WordPress 2.3 Plugin – ezmlm mailing list subscribe form

ezmlm is a qmail-based mailing list manager written by Dan J. Bernstein.

From their site: “It has all the basic functionality of a mailing list manager, such as subscriber address management including automated bounce handling as well as message distribution and archiving. Its purpose is to efficiently send a message to a large number of recipients with minimal delay. It allows automated additions and subtractions from the subscriber database.”

i have seen it installed as the default built-in mailing list software for some shared hosting providers.
i needed a way to let visitors subscribe/unsubscribe to the ezmlm mailing list directly from a webpage.
but, when i searched the web for any existing WordPress plugins that could do this – i could not find any.
so, i thought there might be some wordpress users or admins that want to integrate ezmlm with their website using a standard web-based html signup form and some php magic.

description:
This plugin will allow visitors to subscribe and unsubscribe to your ezmlm mailing list – directly from your website – without having to manually send an email from their email client.

tested with WordPress 2.3.x
tested on Superb Hosting, and ezmlm mailing list software.

features:

1. basic error and spam checking built right into the plugin.
2. automatically prints out a “Thank You” or “Error” message on submit
3. you can use css to style the submit form to your heart’s content.
4. works even when your ezmlm is on a different server than you web server.
5. choose between using a standard text button or an image as your submit button.
6. choose between using the defulat privacy message, a custom message, or no message at all.

download:
ezmlm subscribe form v1.0

basic install:

1. download the plugin file, place it in the plugins directory, and active the plugin.
2. configure the plugin by going to Options > ezmlm signup form (see below for more details).
3. add the following code to your theme where you would like the ezmlm subscribe/unsubscribe form to appear.

< ?php if( function_exists('ezmlm_submit_form') ) { ezmlm_submit_form($display = true); } ?>

ezmlm options:
There are only 4 configuration options so far..

1. Set the Name of your mailing list (for example, you would enter: newsletter, if your mailing list was at: newsletter-subscribe@yourdomain.com)
2. Set the Domain of your mailing list (for example, you would enter: yourdomain.com, if your mailing list was at: newsletter-subscribe@yourdomain.com)
3. If you want to use an Image as the submit button: Enter the full URL to the image file (URL format: http://www.yourlocation.com/path/to/image.jpg – leave this blank and the form will use a standard text submit button)
4. If you want to set a custom privacy message: Enter it in the textarea provided (Or, type: DEFAULT and the default message will be displayed. Or, leave this area blank to have no privacy message displayed at all. Hint: you can use html in here too.)

screencap:
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

advanced usage:
- Template Tags –
To place ezmlm signup form on a specific page – like page 408 – add the following code to your page.php template file.
< ?php if(is_page(408)) {
if( function_exists('ezmlm_submit_form') ) { ezmlm_submit_form($display = true); }
} ?>

- Custom CSS -
You can style the signup form by adding the following IDs to your style.css file.
#ezmlmform (is the ID for the entire form)
#urlsubmit (is the ID for the image upload button)

/* example usage */
#ezmlmform { border:1px solid #000; padding:5px; }


credits:
Much of this code was borrowed from a forum thread called: ezmlm php subscribe/unsubscribe form
Documented here: http://forum.qmailrocks.org/showpost.php?p=16649&postcount=2.