ft_api_display_captcha

The API comes fully integrated with the rather splendid "Recaptcha" service. Click here to visit their website and learn more about the novel approach they've taken to CAPTCHAs. The basic idea is that by solving their CAPTCHAs, you're unwittingly helping digitize old books that have been scanned into a computer.

Of the many CAPTCHA solutions there are out there, we selected this service over others due to the usefulness of their approach and the clarity of the CAPTCHAs themselves. Too often CAPTCHAs are unclear and hard to decipher by users; recaptchas are far more readable.

This API function generates a CAPTCHA in your page with a single line of PHP. If the user fails to enter the CAPTCHA correctly they are unable to proceed any further through your form and the submission is never finalized.

This document explains how to get this function working for you.

1. Get a recaptcha account

I know it's a pain, but it's very quick. Visit their site here and sign up for an account. Once you've created an account you register the domain(s) where you're using the service. Since the API only runs on the same server as your Form Tools installation, you'll only need to set up the one domain.

Recaptcha will generate two keys for you: a private and a public one. Add those two values to your /global/config.php file, like so:

$g_api_recaptcha_private_key = "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx";
$g_api_recaptcha_public_key = "yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy";

(replace the x's and y's with your own keys).

2. Add the captcha to your form

Next, in your form (which should already be integrated with the API with help from the tutorials on adding a single page form and adding a multi-page form), add this line where you want.

<?php
ft_api_display_captcha();
?>

And you're done! Try it out!