WordPress e-cards
By Glenn Ansley | February 10th, 2009 | Published in WordPress Plugins | 67 Comments
Plugin Description
This plugin allows you to easily create a post or page that acts as a virtual postcard application for your site visitors. Add it to one post or create your own ecard site using the built in WordPress category and page functionality.
- Template files and CSS classes allow you to customize look and feel quickly
- Manage available photos for each card with the built in WordPress Media Manager
- Place the wpecards tag in your post content and publish
This plugin is very much in development and depends on your feedback. Expect errors and report them. I will diligently update as needed.
Release History
* This plugin is in beta
* 0.1 – Initial Release
Installation
- Upload ft-wp-ecards directory to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
- Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress
- Create a new WordPress post or page
- Upload desired photos
- Insert the wpecards ShortTag and publish
- Style to your specific needs
File Location: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-ecards/
February 10th, 2009 at 7:31 pm (#)
hi, does it run with wp 2.7 ?
February 10th, 2009 at 7:55 pm (#)
Yes
February 10th, 2009 at 8:07 pm (#)
Hi,
Thanks for this, it is great! One thing I am wondering about though is that on my page, my e-card thumbnail choices show as intended, but then the full-size images also show at the bottom of the page. Do I have something messed up in my code, or is this how it works for you?
Again, thanks!
February 11th, 2009 at 1:47 pm (#)
Hi Kristen, What version of WP are you using? If you send me a link, I can check it out.
February 11th, 2009 at 1:47 pm (#)
i am sorry but i cant understand. i am searching an e-card script and i will include in a page. and i want to build that my users can write message with their card and they can send an other people. thanks i will follow you
http://www.askulkesi.com is my site that i develop amateurly take care
February 11th, 2009 at 5:10 pm (#)
Anywhere I can see it in action, maybe some screen shots ?
February 11th, 2009 at 5:35 pm (#)
i cant see any setting page at admin panel :S
February 11th, 2009 at 5:37 pm (#)
do have any demo site i can see
February 11th, 2009 at 5:41 pm (#)
@Krims: Not yet… I could throw something up for you though. I’ll do it shortly.
@ Ismail: There isn’t a settings page… primarily because there aren’t any settings yet. I didn’t want to build settings that people didn’t use. What “setting” do you need. If it seems reasonable, I’ll build it in.
All requests are welcome. I’m looking for quick feedback and development.
BTW: This isn’t documented, but if you include any of the following files in your theme’s directory, the plugin will include that file in the template around the postcard’s design: wpecards-header.php, wpecards-sidebar-left.php, wpecards-sidebar-right.php, wpecards-footer.php.
February 11th, 2009 at 6:09 pm (#)
Okay, here’s an example: All I did was upload images to the post and put [wpecards] in the content area. :
A page where you can make your own:
http://fullthrottledevelopment.com/example-e-card
The page where your recipient views the card:
http://fullthrottledevelopment.com/viewcard/fcLGMR/
February 11th, 2009 at 6:26 pm (#)
hi. Thanks for plugin
perfect.
Regards
February 12th, 2009 at 4:50 am (#)
Hi.. installed and set up..all went well. But after sending e-card. I get a 404 error when I go look at the card I sent.
http://www.xxxxxxxxxx.com/viewcard/INE8Cj
There is no such folder or file.
Help please.
February 12th, 2009 at 5:58 am (#)
I would like to just post a youtube in a post and have the ecard functionality below it, but it requires you to upload an image :L
Is there a way to bypass that?
Also it seems that if you don’t upload an image it puts the form above the content of your post. It’d be nice if the form would appear where the user specifies it to appear.
Great plugin and I really hope to start using it soon
February 12th, 2009 at 1:11 pm (#)
@Mark: Do you have pretty permalinks turned on or are you using the defalut http://siteurl.com/?p=1 URL structure? I think my plugin assumes pretty permalinks… I may look into that.
@Michin4: You’re right. Right now, just images. I’ll have to think about how that would work for future versions. I think the main limitation would be that I couldn’t auto-generate a thumbnail for the youtube video.
Also: I probably just need to prevent the form from printing if there are no photos attached to the post/page. The form is actually placed where you put the shorttag but I have a float around it so that is a CSS issue if its not going where you want it to. To customize the CSS, simply copy the css file (ft_wpecards.css) in the plugin directory to your theme directory and modify it.
