Name: EasyCalcCheck Plus - Version: 3.3.0.0-FREE / 3.3.1.0-PRO / 4.0.3.1-PRO - Type: Plugin - License: GPLv3
Description: Protects Joomla! forms and 3rd party extensions by integrating anti-spam services and internal antispam checks - Joomla! Extensions Directory
Overview of all downloads of the extension: ECC+ - EasyCalcCheck Plus Downloads
Protects Joomla! core forms and 3rd party extensions by integrating spam protection services and adds an arithmetical problem, a hidden field and a time lock
Plugin: EasyCalcCheck PLUS - ECC+
Function: Protection against spam messages and spam registrations
Included Languages: English and German - all language files at Transifex
Supported 3rd Party Extensions: AlfContact, Community Builder, DFContact, Easybook Reloaded, Fox Contact, Flexi Contact, Flexi Contact Plus, JomSocial, Kunena Forum, Phoca Guestbook and Virtuemart
Integrated external antispam services: Google reCaptcha, hCaptcha, Akismet, Honeypot Project, StopForumSpam, Botscout
This plugin protects your registration and contact form from spam by insertion of an arithmetic task. In addition, you may activate a hidden field and a time limit. Only spam-bots fill in this field, as they tend to fill in every field there is, hidden or not. Regular users do not see the field and will not fill it, avoiding the trap. The time limit prevents that the form is submitted to fast. Bots usually fill in all the values at one time and try to send the form within seconds. A human being is not able to send a form in such a short time frame.
If the internal spam protection is insufficient, external anti-spam services (such as Akismet, Mollom, etc.) might be used.
ECC+ offers not only the spam-protection but as well other features like: Backend security through a token and SQL injection protection.
The plugin has been developed and optimized for some years now (see the features-tab). Spam in Joomla! forms don't get a chance with EasyCalcCheck Plus!
With the release of Joomla! stable version 1.7, I have published ECC+ 1.7.-1. The anti-spam plugin was almost completely rewritten in version 1.7.-2 for Joomla! 1.7. This delivers the base structure for the continuation and further development of the plugin. Many improvements were made, which occasionally caused problems in the past. In addition to the significant code optimization, we added support for even more popular form components like FoxContact, Kunena Forum, FlexiContact and DFContact. Due to the new design, the plugin can quickly and easily be extended to other components. With ECC+, you should never again face the problem of spam messages or spam registrations caused by spambots. EasyCalcCheck Plus claims the first place at Joomla! Extension Directory in the captcha category and has continued to be even more successful in the recent past. I want to thank all who support my extension with a review!
Some bug fixing was done in Version 1.7-3, and the extension ALFContact was added to the supported 3rd party extensions.
Simultaneously with the release of version 2.5 of the Core on January 24th, version 2.5-1 of the plugin was published. In version 2.5-2 the extensions JomSocial and Virtuemart were included in the list of supported 3rd party extensions.
EasyCalcCheck Plus has been continuously developed, optimized and is meanwhile available in version 2.5-7. It has a rating of 4.97 of possible 5 points in the official Joomla! Extensions Directory and is now among the best-rated extensions ever. Thank you to all users!
Features
- Arithmetical problem - Addition and Subtraction
- Number of operands can be selected - 2 or 3
- Numbers in words - Numbers can be represented as words
- Hidden input field
- Time lock
- Self-defined question
- Many supported 3rd party extensions
- Honeypot Project
- StopForumSpam
- Akismet
- reCaptcha
- hCaptcha
- SQL Injection and Local file Inclusion protection
- Backend protection with a token
- Protection of the core forms: contact and registration forms
- Autofill - entered values are automatically entered in the field if the spam check was not solved
- Show spam-check only for guests
- and many more! :-)
Installation
Install the plugin by accessing the administration menu of the back-end under Extensions. Then access Extensions – Plugins – System – EasyCalcCheck PLUS and customize it to your needs. Don't forget to activate it!
In the beginning, I recommend using the standard settings. If some spam still gets through, you should consider activating an external service like Akismet.
Enjoy! ;-) Spam is finally a thing of the past!
Spambots shouldn't be stopped only by ECC+ on the client-side. The majority of spambots is easily identified with the help of blacklists and prevents proactive the loading of your website. Since version 1.5-7 bots can be identified and blocked by comparing the actual blacklist from Honeypot Project or StopForumSpam.
In addition, comprehensive anti-spam services like Akismet, Mollom, reCaptcha and Botscout have been implemented to recognize and filter spam even better!
Tip: This website and all my demo sites did not receive any entries or registrations through spambots with the following configuration: arithmetic problem, hidden field, time lock and Akismet. If this configuration is not enough, then another spam service can be activated additionally.
Note: EasyCalcCheck Plus is a system plugin and not a plugin from the Captcha group. The option "Default Captcha" in the global configuration and the settings of the user management should be deactivated. Use EasyCalcCheck Captcha if you want to have a plugin using the Captcha group!
Changelog
Joomla! 4.x
Version 4.0.3.1-PRO - 2022-11-13
- + Added CSP Nonce handling. The nonce value is set automatically for inline tags if Content Security Policy (CSP) and the corresponding Nonce option are enabled in the HTTP Headers plugin.
- ^ Added hCaptcha support to the Custom Call implementation. Thanks to Dirk (Deltapapa) for reporting it!
Version 4.0.3.0-PRO - 2022-10-04
- + Added support for Convert Forms using the Custom Call feature.
