Add hidden fields to Contact Form 7

I love the Contact Form 7 plugin, and use it for many of my projects…but one thing it misses is the ability to add hidden fields. The Contact Form 7 Modules plugin adds hidden fields to Contact Form 7 in a way that will not break in future upgrades. It’s simple: install the plugin, then edit your form!

Add Every Form Field to Emails At Once

New in Version 1.2!

Contact Form 7 makes you copy and paste each of your form’s fields into the email message. This can take a while, and means that if you add a field in the future but forget to put it in your email, you won’t get sent that piece of information.

Now, with the All Fields Module (included in Contact Form 7 Modules plugin), you only need to add one tag to receive every submitted field: [all-fields]

For Older Versions of Contact Form 7

When Contact Form 7 2.0 was been released, it added functionality to add new types of inputs.  Add hidden tag functionality and “Generate Tag” capability by downloading the file below and replacing/adding the three files included.

Contact Form 7 2.0.1 – Add Hidden Fields (13.0 KB)

Contact Form 7 2.0 – Add Hidden Fields (11.8 KB)

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Click image to view larger screenshot of the newsletter widget.

Don’t have VerticalResponse? Try it out for free.

This is a portal page for bug reports, recommendations, or feedback on the VerticalResponse Newsletter widget for WordPress. 

Get the VR widget from WordPress.org

Go to the widget’s page on WordPress.org to download the most recent version of the plugin.

Bugs, feedback, suggestions:

• Leave feedback in the comments below 
• Give suggestions or feedback on the VerticalResponse Widget Get Satisfaction page
• Add a topic on the WordPress Support Forum for the widget

Version History:

• Version .14  - 1/25/09 - Fixed bug that showed the Vertical Response form instead of saving the widget options or removing the widget.
• Version .141 – 1/26/09 – Updated Plugin URI link to go to widget post page, rather than Katz Web Design home page.
• Version .142 - 2/1/09 - Updated tag closure order – thanks Patrick!
• Version .143 - 2/4/09 - Updated stripslashes() to better handle apostrophes in fields
• Version .145 – 4/7/09 
  • Minor update to fix ‘unexpected $end’ fatal error, changing <? to &lt;?php(thanks, Heather!)
  • Added id’s and classes to improve CSS customization capabilities.
• Version .146 – 4/9/09
  • Fixed an issue with activation errors. 

CSS Classes

For those of you who are interested in doing your own CSS (which is an option for the widget), here’s a breakdown of the elements:

form

#vr_form

fieldset

#vr_form fieldset

Email Label

#email_address_label

Email Required

em#vr_email_required

Email Input

#email_address

First Name Label

#first_name_label

First Name Input

#first_name

Last Name Label

#last_name_label

Last Name Input

#last_name

Submit Input

#vr_submit

VR Link

.vr_link, .vrLink

Submit Bug Reports

Please fill out this bug report if you’re having problems with the widget.

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A quick plug as well: one of my clients, Savory Cuisines Catering, is currently booking slots for holiday party catering in Boulder. If you need a caterer in Boulder that truly delivers, get in touch with Bob Sargent and let Savory Cuisines take care of everything.

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• Paint!
  • The living room
  • My office
  • The kitchen
• Buy!
  • A corner TV stand
  • A SolaTube (which has made our living room 300% more pleasant)
  • A new desk for my office
  • Gallons of paint (see “Paint!” above )
• Plumb
  • Our secondary sewer line collapsed. Ouch.

So, as you can see, it was quite the vacation.  It’s good to be back doing web design!

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Creating products that communicate their problems effectively is one of the next major steps in user-friendliness.

Nowadays you have Bluetooth, WiFi, email, IM, SMS, and endless other ways of wirelessly connecting and communicating. The chips are small, inexpensive, and easy to integrate; there are WiFi memory cards for cameras that fit on a postage-stamp size product.

So why can’t my car send me an email?

Instead of having to guess when my car actually needs an oil change, brakes changed, etc., why can’t my car tell me myself?

My wife and I were talking over the weekend about cars, and how annoying and discouraging it is when your car needs repairs.  Sometimes, the only way you know your car needs work is when the mechanic breaks the news: your car needs work done. 

How to tell your car is in trouble:

• You have a sticker on your windshield that gives you a hint when your next oil change is due — but that sticker might fade, peel, or be replaced.
• Your car might have a computer that knows exactly what’s wrong, but won’t tell you unless it’s hooked up to a special diagnostic machine.
• You may hear, feel, or smell something is wrong with your car and take it in
• A mechanic, who may or may not properly identify and diagnose problems

My car’s name is Boomer.