February 12th, 2009 at 1:24 pm (#)
[...] Destek ve plugin Sayfası wordpress-e-cards [...]
February 12th, 2009 at 1:29 pm (#)
Hi. Thanks for a fun plugin. This is perfect for Valentine’s Day! I’m having a few issues in getting to work how I envisioned.
See my form here: http://www.greenworld365.com/featured/send-free-v-day-cards/
1. The form posts first. Like the other user said, I’d like my post content above and to have the form show up wherever I put the shortcode. Is this possible?
2. I’d the “from” email to either be my wordpress email or the sender’s email. Instead it is showing up as coming from “myusername@box502.myhostingcompany.com.” How do I change this, because it looks like spam?
3. Not as important, but is there a way to track how many cards are sent?
February 12th, 2009 at 1:56 pm (#)
Hi Barbra,
1) This is a CSS issue (retrospectivlly I should have set it up differently). You can edit the CSS by following the directions I posted above to @Michin4.
2) I’m going to have to work that into the next release. I admit it isn’t as great of an implementation as it could be.
3) The data is there but unless you have access to your MySQL database, you’ll have to wait for me to build a reports page (next release maybe). If you are interested, the data is in a table called wp_ft_ecards. All of the following information is available for each card: sender_name, sender_email, recipient_name, recipient_email, image_id, message_text, post_id, card_hash
Good luck with the CSS!
February 12th, 2009 at 8:47 pm (#)
This is a fantastic plugin! Works great. I do have a question though. Is it possible to have a caption or title per card? next to the radio button maybe?
February 12th, 2009 at 9:58 pm (#)
Hi Glenn,
Thanks for the quick response. When do you expect an update regarding the implementation of #2 (changing the “from email”)? Would a donation encourage quicker development?
This type of plugin has so many great uses. And the only other option I could find (wp-greet) is not very user-friendly.
February 13th, 2009 at 3:45 am (#)
Thanks for the reply Glenn. Excellent plugin and this is sure to be a great success on WordPress
February 15th, 2009 at 10:50 am (#)
[...] WordPress e-Cards Šis įskiepis leidžia sukurti įrašą ar puslapį, kuriame būtų e-atvirukas. Galima wordpress sistemą paversti e-atvirukų portalu. Kolkas tai naujas įskiepis, tad funkcijų gausa nepasižymi, tačiau galima keisti CSS, įterpti e-atviruko žymą į įrašą ar puslapį, taip pat valdyt Peržiūra: Kaip atrodo e-atviruko siuntimas Kaip atrodo gautas atvirukas [...]
February 15th, 2009 at 5:35 pm (#)
thanks and take care
February 15th, 2009 at 6:23 pm (#)
oww, it doen’t run my systems, any my site. i should install the pluging, http://www.askulkesi.com. i made all your directions. do you have any idea Glenn?
February 15th, 2009 at 6:30 pm (#)
i am too surry, i rread just here but i read now readme.txt. i installed succesfully
and i am running now, if i have any problem i will write again. thanks god bless you take care
February 15th, 2009 at 7:22 pm (#)
hi, i have a problem, i add [wpecards\] this or \[wpecards\] (like written readme file) and it displayed both a cards and picture thumbs under the form area take a look please i can’t solve it
http://www.biriyilik.com/images/ecard-error.jpg
February 15th, 2009 at 7:32 pm (#)
I noticed you’re in preview mode in the backend. Does this happen when you actually publish the page and are viewing from the frontend? (And its [wpecards] without any backslashes – they’re for the wordpress.org/extend/ site)
February 16th, 2009 at 10:14 am (#)
okay, thanks i have been working
February 16th, 2009 at 6:54 pm (#)
I don't think I understand you or you font understand how the plugin works. Are you using pages or posts? If pages, make a page called Dogs and upload pics of dogs. Make another called Sheep and upload pics of sheep…
February 16th, 2009 at 10:18 pm (#)
hi again, i have propared about 260 image for e-card but i can’t display different pages or categories how can i collect like cards at the same page and other like cards the ohter page or category? thanks
February 17th, 2009 at 12:59 pm (#)
okay, but i think it is more usefull plugin for wp users thanks anyway
February 17th, 2009 at 10:12 pm (#)
Hi,
Thanks for the plugin. Where can I change the thumbnail size? Thanks!
February 17th, 2009 at 10:25 pm (#)
nevermind. found it!
