Joomla front-end mailing list issue

[ronniestamps]

I think this is my first time posting. In which case, I am sorry. I always try to help before I need help.

I have a Joomla/CiviCRM installation that has been in use (the civiCRM part) for about a year now. I'm now working on the Joomla front-end aspect of it now. The issue I am having is that the menu link I create is not working. No error is triggered, no sign-up email is sent, and nothing is entered into the database/system...on a side note I can not find a way to disable the recaptcha (it is disabled in all profiles created). In the back-end, when I create a menu item, there are no "Advanced Options". The heading is there but there isn't a dropdown or selector of available mailing lists.

Please offer insight. Thank you in advance.

Ronnie

[lcdweb]

make sure you have at least one group marked as mailing list with public visibility.

the mailing list signup menu item will show all public mailing list groups and allow the user to select which ones they want to signup for.

if you are looking for more control -- such as having people signup for a single specific mailing list, and want to collect additional data fields -- use a profile with the profile create menu item. in the profile advanced settings, you can automatically add people to a selected group.

[ronniestamps]

I have created a group called Members marked as Mailing List with public pages visibility. Please see attached images.

[Donald Lobo]

1. what happens in the signup form when u hit enter?

2. I dont see the recaptcha in your profile image

3. Seems like if the advanced options dont show up, it might be a javascript and/or template/theme issue. can u switch to the default joomla theme and see if things work with that theme

thanx

lobo

[ronniestamps]

When the form is submitted, the page refreshes to the home page. No errors are triggered. Recaptcha is there, see new attached image. I changed the front-end template back to Beez and the admin template is the original and was never changed. There are not any javascript errors while editing the menu item, see attached image.

I'm using CiviCRM 4.4.1 (though this issue existed before I updated from 4.3.x)
Joomla 2.5.16 (was an issue before the update)

The domain is parentvoicesoakland.org in the event you'd like to test.

Thank you all very much for your time and input thus far.

Ronnie

[Donald Lobo]

most likely this is due to a template/theme and/or conflict / errors with other plugins. That page has a few javascript errors on it (maybe from the FB plugin?), which you should check and investigate

i'd switch to the default theme with minimal plugins and get that working before enabling other stuff. You'll need to experiment and play around, this does not seem to be a civicrm specific issue

lobo

[lcdweb]

how are you adding the recaptcha?
the mailing list menu page doesn't support recaptcha -- you would need to user a profile if you need that.

I ran a test of the page on my sandbox site, running civi 4.4.1 and it was working fine. as Lobo suggests, I think the issue is some javascript conflicts with either your template or some of the modules used.

[ronniestamps]

First of all - Thank You!

So, I cleared all the errors and nothing changed. I disabled all of the plugins and it still didn't work. The advanced options in the menu item settings in the back-end are still blank. I then tried signing up with my gmail email, thinking maybe there was a validation or even a routing issue. It worked as normal as I can tell. I did some checking and it turns out that it was not working before because I was using an email address that already existed in the database/group. So my issue has changed scope, somewhat.

Front-end Subscribe link - WORKS with email addresses that are NOT registered yet.
Front-end Subscribe link - does NOT work with EXISTING email addresses and does NOT indicate this as an error. I do not see where or how to control the validation of the email field.
Back-end Menu item Advanced Options - blank with no way to select mailing lists.

I am not adding the recaptcha, I would actually like to get rid of it. I have created a profile specifically for subscriptions but have yet to find where to attach the profile to the mailing list. I created a group and checked mailing list. This functions normally as a subscriber is added to this group after successful activation.

So my questions, now, are:

1. How do I display some type of message in the front-end if the email address already exists in the database.
2. How do I attach the profiles I create to specific mailing lists or to Joomla menu items?
3. How do I populate Advanced Options in a Joomla menu item? Error? I STILL get blank under Advanced Options.


Again, thank you all for your help. This is the first project I have worked on that is allowing me to donate to CiviCRM; so it is very important to my business. I truly appreciate your help.

Ronnie

[lcdweb]

1) it works fine with new email addresses. however -- if you go to contacts > groups and view contacts for the group, that list will only show added contacts by default. you need to change the setting to view pending contacts. a contact will not be added until they have verified the email address. that's why existing emails immediately show up -- they are already verified.

2) you EITHER use the mailing subscription form, which is very simple and basic, showing just the email address and list of groups, OR you use a profile. they are not combined. if using a profile, you have two options: use advanced settings to add contacts to a single group; or include the groups field in your profile, in which case the list of all publicly visible groups will be listed.

3) there are no advanced options for that menu option.

[ronniestamps]

I think maybe I am making this harder than it really is. So if...

1) it works fine with new email addresses. however -- if you go to contacts > groups and view contacts for the group, that list will only show added contacts by default. you need to change the setting to view pending contacts. a contact will not be added until they have verified the email address. that's why existing emails immediately show up -- they are already verified.

How do I send a message to the front-end user that is trying to register for the second or more time with the same email address. Maybe a simple "Sorry but that email address has already been registered." If this is already in place, how do I navigate to where it is configured?

2) you EITHER use the mailing subscription form, which is very simple and basic, showing just the email address and list of groups, OR you use a profile. they are not combined. if using a profile, you have two options: use advanced settings to add contacts to a single group; or include the groups field in your profile, in which case the list of all publicly visible groups will be listed.

I have a profile created. What is the trigger to use this profile instead of the basic mailing subscription form? Where is it configured to choose between the two? Is there something I need to select or not select for the profile to take effect instead of the basic mailing subscription form?

3) there are no advanced options for that menu option.

Solved.

Thank you for your time.

[lcdweb]

1) with profiles, you do have the option of choosing how to handle duplicate matches -- including rejecting the form submission if there is an existing match. however, I suspect you probably don't want to do that, as it's likely there are at least some people already in your system that still need to signup for newsletters.

2) just create a new joomla menu option using the profile-create suboption, rather than the mailing subscription page.

[ronniestamps]

Thank you very much. I got so focused on the fact that there was a menu item type that was specifically for mailing list subscriptions that I couldn't see that all I had to do was chose the 'profile create' menu type and I would have access to all of my public profiles.

Thanks again - Ronnie