What do you want in the guestbook?

I keep threatening to update the Advanced Guestbook script and as motivation I thought I would see what people would like to see added to 2.3.1.

So far I intend to
1 - Update it from using $HTTP_XXX_VARS to the newer $_XXX code.
2 - Add the MSN and Yahoo ID fields
3 - Add the image verification (it will always be on)
4 - Add the email encrypting.
5 - Fix the thumbnail creation routine.
6 - Minor bug fixes.

So what else would you like to see?

Ignore number 5 in the list. The reason it wasn't making thumbnails is that I forgot to tell it to in the settings

OK work has begun. I have added the Yahoo and MSN fields and email address encryption. Both of which can be turned on and off in the admin section. I have also added the option to have the guestbook just store the posters email address or resolve the address and store that information.

Ok now added a third gender option incase they don't want to say. Also made the homepage an optional field via the Admins General Settings. Reworded some of the password changing page of the admin section as it was badly worded. Currently working on giving you the option to turn off private messaging via the admin. Oh and updated the variable codes used to get the guestbooks submitted data from the old HTTP VARS style to the new $_GET, $_POST style.

Ok have added the image verification as an option. I just need to fine tune it. Then I will allow the disabling of private messages and remove the option to allow HTML due to the recent exploits. I will then be asking for beta testers to give it a go while I try and make a smart installer/updater.

Sounds pretty cool Carbo : )
I might have a go at beta testing it for ya' if I have the time that is.

Auron

With you updating the poll and me updating the guestbook will be no need to come here anymore. Will miss you all

lol

Carbonize wrote:With you updating the poll and me updating the guestbook will be no need to come here anymore. Will miss you all lol

lol, sure we will : ) (come back here or somewhere ^^)

I might just do a couple of things to the poll and release it with the new
documentation for it. Then i'll start work on my own poll. I need a project
like this to practice PHP more and learn everything there is about PHP.

Gonna be spending some time with my PHP book and www.php.net trying
to make my code as secure as possible.

OK just an update. There will be a delay in the beta release of the updated advanced guestbook script due to the way image verification works. At present it, if you get the code wrong, it shows a message to this effect and reshows the form. Unfortunately the form is empty and the keycode for the image verification ends up in the text box

. Anyway I am writing a function so that the when the form is reshown it will still contain the information that was put into it. I am also going to use this to show the completed form underneath the preview so that they don't have to click back. This is how forums do previews and should also fix a recent bug that was discovered regarding going back in Internet Explorer.

I will make up two mock pages soon to let you see how the General Settings and Password pages of the admin section now look so I can get feedback on the wording.

If I can understand ir you got it spot Carbonize.

That means words with less than 4/5 syllables and less than 12 letters.
So syllables is about the limit for technical terminology there...

Use- it does some magical thing and PIZAZZ! Rather than we go thru this
for loop and then this conditional if and format the output like this...

You get the picture.

We seem to get a lot of people here who have trouble grasping what PHP is
for some strange reason... go figure... bleh. nuff said.

Carbonize wrote:Reworded some of the password changing page of the admin section as it was badly worded.

I am guessing you mean changing it to say "new password" as in
Changing the Admin Password:
http://proxy2.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3744

Also, will you include the Admin Panel Logout Redirect so it goes back to the guestbook and not the Admin Login?

Is it possible to include some kind of code where the Admin will input their site's name during installation, and then change the existing code on the index page so that it will show something like "Thank you for visiting (site name code)" and get rid of that "here you can leave your mark..."?

Is there any way to control how many smilies can be shown on the sign-in page without having to select "show legend"?

Sorry to say I had to remove the email encrypt from all 3 guestbooks I had installed it in. It added email addresses to every entry that did not have one. Is there any way to deselect email encrypt on your new project?

Do you think it is feasible to include the extra password protection for Admin like this site's guestbook does? Or is it possible to include the logging feature that you are using?

Sorry for so much, but you did ask...

amber222 wrote:

Carbonize wrote:Reworded some of the password changing page of the admin section as it was badly worded.

I am guessing you mean changing it to say "new password" as in
Changing the Admin Password:
http://proxy2.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3744

It now says New Password and Confirm New Password

amber222 wrote:Also, will you include the Admin Panel Logout Redirect so it goes back to the guestbook and not the Admin Login?

Forgot about that

amber222 wrote:Is it possible to include some kind of code where the Admin will input their site's name during installation, and then change the existing code on the index page so that it will show something like "Thank you for visiting (site name code)" and get rid of that "here you can leave your mark..."?

Simple enough

amber222 wrote:Is there any way to control how many smilies can be shown on the sign-in page without having to select "show legend"?

Could do but not to sure if I want to. Could end up with people filling the add entry screen with the smiley selector. I'll pencil it onto the next to do list as a possibility.

amber222 wrote:Sorry to say I had to remove the email encrypt from all 3 guestbooks I had installed it in. It added email addresses to every entry that did not have one. Is there any way to deselect email encrypt on your new project?

Yes. The main features of the upgrade is the ability to select and deselect feature. Email encryption is an option. I don't understand how yours is messing up though. Very bizarre.

amber222 wrote:Do you think it is feasible to include the extra password protection for Admin like this site's guestbook does? Or is it possible to include the logging feature that you are using?

I think the security in 2.3.1 is good enough. I mean it's been out for about two years and no exploits have surfaced.

As I explained to JTD I'm going to have to rewrite a lot of the add.class.php as I have plans that are hard to implement at present. I may save the rewrite for my next upgrade though and just release the current upgrade, as is, once I've written a smart installer.

Thanks! All your hard work on this is certainly appreciated.

I do have one more comment about the email encryption. (I had already reviewed all the steps and checked to make sure I didn't make any mistakes before I removed the encryption code.) I looked around this forum and could only find one other site that has added that feature. So, I visited the site and signed the guestbook without using an email address. I am waiting until someone else comes along and signs with an email address so I can see if I am the only person who has this problem. I just looked at their guestbook again, and I noticed that the only thing encrypted is the (dot). In the proxy2 guestbook, the @ sign is also changed to (at). I really can't remember if it was changed to (at) on my guestbooks.

Whoops just noticed an error in my code

It should be

whoops.

Test version of guestbook is up at http://www.carbonize.co.uk/guestbookbeta

let me know any bugs.