February 18th, 2009 at 6:41 am (#)
Hi there
thank you for this plugin: simple and great
i like it!!!!
my Site is Hebrew: http://www.oups.com
sending: http://oups.co.il/contact/ecards/
receiving: http://oups.co.il/viewcard/ryYQ4P/
as you can see the viewcard/xxxxx sends it to display all the posts.
do you have an idea what is going on and how can i fix this……
February 19th, 2009 at 3:33 am (#)
Ho
Another issue:
how can i translate your plugin?
i did so in the class_ftwpecards.php and it shows ??????????…..
what is missing?
Rafael
February 21st, 2009 at 3:45 pm (#)
Hello,
This is a geat plugin, everything works just fine, and it looks realy good on my weblog, but I can’t send the e-cards.
I get the following message when a click the send e-card button:
INSERT INTO `wp_ft_wpecards` ( sender_name , sender_email , recipient_name , recipient_email , image_id , message_text , post_id , card_hash ) VALUES ( ‘Antonietta’ , ‘antoniettabonomo@live.nl’ , ‘Simon’ , ‘simonspit@hotmail.com’ , ’83′ , ‘testing testing’ , ’61′ , ‘CmcAsL’)
I hope yoy can help me out, because I realy like this plugin.
Kind regards Antonietta
February 28th, 2009 at 5:25 am (#)
Hi,
Its not woring with me….
Installed in plugin directory and activated…
No settings found in admin panel
pls help…
Biju Subhash
March 7th, 2009 at 12:45 am (#)
Great. Exactly what I was looking for.
One issue (maybe this is in the CSS) but how can I add instructions without them appearing on the e-card and preview as well.
In other words, I’d like to say, “The recipient will receive blah blah blah and they will pick it up like this.”
I don’t want this text to show up anywhere except the initial page where user selects image.
I did try wrapping it in the .ft_wpecards_image_instructions class but of course that just makes it bold.
Hmmm… I guess I could write a class so instructions were same color as page, but I was wondering if there was anything in the setup to say, ignore this, or treat this text as instructions.
Best — and thanks for this. I’m sure I’ll get a lot of use from it.
Dave Beckerman
March 7th, 2009 at 1:22 am (#)
[...] http://fullthrottledevelopment.com/wordpress-e-cards [...]
March 7th, 2009 at 1:27 am (#)
One related thing. It would be great if you could have a short code that begins and end a section of a post or page that you do not want included in the e-card. Dave.
March 7th, 2009 at 2:51 pm (#)
OK. I have this plugin working pretty well now.
You can see it at:
http://www.beckermanphoto.com/postcards
Changes I made: thumbnail size changed in one of the php files (just look for the default 75×75 in the array)
I added a minimum height attribute to the style for individual thumbnails. The min height was set to a size a bit larger than the greatest height. It was needed because otherwise the thumbnails didn’t line up right if they weren’t all the exact same size.
I also created a template for the postcard page so that it wouldn’t have a bunch of stuff (like the sidebar) in the postcard and so that I could customize it more.
And finally – added my own instructions to one of the php files that contained the default text.
Improvement to the plugin for the casual user would be to include some of these options (thumbnail size, minimum height, instruction text) in the setup for the plugin.
Regards,
Dave
March 7th, 2009 at 10:12 pm (#)
Sorry – one more thing. I did test mailing today, and although it sent the email to me; nobody else that I sent it to got it. And a few people tried it and it didn’t send the email notification. So something is up with the mail sending part – but don’t know what yet. I’m going to try and debug it.
P.S. the link that I provided in the previous post here has been removed.
I think this thing is worth debugging. (I’m running it on wp 2.7) At this point I’m stumped as to why it would send mail to me but not to anyone else. I’ll stick some echo statements to see what the wp_ mail sending function is getting. If you’d like me to write directly to you rather than having this process in the blog, let me know.
March 8th, 2009 at 6:00 am (#)
Hi Glenn,
Is it possible to make the text input window Unicode (accepting other languages)? Right now they don’t display properly when used.
Thank you.
March 11th, 2009 at 4:51 am (#)
Great plugin, so easy to use. Fantastic. Great work. Thanks!!!
