Feature Requests
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Force Lowercase Domains at registration.
Declined
Some customers use uper-case words on domains, like "MyDomainNameCompany.net". It would be great if whmcs could transfer them into lower-case after the domain order or in the order form, so we don't have to manually correct into admin area and invoices.
Original Forum Request:
http://forums.whmcs.com/showthread.php?63278-Accept-only-lower-case-domains
We already do convert to lowercase when IDN domains are not involved.
However, the statement, "so we don't have to manually correct into admin area and invoices." confuses me - can someone please elaborate as to why you need to change the casing to lower case post order?
Please do NOT bring this 'feature', as it would be a RFC violation. Domain names are case insensitive, the possibility to write ones domain name e.g. as Example.Com is a *feature* of the domain name system!
By the way, the standard used by some widely used TLDs is UPPERCASE!
$ whois example.com
[...]
domain: EXAMPLE.COM
organisation: Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
(I have to write something here, otherwise I can't dislike this feature)
you can do this in the template with smarty if it's something you require
I agree with Tusker, clients like to see their domains displayed as they write them.
I have clients that prefer it both ways and are very vocal about how it is displayed...
if some utility/api / gateway requires them as lowercase then convert it as required in the background.
I like this, but as it is standard to be uppercase, just switch the js/php function to toUpperCase/strtoupper in the background.
It looks nice to remember case sensitive domains how they are typed, however the the "Add New Order" screen ajax doesn't update the order total when adding a domain name in uppercase.
Domains are case insensitive for multiple reasons.
That aside, users have various reasons why they want some letters capitalized... It may just be for aesthetics or ease of reading or some other reason but the fact remains... There is no reason to NEED it lowercase so my force a non-needed admin preference on an end-user. Makes no sense to me!
I agree, domains are case insensitive.
We already do convert to lowercase when IDN domains are not involved.
However, the statement, "so we don't have to manually correct into admin area and invoices." confuses me - can someone please elaborate as to why you need to change the casing to lower case post order?
The statement, "So we don't have to correct them in the admin area or invoices" confuses me - can someone expand on why you would want to force this to lower case?
because domains all are lowercase
because some registries wont accept them
because not all whois implentations can cope with mixed case
because its a nightmare to find something when they're all mixed
etc
Responding in line:
"because domains all are lowercase "
"because not all whois implentations can cope with mixed case"
Forcing the lowercase of domains itself would violate RFC 1035: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1035
"When data enters the domain system, its original case should bepreserved whenever possible."
"because some registries wont accept them "Passing the domain registered from the end user to the registry can be passed in lowercase to ensure they accept.
"because its a nightmare to find something when they're all mixed "The casing of the domain shouldn't matter here as we can easily ensure the search areas ignore casing.
>>"because domains all are lowercase "
> Forcing the lowercase of domains itself would violate RFC 1035: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1035
Much of 1035 has largely been replaced/obsoleted in implementation over the last 20-ish years with the open-resolver projects, the introductions of new gtlds 10 years ago, IDN's (idns must be in lowercase when sent to the registry) and so forth.
Which is moot as WHMCS itself doesnt put anything in dns zones anyway :p
>"because not all whois implentations can cope with mixed case"
You introduce problems when the details in whoisservers.php returns that SomeWierdDomain.blah is 'not found' (and therefroe assumes it can be registered) when somewierddomain.blah already exists and then the registrar rejects the registration, and the client rings up wanting to know how the domai they wanted has been 'stolen' when it's been registered since 1994.
Some implementations of 'standard' internet tools wont accept mixed case (although many try to 'fix' your mistypes for you)
>>"because some registries wont accept them
>"Passing the domain registered from the end user to the registry can be passed in lowercase to ensure they accept.
Solving the 'garbage in' means less solving of 'garbage out' ;)
>>"because its a nightmare to find something when they're all mixed
>"The casing of the domain shouldn't matter here as we can easily ensure the search areas ignore casing.
Not everything uses your front-end search facilities - custom modules, custom reports, interfaces to external systems, other systems that read/write to the whmcs db are just a few examples.
If you try to go to http://www.IbM.com your browser will go into the subroutine 'UserIsAnIdiot(tm)' and correctly change it to lookup http://www.ibm.com (which is what it then adds to it's db/cache)
Why give the WHMCS admins the support issue, and end-users various problems with things not working as expected when you can just have a switch in WHMCS setup for 'force domains to lowercase' and it's just 'fixed' ?
Rob,
Absolutely valid points - do you have any reference material where this RFC is deprecated in lieu of more up-to-date regulations?
Rob Golding wrote
> because domains all are lowercase
No, all domains are case-insensitive.
> because some registries wont accept them
Which?
> because not all whois implentations can cope with mixed case
Which?
> beause its a nightmare to find something when they're all mixed
How?
> Solving the 'garbage in' means less solving of 'garbage out' ;)
PEBKAC.
> Not everything uses your front-end search facilities - custom modules, custom reports, interfaces to external systems, other systems that read/write to the whmcs db are just a few examples.
Well, then these custom modules etc. obviously need a bug-fix.
So instead of demanding a deliberate RFC violation from WHMCS, you probably should pester those who write tools which do not cope with the industry standard.
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