OliForge Country Select for Contact Form 7

Adds a searchable, multilingual country selector with local SVG flags and server-side validation to Contact Form 7.

Description

OliForge Country Select for Contact Form 7 provides a custom country_select form tag for Contact Form 7. This Free edition includes global and per-field country filtering; reusable saved country lists are reserved for the Pro edition.

Features:

• Search countries by translated name or ISO alpha-2 code.
• Locally bundled SVG flags with no CDN or remote API dependency.
• Animated toggle chevron and selected-country flag.
• Administrator settings for enabling or disabling countries globally.
• English, German, Spanish, French, Ukrainian and Russian country names.
• Automatic language selection from the current WordPress locale.
• Per-field language overrides.
• Stable ISO alpha-2 values for email, CRM, webhook and database integrations.
• Server-side validation against the administrator-approved allowlist.
• Keyboard navigation, accessible native select fallback and RTL-ready layout.
• Developer filters for country data, translated names and allowed countries.
• Minified production CSS and JavaScript.
• Per-field include, exclude, preferred-country and default-country controls.
• Support for id, class, tabindex, autocomplete, aria- and data- form-tag attributes.
• Placeholder can be selected again to clear the field; required fields then fail validation correctly.
• Mail-tag output shows the full translated country name with its ISO code, e.g. Ukraine (UA); submitted values used by integrations remain the plain ISO code.

Credits: the bundled SVG country flags come from the flag-icons project (https://github.com/lipis/flag-icons) by Panayiotis Lipiridis, licensed under the MIT License. The license text is included in the plugin as LICENSE-FLAG-ICONS.

Installation

1. Install and activate Contact Form 7.
2. Upload and activate this plugin.
3. Open Settings > OliForge Country Select to configure language and available countries.
4. Add a country field to a Contact Form 7 form: [country_select* your-country placeholder "Select a country"]
5. Add [your-country] to the Contact Form 7 Mail template.

The submitted value is an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code such as UA, DE or US.

Form Tag Usage

Required field: [country_select* your-country placeholder "Select a country"]

Optional field: [country_select your-country]

Language overrides: [country_select your-country language:en] [country_select your-country language:de] [country_select your-country language:es] [country_select your-country language:fr] [country_select your-country language:uk] [country_select your-country language:ru]

Advanced examples (separate several ISO codes with a vertical bar "|"; Contact Form 7 does not accept commas inside tag options): [country_select* country id:country class:form-control tabindex:5 autocomplete:country language:de] [country_select country include:UA|PL|DE|FR] [country_select country exclude:RU|BY] [country_select country preferred:UA|PL|DE default:UA] [country_select country default:auto]

The default:auto option uses the region part of the current WordPress locale when available, for example uk_UA => UA.

Settings

Open Settings > OliForge Country Select.

Available display languages:

• Automatic — follows the current WordPress locale.
• English.
• Deutsch.
• Español.
• Français.
• Українська.
• Русский.

All countries are enabled by default. Administrators may search, select all, clear all or enable countries individually.

Developer API

Translate an ISO code after the plugin has initialized: OliForge_CF7_Country_Select::translate_country_name( 'UA', 'uk' ); OliForge_CF7_Country_Select::translate_country_name( 'UA', 'ru' );

Available filters:

oliforge_country_select_countries Filters the canonical ISO code => English fallback country array during initialization.

oliforge_country_select_country_name Filters one translated country name. Arguments: $name, $code, $language.

oliforge_country_select_allowed_countries Filters the final enabled ISO code => translated name array. Arguments: $allowed, $language.

For every country_select field, the submitted data available via WPCF7_Submission::get_posted_data() also includes a "{field-name}_name" entry holding the translated country name, alongside the canonical ISO code kept under the field's own name. Use it in webhooks, CRM connectors or custom mail hooks that read submitted data directly, instead of the Mail template's [field-name] mail-tag.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will existing country_select tags continue to work?

Yes. The country_select and country_select* Contact Form 7 tags are preserved.

Does the plugin use external services for flags or translations?

No. Flags and all supported country-name translations are bundled locally. No CDN or external API is required.