March 14th, 2009 at 6:02 am (#)
The plugin seems to work just fine though i click the url in the email and I am served a white page? is there something i am missing in the /viewcard/ is it a permalink issue as i have my permalinks set to %postname%
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
the url i refer to is: http://www.3media.com.au/viewcard/QCBtM6/
March 18th, 2009 at 12:37 am (#)
Tried it on my experimental WP – can't seem to make it work
http://tvcm.co.uk/rovers/?page_id=128 – spot the obvious ?? mistake
is it possible to have a variety of questions in the form and have the card come to me ? i.e. a post card feedback form
March 23rd, 2009 at 10:49 am (#)
Hi,
I have successfully tested and begun using your ecards plug-in. I like it so far, it is very easy to use. A couple of suggestions: it would be great to be able to modify the subject line line and content of the email a bit. Right now, to my eyes, the email looks like spam. I'm using the cards to thank customers. If they don't open it or it gets rejected by their server, it doesn't have the intended effect. Thanks.
March 30th, 2009 at 1:44 pm (#)
I don't under stand how this work. I followed your steps, install the plug in and activated it in WP. Created a new WP page called e-card. I made a post but I don't see any e-card options… created a custum field and used 'wpecards' as name and put in the link of the picture as value.
Please help me….
April 13th, 2009 at 6:57 am (#)
Great plugin, Glenn, thank you. I noted the [gallery columns="3"] had been added to the page on my test site, and that at the bottom of the page there was the duplicate set of larger ‘thumbnails’. Changing the number changed the number of columns (wow, who knew?
, and simply deleting the [gallery] removed the larger thumbnails – leaving the small thumbs, and the form, all working pretty much as they should. Yay! Now, time for a little refinement of the layout…
April 16th, 2009 at 5:28 am (#)
Hi,
I would like to use your postcard plugin and everything works fine, but when I want to look at the postcard, I get this error:
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/php-5.2.6/lib/php') in /home/www/web34/html/2009/wp-content/plugins/wp-ecards/ft-wp-ecards.php on line 171
Can you help me?
Thank you very much! Greetings, Ethel
April 18th, 2009 at 1:57 pm (#)
Hi.. installed and set up..all went well. But after sending e-card. I get a
Not Found
The requested URL /viewcard/I6IH6f was not found on this server.
Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.
when I go look at the card I sent.
There is no such folder or file.
Help please. How can I solve the problem?
April 28th, 2009 at 12:34 pm (#)
I was able to fix the default text, but now when i send the card the place where the recipient goes to pick up their card is blank. Check it out here: http://www.carbonfund.org/blog/about/mother-earth…
April 28th, 2009 at 2:59 pm (#)
I have two issues:
Is there any way to add default text to the form?
Also, can I add a custom redirect to the code after they send the e-card (to add a tell-a-friend page)?
Thanks for the great plugin!
May 3rd, 2009 at 2:19 am (#)
[...] numărul celor care vor recurge la acest mod de adresare online. WP E-Cards (disponibil şi pe site-ul autorului) este un plugin care permite webmasterilor care folosesc pentru paginile proprii platforma [...]
May 6th, 2009 at 10:27 am (#)
This plug-in isn’t working without permalinks on. Sending and displaying is okay, but I get a link in the receivemail like “…/viewcard/VvKHXQ”. This is not working, because this directory does not exist!
Is there a way to link to the same page-id where [wpecards] is included?
Something like “…/?page_id=54&hash=VvKHXQ”. Then the hash can requests the card from the database.
May 7th, 2009 at 6:24 pm (#)
Hi there:
I’m really excited about this plugin, but I’m having a problem, presumably with the CSS: http://magnes.org/opensourceblog/?attachment_id=446
This is the view when I preview the post. Code of the post is simply:
*******
Test
“wpecards ShortTag”
******
You can see from the screenshot that the Test text is pushed to the side, the Sociable plugin is pushed to the side and is sort of all over the place, and the form overlays the comment area.
When I published the post, the form was not appearing at all, and the Test text was appearing properly, as if the form didn’t exist.
This problem was occurring prior to my copying the CSS code from the plugin folder to the theme folder, but adding the CSS didn’t change anything. I don’t actually know CSS very well, so I’m not sure what to adjust, but shouldn’t the form have showed up in the published post anyway?
May 9th, 2009 at 10:02 pm (#)
Hi, thanks for the plugin. After a lot of customizing I got it to work, see http://harry.biketravellers.com/ecards
I replicated the error Kristen mentioned. It is the result of changing anything in the temp ‘gallery’ that WP attaches to the post. if you change sort order, number of rows etc, then it inserts a shortcode in the post, creating all kinds of weird images behaviour, easy to test (and to cure).
