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Forms Bridge 4.0.0

Forms Bridge 4.0.0 is now available. This is a major update including many significant changes. Upgrading the plugin to 3.0 is recommended for all users.

This is a major release and while tested thoroughly you might experience conflicts or lost data. We recommend you back up your data before updating and check your configuration after updating.

As of version 4, the plugin closes its beta phase. Thanks to all users who has installed our plugin to this day.

Changes

HTTP Authentication

We’ve been working to improve the way Forms Bridge handles authenticated backend HTTP requests. Now, the plugin implements an abstract and addon independent system of HTTP authentication credentials. With this new feature, users will be able to implement authentication based on the web standards without the need of custom addons.

The system includes 6 types of authentication credentials:

  • Basic: In basic HTTP authentication, a request contains a header field in the form of Authorization: Basic <credentials>, where <credentials> is the Base64 encoding of client_id and client_secret joined by a single colon :.
  • Token: In token HTTP authentication, a request contains a header field in the form of Authorization: token <credentials>, where <credentials> is the client_id and client_secret joined by a single colon : as plain text.
  • URL: A variation of the basic schema where the client_id and client_secret are placed on the request URL as plain text values as follows https://<client_id>:<client_secret>@<backend_url>.
  • Digest: It applies a hash function to the client_id, realm and client_secret before sending them over the network with usage of nonce values.
  • RPC: In RPC authentication, the client_id, client_secret and database params are shared with the backend as the payload of an RPC login call to obtain the user ID required to perform authorized requests.
  • Bearer: Bearer authentication provides a method for clients to access a protected resource on behalf of a resource owner. In the general case, before a client can access a protected resource, it must first obtain an authorization grant from the resource owner and then exchange the authorization grant for an access token. The client_id, client_secret and scope fields are used to get this authorization grant performing an auth request to the Authorization URL.

Workflow jobs editor

The plugin’s workflow system is a great tool to achieve automations, but until version 4, the jobs can only be registered, inspected and modified writing and reading the PHP code. With the new job editor, users can create, edit, manage and inspect jobs with an interactive UI and a database persistent state. The new editor allow users to manage jobs metadata, input and output interface declarations and edit the job snippet with a code editor based on CodeMirror.

Admin UI revamped

The settings page UI has been refactored with new features and UI improvements. Major changes are the new HTTP tab as a dedicated page to manage all backend’s related settings, and the dynamic representation of bridge payloads.

Google and Zoho Oauth

Before version 4, the Google Sheets and the Zoho/Bigin addons implements a non standard authorization flow. Now, both addons has been updated to work with the new Bearer credentials and the standard OAuth 2.0 web server based user authorization flows.

Settings API refactored

Forms Bridge implements a custom PHP API to access and write settings to the database. The system has been refactored to decouple this API from the WordPress options API. Now, the API allow for a more semantic and succinct interaction.

Wipe settings button

A small but valuable new feature is a new button on the Import/Export panel of the general settings page that triggers a settings data deletion. This functionality can be useful for users who wants to deactivate Forms Bridge and wants to delete from the database all secrets related to the backend connections.

Nextcloud addon

Last but not least, the new release includes a new addon to bridge WordPress forms to Nextcloud. The addon bridges will register form submissions into CSV files on Nextcloud.

Download Forms Bridge plugin from WordPress.org.