unique reference number

Hi takkularapsis,

The plugin allows you to programmatically control the default value of a text input field in Contact Form 7, via a shortcode.

If you have a shortcode that produces the unique reference number you want, you could add that into the form, either as a text or hidden field. (You can use any shortcode that returns a text value, or write your own custom shortcode to generate the value you need – there is no built in shortcode for unique reference number generation).

You could then include that value in the email that gets sent to you via mail tags, just like any Contact Form 7 field.

That said, if you want to generate a number *after* form submission, this plugin won’t help you, as these values are generated when the form is generated (on page load), not on form submission.

Hope that helps

@tessawatkinsllc yup that’s worth pointing out 🙂

The GUID shortcode will create a value like this:

730E00A3-3490-4D26-BB26-8BE6431D94F5

So neither 6 digits nor numeric; but if the requirement is just for a globally unique string, then it’s a great option 🙂

Our plugin gives you the framework to create custom shortcodes to fit your specific needs. You could add something like this to your active theme’s functions.php file that will return a number of 6 or 7 digits.

function generate_reference_number() {
    $min = 100000; // Smallest 6-digit number
    $max = 9999999; // Largest 7-digit number

    if(function_exists('random_int')) { 
        return random_int($min, $max); // Secure, introduced in PHP 7.1
    } elseif(function_exists('mt_rand')) {
        return mt_rand($min, $max); // Less secure, but faster than rand()
    }
    return rand($min, $max); // Identical to mt_rand() as of PHP version 7.1
}
add_shortcode('get_reference_number', 'generate_reference_number');

And then add this to your form to create a hidden field that gets that number for you to use in the email.

[dynamichidden refnumber "get_reference_number"]

Ah, I can see what happened. I’m sorry I wasn’t clear. So you’ll want to add the form tag to the form tab like this: https://snipboard.io/qfn4xX.jpg

And then in the mail tab, that’s where you use the simple [refnumber] shortcode as a placeholder, the same way you did for name like this: https://snipboard.io/FwNuKj.jpg

Then when the email sends, the [refnumber] in the mail template will be replaced by the content created in the custom shortcode you added via the PHP snippet plugin.