Newsletter Subscription

[justb3a]

This module allows users to subscribe and unsubscribe to a newsletter, it doesn't handle newsletter creation and delivery (I use a foreign service for this).

There is one method to subscribe (by using a form) and there are two methods to unsubscribe (by using a form or by providing a link in the newsletter). Furthermore you can notify any person e.g. an administator via email when an user has subscribed/unsubscribed.

For detailed information have a look at Github.

[Tanky]

I have a question about this module, I've followed the installation steps:
— created first_name and last_name fields
— added those fields to user template
 
Then I created a newsletter template in which I called the module as mentioned:
 

$options = array (
  'markup' => array(
    'InputfieldSelect' => array(
      'item' => "{out}"
    )
  ),
  'classes' => array(
    'form' => 'form  form__super-special-class',
    'InputfieldRadios' => array(
      'item' => 'form__item--options'
    )
  ),
  'prependMarkup' => "<div>{$page->prepend_markup}</div>",
  'appendMarkup' => "<p>{$page->append_markup}</p>"
);
 
echo $modules->get('NewsletterSubscription')->render($options);

Finally I created a newsletter page.
I can then open the page and subscribe, I receive the confirmation email but when I click on the link I get those errors (even though I appear in the users panel in pw): 
 

Error: Exception: Method User::setAndSave does not exist or is not callable in this context (in /home/tenutaxyit/www/wire/core/Wire.php line 350)
 
#0 [internal function]: Wire->___callUnknown('setAndSave', Array)
#1 /home/tenutaxyit/www/wire/core/Wire.php(387): call_user_func_array(Array, Array)
#2 /home/tenutaxyit/www/wire/core/Wire.php(325): Wire->runHooks('callUnknown', Array)
#3 /home/tenutaxyit/www/wire/core/Wire.php(329): Wire->__call('callUnknown', Array)
#4 /home/tenutaxyit/www/wire/core/Wire.php(329): User->callUnknown('setAndSave', Array)
#5 /home/tenutaxyit/www/site/modules/NewsletterSubscription/NewsletterSubscription.module(216): Wire->__call('setAndSave', Array)
#6 /home/tenutaxyit/www/site/modules/NewsletterSubscription/NewsletterSubscription.module(216): User->setAndSave('status', 1)
#7 /home/tenutaxyit/www/site/modules/NewsletterSubscription/NewsletterSubscription.module(93): NewsletterSubscription->validateSubscribeToken()
#8 /home/tenutaxyit/www/site/templates/newsletter.php(22): NewsletterSubscri

Edited March 30, 2016 by kongondo
wrapped code in code blocks

[justb3a]

Your ProcessWire version is not new enough. setAndSave was introduced with version 2.6.9, this was one of the reasons why I set the compatibility for this module to 2.7.

[Tanky]

You're right. I didn't think to check that. It works perfectly now. Thank you!

[vangelis183]

Hi,

i followed the installation process and integrated the form in my page.

If i click on Send then i am getting following error:

Error: Call to undefined method WireInput::text() (line 367 of /xxxxxxxxx/site/modules/NewsletterSubscription/NewsletterSubscription.module)

This error message was shown because you are logged in as a Superuser. Error has been logged.

 

What can i do?

[justb3a]

Hi, sorry for taking that long to answer. 

I made a silly mistake that slipped through regarding sanitizing input. It's fixed. Thanks for reporting.

[benbyf]

could this modudke be used with third party email senders? link mailchimp etc?

[justb3a]

On 9/26/2016 at 0:22 PM, benbyf said:

could this modudke be used with third party email senders? link mailchimp etc?

You're able to send an email to any service you want to after successful subscription / unsubscription.  Calling an api endpoint isn't implemented yet (there are too much different services). If you miss a hookable function just let me know, I'll go ahead and add it. If everything works out (if the customer agrees to use ProcessWire), perhaps I'll soon be given an opportunity to implement a connection to mailchimp by myself.

[benbyf]

On 26/09/2016 at 11:22 AM, benbyf said:

could this modudke be used with third party email senders? link mailchimp etc?

wow just read this back, and its amazingly badly typed, sorry. Yes mailchimp, I'm looking into it so will post back my implementation when done.

[modifiedcontent]

Could I use a plain html form with this module, instead of using the render() tag? I want to have more control over style etc. without having to use the complicated classes and markup overwrite methods.

What would I have to add to a plain html form to let the module take care of processing the data?

