It is common to have a validation that compares two fields in the form – Confirm Password, Confirm email and so on.

Some developers believe that this will ensure that the correct email/password is entered. Just like you, I also don’t like typing my email twice; but, since you asked, here is how to do it in Simfatic Forms.

First, add the email field and the ‘confirm email’ fields to your form.

Proceed to the ‘Input Validations’ page.

Select the ConfirmEmail field on the left side
Select the ‘Comparisons’ tab on the right side.
Press the ‘Add’ button.

Select ‘Equal To’ and choose the ‘Email’ field

You may also like to change the error string.
Select the “=Email” validation node and update the error string.

Done!

Note that the comparison validations can be extended further (like a < b > y)

Here is a brief list of improvements in this new update:

1. Fixed the date validation problem where some dates where accepted in the
   client side; but not on the server side
2. Fixed issues that used to occur with large forms (with many fields)
3. Some more minor fixes and improvements

Download Simfatic Forms 3.1.4

Some recent feedback on Simfatic Forms :

“I love this program! Why? It took me hours of coding before I tried the demo version of Simfatic Forms. Now I it takes me no time to make the exact forms I need.
Also, the support is great and fast.
Thanks for saving me hours of work! ”

Brian Poedenphant
http://www.experien.dk

“For reasons mainly of security and user-reassurance, I needed a quick replacement for an existing Flash-based form. It had to work over SSL and have file upload, email notification and Captcha (or similar) anti-bot functionality.

I’m not a techie-whiz by any means, but I got the new form completed, debugged, tested and deployed within 3 hours of first coming across Simfatic on a web search. Nothing fancy – just solid functionality as can be seen at the URL below”

Webmaster,
https://wikispooks.com

“I was a little skeptical at first that a form development tool would be robust enough to really help me create forms and integrate them into the dynamic websites I build.

I quickly discovered that Simfatic Forms really is Simply Fantastic, as they say in their logo. It took me almost a half day to do my first form while I learned the tool, and during that time had to send a couple of questions in that they quickly answered. Now that I have created several form templates, the tasks of developing a form, validation, and processing that used to take me hours is finished in a fraction of the time, and the forms look great.

I just wish that I had this tool sooner! ”

Terrye Hoffman ,
Prairie Skies Technical Services, LLC

“Powerful feedback forms and easy to build. Step by step instructions. Suitable for someone like me with small knowledge in website building. Very quick response from Simfatic Solutions support team. ”

Christopher Finland
http://www.pitopalvelu-vassallo.com/

Thanks for the encouraging feedback guys!

There are a number of enhancements available in this new update.

Here is the summary:

1. You can change the DocType of generated code in Options & Settings

2. The generated code passes HTML/XHTML(strict) validations at w3.org

3. More standardization: ‘label’ tag and ‘for’ attribute

4. CSS positioning in separate CSS file rather than inline style

5. The position and size of the elements could be adjusted precisely.
There are edit boxes in the ‘Draw the form’ page to adjust the size and position of the elements.
The form size also could be adjusted.

6. Print button in ‘confirm’ page. The buttons in ‘Confirm’ page can be adjusted individually.

7. CAPTCHA can have i18n (non-English) characters & CAPTCHA case insensitive option

8. New ‘automatic’ variables: User Agent, Referrer Page, O.S, Browser ,Form submission date

9. HTTP authentication is supported.

10. Better Form templates. Form templates can now be shared

11. ‘Extension Modules’ for extending the default functionality

12. Many other fixes and improvements

Thank you very much for all the beta participants for reporting the issues you found and for the wonderful suggestions. You will soon get the email containing the free license.

Here is the best part: the upgrade is free for all Simfatic Forms 3.0 customers!
The existing license keys will work fine with the new version.

Go here to download Simfatic Forms 3.1

Before going into the details of the release, let me thank you for the overwhelming feedback Those comments really shape Simfatic Forms.

I have to admit that only those suggestions that can be included in the scope of this intermediate version got into this release. But, rest assured, the remaining will be taken up in version 4.0.

Simfatic Forms 3.1 will be taken out of beta very soon so that the complete effort is concentrated on Version 4.0 of Simfatic Forms.

Here are the major changes in this new release:

1. adds comment header on the top of the generated PHP page
2. Proper label for group elements (radio/checkbox)
3. CAPTCHA case insensitive option
4. Fixed a problem with email encoding (observed on some servers)
5. Many other minor fixes and improvements

Here is the link to the download
Simfatic Forms 3.1 Beta

Keep posting your feedback!

The next version (Simfatic Forms 4.0) will address almost all feature requests that you had requested. However, it will take a few months to complete all of them. Meanwhile, it looks like a good idea to have an intermediate version with the most demanded features.

Here are the highlights of Simfatic Forms 3.1

• Ability to adjust the Position and size of the form elements precisely in pixel values.
• Generates HTML/XHTML strict code. (You can get the code validated 100% at validator.w3.org)
• Ability to extend the functionality of Simfatic Forms through your own ‘Extension Modules’

See this page for more details

Go ahead and try the new Simfatic Forms. As always, all active Beta participants will get free Simfatic Forms licenses.

Take care of a few things though:

• Use this Beta version for testing only
• Before opening existing form designs (the fwz file), take a backup of the file

Get your copy of Simfatic Forms 3.1 beta from the page below:
Simfatic Forms 3.1 Beta

2. Applied CodeSign Certificate

3. Fixed problem with date field validations
(Date validations were applied even if the field was empty)

4. Troubleshooting help link for ‘No email’ cases.
(A link is added to help troubleshoot ‘No email received’ cases)

Download Simfatic Forms Here

Here is how to develop your (big or small) form iteratively. The iterative approach is guaranteed to take half the complexity away.

