Google reCaptcha v3 timeout problem

Hi Ray, I know this is above and beyond the call of duty, but you're the only person I can think to ask for help!

I've integrated reCaptcha v3 into a client's multiple websites which have contact forms using Universal Email on a number of pages, so the contact form and email script are in shared PHP files and embedded on the pages. Everything seemed to be working OK, however the client has reported a number of people saying they've submitted the contact form and didn't get a response. I check the database log and sure enough, these emails hadn't been received, but others had.

After doing some digging and by a process of elimination, I've discovered that the problem is caused by the reCaptcha's default timeout setting of (I think) a couple of minutes. So, if someone takes longer than this to type in the message, the email doesn't send. However, to them it looks as if it has because the page redirects to ?sent=true and the success message appears.

I've spent hours this morning trying various 'solutions' I've found both on the Google Developers site and on Stack Overflow, but can't get any of them to correctly override the timeout. Is this something you could help me with? I can give you links to the solutions I've found and I think I just need to find the correct way of integrating it into my code without breaking anything. Happy to pay for a dedicated support session as I need to get it sorted out urgently!

I don't think that is the issue. When implemented correctly, you shouldn't get to the success page when reCaptcha fails.

If you attach the page you are working on I can take a look.

Thanks for much for this. I've attached an example of a page which works, however as I said if you take longer than 2 minutes or so to fill in the form it doesn't send the email to the client and doesn't log in the database. It does display the success message and send the confirmation email.

There's a thread here about the problem with the reCaptcha token expiring: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51507695/google-recaptcha-v3-example-demo/60036326#60036326 - if you scroll down to the post that says:

"I am generating a google Recaptcha token at the client side at every 3 seconds of time interval because the token is valid for only a few minutes that's why if any user takes time to fill the form then it may be expired", it gives a working code example. I copied that as-is and it does work, but I I can't figure out how to integrate my existing code with it. Seems to me it should just be a case of adding something to the Javascript to force it to renew the token every 3 seconds but my Javascript knowledge isn't good enough!

You have two emails on the page, but only one checks to see if it passed reCaptcha. You should wrap both in the reCaptcha check so that no email gets sent when the captcha fails. Then you can give the error when it fails to prevent people from thinking it went through.

Now you could also try to fix the issue with the captcha expiring after 3 minutes, but I think you should fix the issue that the captcha test doesn't actually prevent the second email or redirect as well.

I've updated the page as you suggested - now if you wait more than 2 minutes before sending, it will display "spam test failed" at the top of the page. In addition to overriding the timeout issue, I would need to display the error message above the form instead. Updated page attached.

These are hand coding issues that I'd have to do in a premier support ticket if you want me to do them for you.

I'd implement the reCaptcha v3 with webassist Server Behaviors to allow configuration of the error message more easily.

The reset of the captcha I've seen done online, it looks like you just have to add a javascript timer to reset it after 3 minutes.

These are things I can help with in a premier support ticket. If you want to try to do it on your own, then you can ask questions here and I'll try to help.

Happy to let you do it via a Premier Support ticket - I spent hours on Sunday trying to figure it out myself so I think it's worth doing! Let me know how we do it and when suits.

Please reply with a US phone number or Skype contact information in the private area and I'll give you a call to set it up.

See PM.

My Skype name is webassist.rborduin. Please text me there and we can set something up.