My html output of the tag looks like this:

Spoiler

<form id="subscribe-form" class=" form InputfieldForm" name="subscribe-form" method="post" action="./" data-colspacing="1">
	<div class='form__item form__item--fullname' id='wrap_Inputfield_fullname'>

		<label class='form__item--label' for='Inputfield_fullname'>Full name</label><input id="Inputfield_fullname" class="InputfieldMaxWidth" name="fullname" type="text" maxlength="2048" />
	</div>
	<div class='form__item form__item--email field--required' id='wrap_Inputfield_email'>

		<label class='form__item--label' for='Inputfield_email'>E-Mail Address</label><input id="Inputfield_email" name="email" class="FieldtypeEmail required" type="email" size="70" maxlength="255" />
	</div>
	<div class='form__item form__item--submit' id='wrap_Inputfield_submit'>
<button id="Inputfield_submit" class="button" name="submit" value="Send" type="submit"><span class='ui-button-text'>Send</span></button>
	</div>
<input type='hidden' name='TOKEN1009186866X1485168757' value='qqpdZc2cDDarCajU/Ns/VlbjtZtavbjX' class='_post_token' /></form></div>

 

Could I just use a restyled version of this form? Minus the input with the TOKEN# I guess and plus some PHP magic?

Another issue:

The 'success' message replaces the form, but not the text I had added above the form. How can I make that added text disappear/go display:none along with the form?

If I could use plain html, I could just include the intro within the form tag.

 

 

[justb3a]

hi, it's not possible (out of the box) to use a plain form instead of the render() tag. The processing of the form includes several error checks and a lot of additional logic. I solved it this way because my experience has shown that it's really difficult to support plain html. Most users break the form which leads to increased overhead. I'm not a fan of generated content therefore I added all possible options to customize the output. 

How did you add the content above the form? Do you use the option `prependMarkup`? If the content above is still there after submitting the form, this is ProcessWire Core behaviour I don't want to change. Just use `display: none` to hide the content (there should be a parent element containing a class which indicates that the form has been submitted successfully. If not, please let me know,  I'll add such a class).

[modifiedcontent]

Thanks justb3a. I will use the module as is.

1. To change the subject line of the emails sent to the user I had to edit the the module file. Is that correct or did I miss an edit option in the admin area somewhere?

2. There are ways to turn labels into placeholders via CSS...

https://css-tricks.com/float-labels-css/

...but they require <label> to come after <input> or/and have 'required' in the input tag. This would also require editing the module - and I can't figure out where/how.

[justb3a]

 

7 hours ago, modifiedcontent said:

2. There are ways to turn labels into placeholders via CSS...

https://css-tricks.com/float-labels-css/

...but they require <label> to come after <input> or/and have 'required' in the input tag. This would also require editing the module - and I can't figure out where/how.

 @modifiedcontent Actually it's pretty funny you're asking this right now. Some hours ago I opened a feature request regarding this because at the moment it's not possible to swap the order without using regex.

[justb3a]

On 06/03/2017 at 11:15 AM, modifiedcontent said:

1. To change the subject line of the emails sent to the user I had to edit the the module file. Is that correct or did I miss an edit option in the admin area somewhere?

The subject is translatable. So even if the page is not multi-lingual, you can overwrite the subject this way.

[modifiedcontent]

@justb3a, I have started researching how to build forms - with generous help from fbg13 - because my employer/client wants more fields in the newsletter signup.

Wouldn't it be better to store newsletter subscribers under a new page instead of in users/access management?

I guess roles etc. would not be available if you have a custom members/subscribers table as a page? That could be a problem if the signup is for a community/social network, but not so much for a basic newsletter.

Btw, I used a SuperLabels jquery plugin to turn your labels into pseudo-placeholders. It's actually a nice-looking solution.

 

[justb3a]

24 minutes ago, modifiedcontent said:

because my employer/client wants more fields in the newsletter signup.

The module offers the possibility to add as many fields as you want. Why not using this in-build functionality?

Sure, you can store newsletter subscribers under another page or inside of a repeater or in a pagetable or ... There are a lot of options. For my use case it was the easiest solution to store them as a user with a specific role. Users are pages as well! If you want to change this behaviour, you need to rewrite a lot.

29 minutes ago, modifiedcontent said:

Btw, I used a SuperLabels jquery plugin to turn your labels into pseudo-placeholders. It's actually a nice-looking solution.