This is a shame as it would be nice to sort the images. what bothers me most is that (as far as I can tell) I can not use existing mages (from the media library), but have to re-upload them, a big waste of server space. Would e much better if you can just choose them from the library.
I wonder how spammy the system is? What prevents a bot from sending millions of ‘ecards’ with spam URL’s (as the HTML does not seem to be filtered at all) using my server?
Cheers,
Harry
May 11th, 2009 at 3:41 pm (#)
Hi, excelent plugin!! only i have two questios.
1° when i press send the ecard, it doesnt send it.
2° can i use lightbox to see de preview?, i tried to put it but i couldnt.
its used on
http://zoocard.com.ar/index.php/postales/
excuse my english im from argentina, we speak spanish here, thanks for your help.
May 20th, 2009 at 10:30 am (#)
hi, i have a problem, the plugin is installed, i have edited de css file and everything its ok, when you press preview you can see it, but when you send, nothing happends. i have to do something with the server?.
thanks.
May 21st, 2009 at 10:36 am (#)
Wow,
I’m a “little bit” behind. I’ll address all of these bugs in the next release. Look for it towards the end of June.
May 24th, 2009 at 7:33 am (#)
One of the things I have yet to solve is in FFox the input box etc extends below the theme page space (over the top of the footer). Oddly, it works nicely in internet explorer 6. I’ve experimented with the css, results the same. Patiently waiting until June…
June 28th, 2009 at 3:32 am (#)
Hi Glenn
There seems to be some issue with ft-wp-ecards.php file not loading/finding the ft_wpecards.css file. The page/file plays nicely with WP 2.6 (and probably 2.7) however suddenly in 2.8 there’s an issue. It appears to work in the example (http://fullthrottledevelopment.com/example-e-card), however the list bullets appear alongside the thumbnails.
I’ve been unable to change the code so the .css file can be found. I’m confused about why WP2.6 can follow and find, but 2.8 cannot, however I’d be happy skip the explanation. Can you (or anyone else) please advise the correct code? Thanks in anticipation.
July 1st, 2009 at 11:37 am (#)
Thanks. This plugin works great. Is it possible to change the English text visible on the site? For example: change the text (Sender’s Name, Sender’s Email, Recipient’s Name, Recipient’s Email, Please type a message) in another language?
I can not find it in the php file.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:08 pm (#)
Is the new release out? It’s July. :p
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:26 pm (#)
How do you make the ecards appear at the end, not at the top, of the post?
July 13th, 2009 at 4:27 pm (#)
I was having the same problem as Mark (Feb 12), with a 404 Error when I followed the link emailed to me. Then I changed my permalinks to display the post/page name instead of the id. I no longer get the 404 error, but I do get the same error as Ethel (Apr 16):
Warning: include() [function.include]: Filename cannot be empty in /agnone/wp-content/plugins/wp-ecards/ft-wp-ecards.php on line 171
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening ” for inclusion (include_path=’.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php’) in /agnone/wp-content/plugins/wp-ecards/ft-wp-ecards.php on line 171
Any suggestions?
October 18th, 2009 at 1:55 pm (#)
excelent plugin!!
March 27th, 2010 at 3:22 pm (#)
Hi, great plugin
i'm using the plugin on a WP.2.9.2 website, but suddenly it stopped loading the ft_wp-ecards.css file, so the Cards Gallery didn't show…
While checking the code i noticed WP didn't executed the ft_wpecards_styles() properly, not loading the CSS when needed (not LINK REL reference in the )
i commented the function from:
<code>
if ( file_exists( TEMPLATEPATH . $css ) ){
</code>
to
<code>
wp_enqueue_style('thickbox');
}
</code>
and directly wrote the functions like this:
<code>
function ft_wpecards_styles(){
global $wp_query,$wp_version;
if ( isset($wp_query->queried_object->post_content) ){
$pos = strpos($wp_query->queried_object->post_content, "[wpecards]");
}
if ( (isset($pos)) && ! (FALSE === $pos) ) { // the === is important; see php docs
// set file name
$css = '/ft_wpecards.css';
?>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="" />
<?
}
}
</code>
And the gallery CSS was working all right again…