000 downloads mark this week.

New version consists of a bug fix and a feature enhancement. Firstly, the file upload fields are no longer "required" fields. If the user does not check the "required" checkbox for a particular field of type "file upload", this field becomes a non-required field as expected. Previously, the file upload field was a required field by default.
Next, support for templates has been added. Right now, you can select from two templates that I have added to the package: the default (Aqua) template, and a raw form template. I will add new templates when I create them, and I encourage others to create templates and send them to me so I can put them up for download.... read more

I am planning on releasing a new version in a couple of days. This version will introduce template support. Although I have everything done, I just want to create a few templates that I can pack into the distribution before releasing this new version. Also, a bug in the file upload has been fixed. The file upload had been a required field, even if the required checkbox was not checked. This has been fixed in the new version.

Yesterday my main development station/ test server died after several years or loyal service. In order to assist the development of phpFormGenerator, users are requested to make small donations towards building a new machine. Please visit this page: http://phpformgen.sourceforge.net/forISPs.html for making a donation via credit card. Or PayPal donations can be sent directory to:
ali@pcmac.org

Thanks!

There was a small bug in the thank you page generation which has now been fixed. The new version is v2.07b

I have been in touch with the Fantastico management and I have let them know about the issues that people are having using phpFormGenerator. Hopefully, they will fix their security implementation soon.

phpFormGenerator Installation Guide is available in the Docs section. This excellent contribution from Mark (at krisandmark.com) is much appreciated!

A few minor enhancements for smooth operation. I have added an installation verification script. Turns out most people are lazy and don't read the README file and then start posting crazy messages on the forums. So I have added verification code that makes sure that people perform all necessary installation operations before using the program. Next, I have made the program to "suggest" column names for people using the MySQL feature. Most of the users were either leaving these fields blank or choosing "bad" names which resulted in the program going haywire. Hopefully, the suggested table names will help out on this.
Apart from that, an extra error checking bit has been added. Conflicting field names will be reported so that they don't create issues further down the lane.

The bug in the latest version 2.06 that caused a parse error has been fixed and released in the files section.

For anyone who is using phpFormGenerator that comes with the Fantastica script package, there seems to be a wierd security implementation that password protects the users entire website. This due to bad placement of the .htaccess file that is used for authentication. Although I don't have access to a Fantastica server, but that would be my guess. I would recommend anyone who is having such problems to directly download the program from the project's official website at sourceforge: http://phpformgen.sourceforge.net
This is without any predefined security implementation, so you won't have any problems.

Added feature of generating "Thank You" page. It includes the requested feature of displaying the information filled out on the form. I haven't thoroughly tested this release so it might be buggy! Let me know if there are any issues with it.

Mailaform.com ( http://www.mailaform.com ) is a new service that is powered by phpFormGenerator. Users can sign up as free or paid users and create forms online. The forms are hosted on mailaform.com for you, so you don't have to provide your own web hosting. Try it out!
Please note that phpFormGenerator is not affiliated with Mailaform.com in any way. Mailaform.com is a company that provides a service using phpFormGenerator.