I wrote a few lines of JavaScript myself to achieve this. This project has no jQuery dependency. Furthermore I do not swap the order, I just need to know, whether the input is empty, focused or filled to be able to set the desired styling. See it in action!

[modifiedcontent]

@justb3a, following up on my previous question, I see Ryan explained here that, yes, users should be stored as users, not a good idea to store them as a page.

[HerTha]

@justb3a thanks for providing this module!

Before starting to use it to collect new subscribers, I had to import a list of existing newsletter subscribers from our old system.

The list is just a text file with one email address per line.

The amazing BCE didn't help in this case because PW users - while still pages - are somewhat special.

I came up with a little script which can be invoked from a browser window:

<?php namespace ProcessWire;

include("../index.php"); // bootstrap PW

/*
 * import newsletter subscribers
 * from a file 'subscribers.txt'
*/

$file = fopen("subscribers.txt", "r");

$i = 0;

while(!feof($file)) {
    $line = fgets($file);
    if($line == '') {
        continue;
    }
    $email = $sanitizer->email($line);
    if($email == '') {
        echo 'misformed email rejected: ' . $line . '<br>';
        continue;
    }
    $name = 'zzz-import-' . sprintf('%05d', $i);

    $u = new User();
    $u->of(false);
    $u->name = $name;
    $u->email = $email;
    $u->addRole('newsletter');
    $u->save();

    $log->save('newsletter', "User {$u->name} has been successfully subscribed with email {$u->email}");
    $i++;
}

fclose($file);

echo "<br>{$i} subscribers imported.<br>";

I am not sure if a lot of other poeple need something like that as well - if so, maybe adding an "import" feature for the NewsletterSubscription module would make sense.

Thanks for considering and greetings from the neighborhood!

[pmichaelis]

Hey there,

 

Great module. Thanks for the functionality.

I am using checkboxes of a multi-lang page reference field in the subscription form and I was wondering if multi-lang fields are supported by default, because the checkboxes are not translated. The Label of the field is translated correctly, but not the rest.

Thanks for some information.

[palacios000]

Sorry I didn’t get how to make work the unsubscribe link inside the newsletter. Does anyone have an example how to implement it?

[HerTha]

You can define an unsubscribe messge In the module config (E-Mail Messages section), for example:
 

To unsubscribe from this newsletter please follow this link:
%link%

 

[Spica]

I wonder how the module can be made GDPR conform.
As far as I can see only the unsubscription proccedure needs some tweaks in the private function validateUnsubscribeToken():

$this->users->delete($user);
$this->log->save('messages', "User has been successfully deleted with id `{$user->id}`.");

First line: Can anyone confirm, that the whole entry is fully deleted and cannot be restored? (At the moment I have no testsystem to check it)
Second line: Switching the log from email to id, as the id is no personal data. But the id could be used as unique identifyer for deleted users when syncing with / exporting to other systems . Maybe adding a timestamp also would be good.

Another point to consider is neutralizing the optional email notifications to the admin.
Any other issue?

[AndZyk]

Hello @justb3a,

first of thank you for this and your other modules. ?

I wanted to ask if it is possible for subscribers to let them change their preferences after the initial subscription? In my use-case I want to build a website, where subscribers can choose different newsletter channels via checkboxes (page field) on the initial subscription. This part is working fine, but after the subscription it is only possible for subscribers to change their preferences, if they unsubscribe and then re-subscribe.

Could I provide a link with the ID or token and maybe a timestamp in the subscription email to a custom front-end form, where they can change and save their settings? It should be a verified and save address, so that no other user could guess the url and change settings of other users.

I would be happy about some inspiration. ?

Regards, Andreas

[Jon]

Hey, Great module just wondering if you table to rename the submit button value? or do I need to do this within the module files?

[MilenKo]

Hey @justb3a I can tell you've done an interesting module and even though I did not test it yet, I could see it already fitting to my needs. Since I see that the module development is discontinued, does anyone know of existing issues for some basic user subscription? I am building a profile for a tech support company and the client would like to collect client's name, email and eventually phone number in order to broadcast occasionally some promotions, discounts, new services etc. Since the client is located in North America, it won't be that much of a problem if GDPR is not fully operational (as far as I understood from the earlier questions), however I would see how to make it work so that any European client does not fall through and complain of non-EU-GDPR-compliant website ?

So any known issues I should be aware before I implement the module?