New Module - FAQ Maker

[SourDough]

Hi All,

I rewrote the original FAQ Baker module to add some "heirarchy" to the display, and also add a few features.  I've attached it and hopefully you will all find it useful.

I look forward to any feedback.

Nick

******NEW VERSION BELOW*******

*****UPDATE******

I've included a new version faqmaker-v1.1.

* v1.1 - 07.11.2008
*    changed: removed many fixed messages
*       fixed: 'Ask a Question' not including name and email address fields
*                in sent message.

I hope to have the captcha working for WB versions < 2.7 soon.

Thanks,

Nick

[Ruud]

Looks promising.

I found a couple of issues and some remarks:

1. using captcha makes it work only on WB2.7 (lots of 2.6.7 sites out there)
a quick test on file_exists could solve this (disable captcha or just use old captcha)

2. email does not send name/email address
view.php line 213 tests, but $email_from/$name is never read

3. Lots of fixed messages. They should all be in language files.
(when the language files are complete, i volunteer to translate it into Dutch.)

4. Ask question. I think it should be possible to disable that function.

5. "Question Details" setting in admin.
not clear what this should do.

6. The page is built with fixed tables.
I am sure lots of designers would like to use div's instead of tables.
Making the segments editable through the "General Settings" page might be an idea.

Please don't feel offended by my issue list  , I really like the module, but remarks like these will end up in this thread anyway when people start using it.

Cheers,

Ruud

[SourDough]

Thanks for your feedback, Ruud. 

1. I'll work on the captcha issue. 

2.  I'm not sure about the email sending?  I'll do some more testing, but perhaps it's a php config issue?  The way I set up the mail function, and the way I have it working on my test server, is that if you want to override the email address set in the main WB settings, you can do that in the FAQ settings.  I'll look into it further.

3.  I'll certainly remove all fixed messages, and also make some more descriptive/appropriate.

4.  Should be easy enough to add an option to disable "Ask Question".

5.  Question Details, which should be more appropriately named "Display Last Updated", displays the modification date/time on the Q&A page. 

6.  I initially tried using divs, but ran into some alignment issues between FF and IE.  What do you think the advantage of using div's as opposed to tables for something like this?  Also, it seems most other modules are designed using tables. 

I'm certainly not offended.  This is exactly the type of feedback I was hoping for.  Thanks for taking the time to critique my work.

Nick

[Ruud]

Hi Nick,

The email sending problem was not about the email address in the backend. The fields in the frontend form are not used in the email that is sent.

About the div/table:
I know there are lots of web designers that do not want to use tables (for several reasons).
A discussion about that is probably not really in the right place on this forum (a nice off-topic maybe) 
What (some) "other modules" do is make the different parts (heading, faq-menu,question-list-item, answer-list-item, footer, etc) editable in the backend, and stored in the settings table. Fields are included like {FAQMENU} {QUESTION} {ANSWER} etc.. That way you can also use different layouts in different pages.
I realize there are pretty much blocks used, but you could make it very flexible that way.
I must hand it to you, you are styling the table completely with css. No sizes are set in the elements. That's good!

Ruud

[Stefek]

Hallo Nick.
Did you implement the captcha already?
Is the "Ask a question" working correctly right now?

Regards,
Stefek

[SourDough]

Hi Stefek,

I have captcha mostly working for 2.7.  The only exception is that it won't work with 'Calculation as text' set as the captcha type in the Admin-Tools.  I haven't had a chance to look to closely into this.  However it seems to work flawlessly with the other captcha types. 

I also haven't had a chance to get captcha working with the 2.6 versions.  Everything else in this version works with 2.6.x though. 

Below is the changelog for FAQ Maker v1.2.  The module is attached.

* v1.2 - 07.22.2008
*    added: option to store questions in database or have sent via email. New table submitted_questions created.
*           changed layout of modify.php to show submitted questions link. New file view_submitted.php created
*           to view questions.
*    added: option to disable 'Ask a Question' link.
*    fixed: captcha working with WB 2.7
* added: check for empty question field in 'Ask a Question'.
* added: email validation for non-empty email field.


Nick

[comeba]

The email sending problem was not about the email address in the backend. The fields in the frontend form are not used in the email that is sent.

The mailadress is neither send via mail or shown in the backend, because the mailadress is unseted in the form.
I modified the view.php in the faqmaker-v1.2.zip:

Change the line 198 to 200

Code:

if(isset($_SESSION['email_from'])) {echo " value='".$_SESSION['email_from']."'";unset($_SESSION['email_from']);}

to

Code:

if(isset($_SESSION['email_from'])) {echo " value='".$_SESSION['email_from']."'";}

it works for me
greez Marc

[SourDough]

Thanks, Marc.

I really need to clean up the code in this module.  It's been a while since I looked at it.  I tried your solution, and I'm still not getting the email address to come through.  Part of the problem, as I recall, is that there is several validations taking place on the email address field.  I designed and use this module primarily on an intranet site, so knowing the email address wasn't of great concern if it didn't make it through. 

I'm working on two other modules at the moment, but will certainly clean up this one in the next few months. 

Nick

[Stefek]

Has anyone this module up and working?

Nick, do you still work on this module?

Regards,
Stefek

[SourDough]

Sorry for the late reply.

I am using this module at the company I work for running WB 2.7.  Is there something specific you'd like changed?  I'd be happy to update if there is something specific you would like to see. 

Nick

[Stefek]

Hello Nick.
I haver Problems while submitting the Questions via the Form.
Do not know how to fix this.
That's why I asked, if somebody has any expericance with this Module.


I attached the German Language File.

Please change these lines in the view.php of this module in order to ensure translations works in any case.
Those lines were "hard-translated".


view.php
128:   echo "<tr><td colspan='2' class='faq_topicHeader'>".$FQTEXT['TOPIC'].": ". $topic['topic_name'] ."</td></tr>";

180:    echo "<tr><td class='faq_topicHeader'>".$FQTEXT['ASK_QUESTION']."</td></tr>";

Kind Regards,
Stefek

[SourDough]

Hi Stefek,

What are your 'Ask a question settings' in the module settings?

Also, what are your captcha settings if used?

Nick

[premagraphic]

Ciao,
ho tradotto in italiano il file della lingua del modulo FAQ Maker, lo metto a disposizione di tutti.

Hallo,
I translated in italian the FAQ Maker language file, makes it available to everyone.

[Boudi]

Dutch Translation here.

[lausianne]

Not much going on here lately ... may be a good sign, no issues.

Anyway, I had an issue with the German language file which was somewhat incomplete.
My version attached.

Cheers,
Ralf.

[Boudi]

The 'Ask a question' still does not work correctly.

[bschaich]

Not much going on here lately ... may be a good sign, no issues.
Anyway, I had an issue with the German language file which was somewhat incomplete.
My version attached.
Cheers,
Ralf.

Well, still incomplete I guess? Here is everything translated I could find.
Mann,Mann, was läuft denn hier schief, das drei Leute daran gearbeitet haben aber keiner war in der Lage eine einfache Übersetzung zu liefern?

Gruß,
Benny