This document provides instructions on upgrading your implementation of IconCaptcha to the latest version. Please follow the appropriate sections based on your current version.

Before performing an upgrade, it's important to create a backup of your existing implementation. This will ensure that you can revert to the previous version if needed.

The requirements for running IconCaptcha have undergone slight changes between versions 3 and 4. Please ensure that your server meets the updated requirements before proceeding.

Install IconCaptcha either using Composer, as described in the Composer installation guide, or manually, following the steps provided in the manual installation guide.

Update your current client-side assets (/js/iconcaptcha.min.js, /css/iconcaptcha.min.css, and /icons) with the updated ones. You can achieve this in multiple ways:

• If you are using Composer, copy the assets from the vendor directory by publishing them to your project, as explained here.
• Alternatively, you can download a compatible release of the client-side repository and copy the assets from there, as detailed in the manual installation guide, steps 5-8.

For the stylesheet and script, you also have the option to use a CDN, as described here.

• Note that the current icon set must still be updated using one of the two methods mentioned above.

IconCaptcha 3 had a limited configuration which had to be defined in every file where IconCaptcha was used. In IconCaptcha 4, these options have been significantly expanded and relocated to a separate configuration file.

• Create a new PHP file, e.g. named captcha-config.php, in your application and copy the content of the template configuration into it.
• When using Composer, set the iconPath to null unless you've published the server assets to your application as described in the Composer installation guide.
• Customize the configuration options according to your preferences. Some v3 options remain available in v4, but have been restructured or renamed:
  • Options under the image section in version 3 have been moved to the challenge configuration section.
  • Options under the attempts section in version 3 are now under the validation.attempts configuration section.
  • In version 3, the token option was a boolean. In version 4, you should set it to \IconCaptcha\Token\IconCaptchaToken::class.
    • If you had this option set to false in your version 3 implementation, update it to null.

• Replace your current v3 captcha-request.php file with the content of the try/catch block of the updated file found here.
  • If you've implemented the contents of the v3 captcha-request.php file in a different location or within a controller, make sure to update the code there.
• Ensure that the captcha-config.php file created in the previous step is correctly included.
• If you use an error logging service, add it to the catch block if needed.

In the part of your code where you handle form submissions and validate the captcha challenge, make the following updates:

• Make sure that the IconCaptcha classes are correctly included, whether through the autoloader or manual inclusion.

• Include the captcha-config.php file that you previously created.

• Initialize a new instance of IconCaptcha and pass the loaded configuration as a parameter, like this: $captcha = new IconCaptcha($config);

• Replace the current usage of IconCaptcha::validateSubmission with the following changes:

  // V3
  // Confirm the captcha was validated.
  if(IconCaptcha::validateSubmission($_POST)) {
      // Validated.
  }

  Must be changed to:

  // V4
  $config = require 'captcha-config.php';
  $captcha = new IconCaptcha($config);
  $validation = $captcha->validate($_POST);
  
  // Confirm the captcha was validated.
  if($validation->success()) {
     // Validated.
  }

  A full code example can be found here.

Besides there being a lot of changes in the back-end, the JavaScript code initializing the widgets has also changed. Update the following:

• Ensure the updated stylesheet and script are loaded, whether loading them from your server or using a CDN.
• Replace all instances of the current iconcaptcha-holder selector with iconcaptcha-widget in both your HTML and JavaScript code.
• If you're using the Token in your <form>, update the code to <?php echo \IconCaptcha\Token\IconCaptchaToken::render(); ?>.
  • Make sure that the IconCaptcha classes are correctly included in your page to use the token feature, whether through the autoloader or manual inclusion.
• If you've used the legacy-light or legacy-dark themes, replace them with light and dark respectively.
• Update the JavaScript code which initialized the widget. Some option names have been changed, update them accordingly:
  • general.validationPath has been renamed to general.endpoint.
  • general.credits has been renamed to general.showCredits and is now a boolean value.
  • security.clickDelay has been renamed to security.interactionDelay.
  • security.hoverDetection has been renamed to security.hoverProtection.
  • security.enableInitialMessage has been renamed to security.displayInitialMessage.
  • security.initializeDelay has been renamed to security.initializationDelay.
  • security.selectionResetDelay has been renamed to security.incorrectSelectionResetDelay.
  • security.loadingAnimationDelay has been renamed to security.loadingAnimationDuration.
  • security.invalidateTime has been removed.
  • messages has been renamed to locale.

After these changes, your IconCaptcha implementation should be updated to version 4. If you encounter any issues during this transition, refer to the installation guide and the implementation guide for guidance, following the steps as if it were a fresh installation.