Start from a simple form

Add the minimum number of fields to the form. Simfatic Forms provides you the flexibility of updating the form at any later point. So don’t worry about having the perfect form design in the first step itself.

Designing calculation fields or validations without uploading the form

The client side validations and calculation fields can be tested before installing the form on the webserver. One option is to use the preview feature.

Yet another option is to start with a ‘client side only’ form first and add the server side options later. Here is how to do it:
In the ‘Form General’ page, in the ‘Form Processing’ tab, choose the ‘Other’ option for ‘Server side processing’. Leave the ‘action’ field empty.

Now you can preview the form in your browser (locally) as you develop the form ( Proceed to the ‘Generate Code’ page and press the ‘Open the form’ button.)

This ‘Client side first’ method is best for forms with complex calculation fields or those with complex validations. You can build and test the form without installing the form on the web server each time.

Once the form design is ready, choose the ‘Simfatic Forms’ form processor’ option ( in the ‘Form processing options’ tab) and proceed with designing the server side options.

Choose the minimum options, install it and get the form running

In the ‘form processing options’ page choose one of the options ( like ‘send form submission by email’ or ‘confirmation page’ ) , install the form and see the form working.

Iterate; add more fields and test again

Now add more fields and more server side options. Make sure that the auto-generated templates (like the email template) are generated again. Re-install the form. Test the form again.

During the further iterations you can add more complexity: like adding a calculation field, changing the style of the form (the ‘look and feel page’) , saving to database and more.

Keeping backups of your form design

The form design you make using Simfatic Forms can be saved to an .fwz file (choose the file->Save menu item). It can often happen that after making some design changes you originally liked an earlier one. It is always good to keep intermittent backups of work in progress. This way if you want to roll back to an older design quickly.
(This is true for any work in progress – like a document in progress or even a web page design in progress)

There are several discussions on the usability issues of CAPTCHA (here are some more). A bad CAPTCHA can bring down the number of form submissions considerably. You may lose leads, business, or contacts just because of an inappropriate CAPTCHA.

Let’s see when to use CAPTCHA (importantly, when not to use) and if at all required, how to make it easier for your visitors.

Why CAPTCHA at all?

CAPTCHA is for preventing bots from automatically submitting your form. These web bots are programs that leech through the web pages. When it finds a form, it fills the form with a spam message and submits.

Why would someone send a web-bot to submit your form? What is their gain?

1. If the form submission appears immediately on a web page, the spammer can get back links to his website

The examples include blog comment forms and guest books. It is important that no form submission appears immediately on a web page. It will be an open invitation to spammers. Put a monitoring system in place.

2. If you are providing a free service (free email, free blogs) the spammer can create several thousand accounts
3. The spammer expects you to read his spam message

Rest of the forms fall in the third category. This category is the least attractive to the spammer since only you see the spam message! The chances of spam submissions to this category is the least. So why bother about CAPTCHA itself?

Does your form really need a CAPTCHA?

There is no reason to attach a CAPTCHA with every form that you get online.

1. Design the form without CAPTCHA. Get it online!
2. You start getting form submissions. Take a note of the number of form submissions. (the conversion rate)
3. If you start getting spam submissions, attach a CAPTCHA.
4. Observe the drop in the number of genuine form submissions. Decide whether to keep the CAPTCHA

If you have decided to keep the CAPTCHA, try the tips below to keep it easier for your visitors.

Making a better CAPTCHA

A good CAPTCHA will keep the form submission rate high while keeping the bots away.

Use CAPTCHA only when necessary. Even if you decided to have CAPTCHA, make it easier for your visitors.

Beta Participants

The free licenses for all Beta participants were sent out. There were 140 active beta participants for Simfatic Forms 3.0. ( that is $13,860 worth of licenses! )

If you participated in the beta program and didn’t get my email for some reason, please contact me for your free license.

Existing Customers

I sent out an email announcement to all existing Simfatic Forms customers as well. The email contains information on how to upgrade to Simfatic Forms 3.0

Web site updates

Simfatic.com website went through a major revamp as part of releasing Simfatic Forms 3.0

There are still some more fine tuning in progress.

If you spot a JavaScript error or a typo, let me know.

I would also appreciate your feedback on the updated web site.

Feedback form

The first release of Simfatic Forms 3.0 beta was on 6th March 2009. The beta shaped a better Simfatic Forms. There still is a pretty long To-Do list; that will eventually be addressed in the upcoming versions.

There are schools that are pro-beta and are against-beta. There are several positive reasons to have a public beta and have the real users try hands on. I will keep that discussion aside for another post.

Dear Beta participants, Thank you, Thank you and Thank you !

I will send you the well-deserved license for Simfatic Forms Professional ASAP. Please allow one week; compiling the list and sending out the email is going to be a big task : ) ( Quickly scribble a Perl script? Where is my Perl reference book )

A humble invitation to Bloggers

If your readers benefit having a quick, feature-rich form maker software, please do have a look at Simfatic Forms. See the FAQ page for details. The FAQ page contains a short video demo too.

Contact me ( prasanth (a-t) simfatic.com) with the link to your blog and I will send you a Free license. There is no obligation; your honest review is well appreciated.