- Enable the advanced option "Custom Call" in ECC+.
- Add a "Heading" or "HTML" field with the custom syntax {easycalccheckplus} field to your form right before the submit button in the form component. Use the "Help Text" option in the "Heading" field.
- Add the custom CSS class ecc-custom-call in the "Advanced" section of this field. This class will apply some rules to improve the output of the calc check input field.
- Optional: Create a template override of the input fields in ECC+ using the Template Manager and adjust the output to match the form component's output. Use the files with the suffix "Custom" to edit fields from the Custom Call.
- + Added template files for all visible input fields to allow custom adjustments easily. Each input type (calc check, question and hidden) has two variants: the default load and the custom call (file name ends with Custom).
- ^ Improved Custom Call to handle AJAX requests and responses in JSON-Format (instead of redirects).
Version 4.0.2.1-PRO - 2022-09-30
- ! Updated StopForumSpam API endpoint
- # Removed empty string replacement of the Custom Call syntax in the backend. Thanks to Volkmar S. for reporting it!
Version 4.0.2.0-PRO - 2022-09-01
- + Added Pro Security Token validation check. The Pro package contains a token file with an individual security token linked to the user account and checked against the validation server for authenticity.
- ^ Multiple internal code optimisations.
Version 4.0.1.1-PRO - 2022-06-16
- # Improved ReCaptcha and hCaptcha integrations. Thanks to Dirk (Deltapapa) for reporting it!
Version 4.0.1.0-PRO - 2021-11-16
- + Added the built-in Download Key Manager support to enter your Pro Update ID without installing the update helper plugin.
Important: Please copy your personal Pro Update ID using the second copy button in the Pro ID Manager and enter the key in System - Update - Update Sites - Select the entry of the Pro extension and enter the ID into the Download Key field. - ^ Code optimisations
Version 4.0.0.0-PRO - 2021-10-02
- + First Pro release for Joomla! 4.x based on ECC+ Pro version 3.3.0.0-PRO
Joomla! 3.x
Version 3.3.1.0-PRO - 2022-07-22
- + Updated rules for Virtuemart (4.0.6). Thanks to Klemens K. for requesting it!
- ^ Code optimisations
Version 3.3.0.0-FREE - 2021-05-03
- ^ Maintenance release
- ^ Removed (optional) frontend link to the project page
- ^ Changed the version number specification. The first number stands for the supported major Joomla! version. The following three numbers follow the Semantic Versioning Specification (SemVer), as it used to be previously.
- ^ Updated manifest file structure
- ^ Improved page cache handling - Using onPageCacheIsExcluded hook to exclude pages with forms where ECC+ is loaded
- ^ Updated language files
- ^ Code optimisations
- # Fixed loginAttemtps error message
Version 3.3.0.0-PRO - 2021-04-26
- + Added IP address blocking functionality - With this option, the plugin blocks IP addresses from accessing the system entirely if they exceed the allowed number of submission attempts. All requests from blocked IP addresses are terminated directly by the plugin. After the specified block time, the IP addresses are removed from the lock list and can access the system as usual again.
- + Added Block direct submissions functionality - With this option, direct submissions of a form are not possible anymore. The form page has to be loaded first before a successful submission is possible. This is important for forms that don't support the session check provided by the core.
- ^ Changed the version number specification. The first number stands for the supported major Joomla! version. The following three numbers follow the Semantic Versioning Specification (SemVer), as it used to be previously.
- ^ Updated manifest file structure
- ^ Improved page cache handling - Using onPageCacheIsExcluded hook to exclude pages with forms where ECC+ is loaded
- ^ Updated language files
- ^ Code optimisations
- # Fixed loginAttemtps error message
Version 3.2.4-PRO - 2021-04-01
- ^ Added the "email" type for the "Keep data on fail" functionality
- ^ Improved the handling if another form is transmitted from the same page where a form is protected by the custom call replacement. Thanks to Manuel for reporting it!
- ^ Syntax for the custom call is removed if the user does not have to solve the spam check, depending on the user status.
- ^ Updated custom field
- ^ Code optimisations
Version 3.2.1-FREE - 2021-03-30
- ^ Improved the handling if another form is transmitted from the same page where a form is protected by the custom call replacement. Thanks to Manuel for reporting it!
- ^ Syntax for the custom call is removed if the user does not have to solve the spam check, depending on the user status.
- ^ Updated language files and custom fields
- ^ Code optimisations
Version 3.2.3-PRO - 2021-01-18
- ^ Maintenance release
- ^ Extended the option "Keep data on fail" to allow this feature in custom calls ({easycalccheckplus}) in forms with empty array name attributes - for instance in BreezingForms. Thanks to Markus M. for reporting it!
- ^ Updated language files and custom field
- ^ Code optimisations
Version 3.2.2-PRO - 2020-08-26
- + hCaptcha - Added the hCaptcha anti-bot service. hCaptcha protects user privacy, rewards websites, and helps companies get their data labeled. Requires a free registration on https://www.hcaptcha.com/!
- + Multilingual Self-Defined Questions - Individual questions and answers can be set for each language.
- First release with increased technical requirements: Increasing Technical Requirements - Joomla! Core & PHP for Pro & Free Extensions
- ^ Updated support for Community Builder (tested with 2.4.5)
- ^ Updated language files and custom field
- ^ Code optimisations
Download
Overview of all downloads of the extension: ECC+ - EasyCalcCheck Plus Downloads