{"id":7223,"date":"2009-03-01T21:13:24","date_gmt":"2009-03-02T04:13:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=7223"},"modified":"2009-03-01T23:11:18","modified_gmt":"2009-03-02T06:11:18","slug":"building-an-even-more-universal-universal-contact-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7223\/building-an-even-more-universal-universal-contact-form\/","title":{"rendered":"Building an even more universal Universal Contact Form"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve talked before about the idea of a software universe — where the set of actions possible in a given software configuration is so large that you can come up with tools and techniques never anticipated by the developers.<\/p>\n

We went through this last fall when we started playing with WordPress Multiuser — and I ended up with my “featured listings” database running out of two Scenius scenes.<\/p>\n

I’ve been enthralled all week with the idea of web-based forms that can talk to — and drive — my Heap database. I want to revise every form we have to work the Heap way, and I have a zillion ideas for a zillion new forms.<\/p>\n

In consequence, today I rewrote my Universal Contact Form for the fourth time.<\/p>\n

What I wanted was something I could use in many circumstances, in pursuit of many objectives, without creating one-off, manually-edited versions of the form.<\/p>\n

For one thing, I want to play with “Gooder Group”-style ideas in a big way, and that will require a bunch of unique forms. So I built a form that I could make unique by editing parameter files, rather than by editing and re-editing PHP code.<\/p>\n

Here are the major changes:<\/p>\n

1. Any headlines or text setting up the form are now outside of the form and are your responsibility. The form begins with the anti-spam disclaimer and ends with the “submit” button. Everything else is up to you.<\/p>\n

2. The behavior of the Heap-specific initialization file now includes optional menu-selected landing pages. Kudos to Scott Cowan<\/a> for this wonderful idea.<\/p>\n

3. The form behaves differently based on the contents of the Heap-specific initialization file.<\/p>\n

4. It is now possible to invoke custom configurations of the form via the calling URL.<\/p>\n

5. I added optional source-tracking.<\/p>\n

Taken altogether, this change to the Universal Contact Form permits you to create as many unique variations of the form as you might need.<\/p>\n

But: That’s all just chatter. Let’s see it in action:<\/p>\n

Register here to get your own copy of the newer, even more-universal Universal Contact Form<\/h2>\n

< ?PHP include(\"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/UniversalContactForm.php?action=Register&source=BHB\"); ?><\/p>\n

Play with it. Work with it. Let me know if you can break it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve talked before about the idea of a software universe — where the set of actions possible in a given software configuration is so large that you can come up with tools and techniques never anticipated by the developers. We went through this last fall when we started playing with WordPress Multiuser — and I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[212,6,5,19],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-flourishing","7":"category-marketing","8":"category-real-estate","9":"category-technology","11":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7016,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7016\/whats-the-best-way-to-deliver-the-heap-specific-universal-contact-form-with-a-heap-specific-form-of-course\/","url_meta":{"origin":7223,"position":0},"title":"What’s the best way to deliver the Heap-specific universal contact form? With a Heap-specific form, of course.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not too dumb, I'm sure. Just dumb enough. When I released the Heap-specific version of the universal contact form, for some reason it didn't occur to me that I could build a version of the form to deliver the product. This omission I do hereby correct: If you want\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flourishing"","block_context":{"text":"Flourishing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/flourishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6934,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6934\/a-big-heap-of-heap-goodness-revising-my-universal-contact-form-to-create-heap-records-assigning-initial-drip-campaigns-to-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":7223,"position":1},"title":"A big heap of Heap goodness: Revising my universal contact form to create Heap records, assigning initial drip campaigns to them","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I've rebuilt my universal contact form to be Heap-friendly. Now, in addition to emailing you and the prospect with a quick follow-up, as well as optionally epaging you, the form will also optionally create a new Heap lead with the contact information and with the name of an initial drip\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6923,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/6923\/piling-onto-heap-ill-trade-you-a-big-bunch-of-crm-development-ideas-for-an-affiliate-link-click-through\/","url_meta":{"origin":7223,"position":2},"title":"Piling onto Heap: I’ll trade you a big bunch of CRM development ideas for an affiliate link click-through","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"If your contact information is on any of the BloodhoundBlog Unchained interest lists, I spammed you last week with a form email that pitched the then-upcoming Seattle Unchained preview as well as the still-upcoming BloodhoundBlog Unchained in Phoenix event. The form letter was sent out as bulk email from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Flourishing"","block_context":{"text":"Flourishing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/flourishing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18359,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18359\/overnight-news-laughing-all-the-way-to-the-morgue-with-the-breakthrough-superspreaders\/","url_meta":{"origin":7223,"position":3},"title":"Overnight News: Laughing all the way to the morgue with \u2018The Breakthrough Superspreaders.\u2019","author":"Greg Swann","date":"August 2, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I've written a zillion very-short jokes in my life, many of them band names. \u2018The Breakthrough Superspreaders\u2019 is funny all the way to the morgue, but everything that claims to be leadership is fatally comical by now. The good news is the bad news: Insanity is always temporary: A moral\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7328,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7328\/if-youre-in-the-phoenix-area-on-april-22-and-you-want-to-learn-a-whole-lot-about-how-to-use-web-20-to-promote-your-real-estate-practice-im-in-the-yellow-pages-under-chopped-liver\/","url_meta":{"origin":7223,"position":4},"title":"If you’re in the Phoenix area on April 22 and you want to learn a whole lot about how to use Web 2.0 to promote your real estate practice — I’m in the Yellow Pages under chopped liver","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm having an exceptional week. On top of money work, I got the Universal Contact Form to the point where I can deploy new variations in seconds. I've been playing Gooder games for fun -- except the fun keeps turning into profit. I worked out an algorithm for round-tripping data\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8241,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/8241\/reflecting-very-briefly-on-the-phoenix-real-estate-market-i-got-my-job-through-the-new-york-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":7223,"position":5},"title":"Reflecting (very) briefly on the Phoenix real estate market: “I got my job through the New York Times”","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Last Tuesday, while racing around doing real estate work and preparing for BloodhoundBlog Unchained, I was interviewed by the New York Times about the Phoenix real estate market. I've been interviewed a zillion times before, and it's cool and fun and it means absolutely nothing. 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