People already anthropomorphize their cars: we give them names, recognize them as cute/strong/fast/smart. Cars are more than a tool; they often mirror their owner’s personality. 

Since cars already provoke an emotional response, I want to propose something: have my car tell me what’s wrong.  I’d rather hear that my car needs a repair from my car.

I would like to get an email from my car like this:

Dear Zack,

It’s been around 4,500 miles since my last oil change, and I’ve been doing really well — even though the oil people tell you to change oil every 3,000 miles.  But recently, I’ve noticed I’m not feeling as good while accelerating, and I think it’s because I need new oil.

Could you please change my oil?  Here are a few nearby places:

• Option 1 – 1.3 miles away
• Option 2 – 1.5 miles away 
• Option 3 – 2.1 miles away ( I found a coupon online for 30% off!)

I’ll let you know if anything changes, but I will definitely need my oil changed within 1 week. 

Thanks!

Boomer, your VW Passat Wagon

How about getting a text message from your DVD player?

What other technology would you like to hear from? What obstacles are there to better communication by our products?

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The following is a brief summary of how I got my domain back:

I immediately contacted the register, told them that cybersquatting is a crime.  I wrote the following email to name.net:

I am writing to you in regards to the domain zackkatz.com.  I have been the owner of the zackkatz.com domain for over 5 years. My intention was to renew my domain, but I discovered that your company, name.net, have registered it in order to sell it at a profit.  I believe you have registered this domain in bad faith.  I am prepared to take this matter to the National Arbitration Forum to have it resolved, so I am copying them on this email.  I would, however, rather deal with your company personally and work out a fair compensation for the return of my domain.

I have included below the section of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy that applies to your registration of my domain:

Evidence of Registration and Use in Bad Faith. For the purposes of Paragraph 4(a)(iii), the following circumstances, in particular but without limitation, if found by the Panel to be present, shall be evidence of the registration and use of a domain name in bad faith:

(i) circumstances indicating that you have registered or you have acquired the domain name primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of your documented out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name; or

(ii) you have registered the domain name in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that you have engaged in a pattern of such conduct; or

(iii) you have registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or

(iv) by using the domain name, you have intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to your web site or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant’s mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of your web site or location or of a product or service on your web site or location.

Please contact me immediately regarding this matter.

They responded with the following:

It appears this domain name was registered through our company by a customer of ours. We are not the owner of this domain. The name was only registered through us. The contact details of the domain name holder are available in the whois at this time. It appears that the registrant of this domain is currently parking their name.

An “inquire about” link is provided on this domain parking page. Individuals interested in the purchase of a parked domain are welcome to make an offer using this link. This does not mean the current domain holder is necessarily selling the domain, nor does it mean they have authorized any third parties to sell them.

If you have a trademark on this domain, it is possible that the domain name holder broke our registration agreement. Our regulations on infringing domains are quite strict and we do our best to solve issues. We would be happy to discuss this issue further. Please let us know how we can be of further assistance.

Thank you,
Rick
Name.net
support@name.net

I didn’t get it back, but they sold the domain

So I waited for a few months, and lo and behold, the domain was sold to a “Traffic Monetization Firm” that was using my site as an ad spam website (you know those sites with a bunch of ads…yeah, my domain was one of those for a while).

My domain had a link to “Make an Offer on this Domain,” and I offered them $10…I wanted to see what they were going to do. They wanted $150.00. 

I countered with an offer of $100.00, which they accepted. I was not willing to pay $100.00 for my domain back. So I just waited. The offer expired, and they didn’t renew their registration.

Make an offer they can refuse.

I believe the last straw for this company was me offering them money, them accepting the offer, and me never taking them up on it. 

If you want your stolen domain back (and don’t want to go through a legal battle), make offers on your website, then let them expire.  I believe this was a major contributor to me getting my domain back.

Update: After getting some feedback, this is apparently not good advice.  I am a web designer/developer, not an IT/domain professional. If you want your domain back, don’t let it expire!

What now for zackkatz.com?

I think what I’m going to do is have zackkatz.com be my (Zack Katz) personal blog, while Katz Web Design will be my business site. I could have zackkatz.com point to a subdomain, like zack.katzwebdesign.net…

The moral of the story is that 1 year later, I have my domain back. Thank goodness!

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Is the apocalypse near? Crazy amount of data.

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