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copy/paste into text field is cut off, not submitted

  1. littler.chicken
    Member

    I have not been able to figure out why this is happening--mechanic's syndrome because when I've tested it, it doesn't happen for me. I've set up a publicity request form for church staff to submit print/web/etc. print requests (side note: between conditional logic for showing/hiding fields, and routing emails to the correct person, this form alone makes GF worth every single penny), and most of the time it works perfectly.

    I've had a couple people copy/paste text from a Word document, evernote, and/or publisher into the Details field ("just where it says Details (actual wording that you want to be used, or a description)"), and the text has disappeared on us. It doesn't end up in the entries in the database, or in the email (which is sent to me and a copy sent to the user). Sometimes just one line of their text will come through, sometimes just one line will be missing. And it doesn't happen to everyone. There is no character limit on this field.

    I do not seem to be able to make it break for me. I would ascribe it to user error, except that the people who are having the issues the most are the two most tech savvy in the office.

    If you want to do a test submission, you are welcome to--if you ask for a digital job instead of a print job, it will only come to me, and if you put in a legit email for yourself, you will get a copy. I am not sure if there is any help for this, since I can't track it down, but if you would take a look, I would appreciate any help or suggestions.

    Posted 12 years ago on Tuesday September 13, 2011 | Permalink
  2. Can you get your hands on the original document to see what was pasted in, then compare it to the entry that was saved? Maybe there's a special character that is fouling up the submission.

    It will be easiest to replicate the problem if you can start with the document they started with, then copy and paste that same text. Test in different browsers as well.

    Posted 12 years ago on Wednesday September 14, 2011 | Permalink
  3. littler.chicken
    Member

    Ah, I think i found the problem, at least on the most recent one. The ministry name has a < in it, used to represent "less than", and that is where the most recent one was cut off. And since the two people having the issue are both that ministry, maybe that's the issue, that it's looking at it as some kind of markup, not plain text. Is there any way around that--do I tell them not to use < and > in their copy because it's interpreted as code, that I'll figure it out?

    Thanks--

    Posted 12 years ago on Wednesday September 14, 2011 | Permalink
  4. The problem is < and > are HTML beginning and end characters. So that is most likely going to be the cause. The field data sanitation functionality strips code for security reasons.

    Posted 12 years ago on Wednesday September 14, 2011 | Permalink
  5. littler.chicken
    Member

    OK, great--thanks! I told them not to use that character. The fact that it was these two people should have clued me in. Thank you!

    Posted 12 years ago on Wednesday September 14, 2011 | Permalink