How to integrate a Phplist Subscribe Page into Joomla

These instructions were carried out using phplist and joomla version 1.0X.  However, it should still work with new versions of joomla 1.5X

You don’t need nasty wrappers, phplist-bridge or Joomclub to integrate nice looking newsletter sign-up forms into your Joomla pages. However, I should preface if you’re looking for your Joomla subscribers to be automatically subscribed to phplist then you’ll want to consider one of the aforementioned integrations.

What you need:

Steps

1) Install the ChronoForms component. I’m assuming you’re familiar with Joomla and know how to install a component. While you’re at it install the ChronoForms mambot which will allow you to place forms inside content pages.

2) Create a new form for your subscribe page. In my example its listed as Phplist. Leave Email The Results field set to no.[Image 1] [Image 2]

3) Click the Form Code tab. Now view the page source of the subscribe page you created in Phplist.

<table style="text-align: left; width: 100%;" border="0">
cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="required">Email*</div></td>
<td class="attributeinput"><input name="email" size="40" type="text" /> <script type="text/javascript"><!--
addFieldToCheck("email","Email");
// --></script></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="required">Confirm your email address*</div></td>
<td class="attributeinput"><input name="emailconfirm" size="40" type="text" /> <script type="text/javascript"><!--
addFieldToCheck("emailconfirm","");
// --></script></td>
</tr>
<input name="htmlemail" type="hidden" value="1" />
<tr>
<td>
<div class="required">First Name*</div></td>
<td class="attributeinput"><input class="attributeinput" name="attribute1" size="40" type="text" /><script type="text/javascript"><!--
addFieldToCheck("attribute1","First Name");
// --></script></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="required">Last Name*</div></td>
<td class="attributeinput"><input class="attributeinput" name="attribute2" size="40" type="text" /><script type="text/javascript"><!--
addFieldToCheck("attribute2","Last Name");
// --></script></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="attributename">Company</div></td>
<td class="attributeinput"><input class="attributeinput" name="attribute5" size="40" type="text" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
<div class="attributename">Title</div></td>
<td class="attributeinput"><input class="attributeinput" name="attribute3" size="40" type="text" /></td>
</tr>
<strong>
</strong>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">
<div class="attributename">Does your company market to B2B, B2C or both?</div>
B2B
<input class="attributeinput" name="attribute6" type="radio" value="1" /> B2C
<input class="attributeinput" name="attribute6" type="radio" value="2" /> Both
<input class="attributeinput" name="attribute6" type="radio" value="3" /></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<strong><input name="list[7]" type="hidden" value="signup" /> <input name="listname[7]" type="hidden" value="Turn On The Light Newsletter" /> </strong>
<div style="display:none"><strong><input name="VerificationCodeX" size="20" type="text" /></strong></div>
<strong><input onclick="return checkform();" name="subscribe" type="submit" value="Subscribe" /> </strong>

<strong>

</strong>

<strong><a href=”http://www.jessekanclerz.com/newsletter-unsubscribe.html”>Unsubscribe</a></strong>

<strong>

function checkform() {
for (i=0;i
if (eval("document.ChronoContact_Phplist['"+fieldstocheck[i]+"'].type") == "checkbox") {
if (document.ChronoContact_Phplist[fieldstocheck[i]].checked) {
} else {
alert("Please enter your "+fieldnames[i]);
eval("document.ChronoContact_Phplist['"+fieldstocheck[i]+"'].focus()");
return false;
}
}
else {
if (eval("document.ChronoContact_Phplist['"+fieldstocheck[i]+"'].value") == "") {
alert("Please enter your "+fieldnames[i]);
eval("document.ChronoContact_Phplist['"+fieldstocheck[i]+"'].focus()");
return false;
}
}
}
for (i=0;i
if (!checkGroup(groupstocheck[i],groupnames[i])) {
return false;
}
}</strong></strong></strong></strong>

<strong><strong><strong><strong> if(! compareEmail())
{
alert("Email Addresses you entered do not match");
return false;
}
return true;
}</strong></strong></strong></strong>

<strong><strong><strong><strong>var fieldstocheck = new Array();
var fieldnames = new Array();
function addFieldToCheck(value,name) {
fieldstocheck[fieldstocheck.length] = value;
fieldnames[fieldnames.length] = name;
}
var groupstocheck = new Array();
var groupnames = new Array();
function addGroupToCheck(value,name) {
groupstocheck[groupstocheck.length] = value;
groupnames[groupnames.length] = name;
}</strong></strong></strong></strong>

<strong><strong><strong><strong>function compareEmail()
{
return (document.ChronoContact_Phplist["email"].value == document.ChronoContact_Phplist["emailconfirm"].value);
}
function checkGroup(name,value) {
option = -1;
for (i=0;i
if (document.ChronoContact_Phplist[name][i].checked) {
option = i;
}
}
if (option == -1) {
alert ("Please enter your "+value);
return false;
}
return true;
}

4) Click the Form URL's tab. In the Submit URL field enter your action URL, in my case it is http://www.jessekanclerz.com/lists/?p=subscribe. This is important otherwise the data entered into your sign-up form will not post back to the Phplist database tables.

You'll also notice in this section a Redirect URL. Note that leaving this blank or putting a redirect to a page on your website will have no effect – Phplist will redirect to a public confirmation page upon submittal of the form. However, you'll find an excellent post over at Spamcollect which details how to hack the phplist code to redirect back to pages on your CMS.

5) Go back to the Forms Manager of ChronoForms and click on the Link for your phplist subscribe page. If it shows up - awesome! Now just create newsletter-subscribe page in one of your Joomla content items and embed the Chrono mambot within that page for a pretty, search engine friendly URL.

Take my functioning subscribe page for a spin. Since switching to Joomla 1.5X I haven't had time to update the subscribe form for Joomla+Phplist. However, these instructions should still work.

To customize your unsubscribe and preferences pages requires following the steps outlined in this post.

Much thanks to Bob Janes for helping me figure this out.

Tags: phplist