What value is submitted?

The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code is submitted. Translation affects display only.

What happens for an unsupported WordPress locale?

Automatic mode falls back to English.

Screenshots

1. The country selector in a Contact Form 7 form: searchable dropdown with local SVG flags.
2. Type a name or ISO code to filter the list instantly.
3. Settings page: choose the name language and enable or disable countries globally.

Changelog

3.2.14

• Fixed the stylesheet and script of the country selector not loading after the 3.2.13 text domain change (the flags and styling were missing).

3.2.13

• Changed the text domain to oliforge-country-select-for-contact-form-7 to match the plugin directory slug. Translation files were renamed accordingly; there are no functional changes.

3.2.12

• Fixed the documented syntax: several ISO codes in include:, exclude: and preferred: are separated with "|" (for example include:UA|PL|DE). Contact Form 7 does not parse commas in tag options, so the former comma examples in the readme and the tag generator placeholders produced a tag that was not recognized.

3.2.11

• Added Author URI and License URI headers and a Screenshots section.
• Replaced the 96 KB settings-page logo with a 10 KB 128 px version (moved to assets/images/).

3.2.10

• Translated the "Upgrade to Pro" link and the Pro prompt on the settings page into German, Spanish, French, Russian and Ukrainian, and updated the translation template.

3.2.9

• Added an "Upgrade to Pro" link in the Plugins list (hidden once the Pro add-on is active).
• Added a "Get a Pro version" prompt below Save Changes on the settings page (hidden once Country Select Pro is active).
• Added the Plugin URI header linking to the plugin page on oliforge.io.
• Credited the bundled flag-icons library (MIT) in the readme.

3.2.8

• Added translations: the plugin now loads its own text domain, with bundled German, Spanish, French, Russian and Ukrainian admin translations and a .pot template.

3.2.7

• Fail closed on an unresolvable list: slug (unknown, deleted, or Pro inactive): the field now renders with no country options and rejects any submitted value, instead of silently falling back to the default allowed-countries list. Previously a typo like list:europee, or deleting a list still referenced by a form, quietly opened the field back up to every allowed country.
• A named list:slug is now resolved independently of the default allowed-countries list instead of being intersected with it — a Pro list is a self-contained set of countries, narrowed only by the tag's own include/exclude options.
• Replaced the internal oliforge_country_select_list_codes filter with oliforge_country_select_resolve_list, which can distinguish "no list provider" (null) from "slug not found" (false) from "list found" (an array of codes) — required to make fail-closed possible. Requires OliForge Country Select Pro 1.0.2 or newer.
• Added OliForge_CF7_Country_Select::get_country_context( $tag ), a structured counterpart to get_allowed_country_codes() for callers that need to tell a misconfigured list apart from one that legitimately allows zero countries.
• Added an admin notice on Contact Form 7's screens and this plugin's settings page listing any field whose list: slug currently fails to resolve.

3.2.6

• Reserved the "default" list slug to always mean the core allowed-countries list: a tag with no list: option, or list:default, now resolves to it directly instead of going through the Pro named-list filter at all — a Pro-saved list that happened to be named "default" could previously shadow it silently.

3.2.5

• Added OliForge_CF7_Country_Select::get_allowed_country_codes( $tag ), a public API for other plugins to validate a submitted value against exactly the same country set a given tag accepts (admin allowlist, per-tag include/exclude, and Pro named lists), without reimplementing that resolution themselves.
• render() and validate() now share the same underlying resolver, so the dropdown's options and server-side validation can never drift apart.

3.2.4

• Added a translated country name alongside the submitted ISO code on wpcf7_posted_data, as "{field-name}_name", so webhooks, CRM connectors and custom mail hooks that read submitted data directly (outside the Mail template) can access the readable name without extra code.

3.2.3

• Added a public extension API for add-ons to provide saved country lists without duplicating the Free core.
• Country-list UI and persistence now live exclusively in the Pro add-on.

3.2.2

• Load dropdown flag images only when their rows enter or approach the visible scroll area, with a compatibility fallback for browsers without IntersectionObserver.
• Free edition excludes reusable saved country lists and list:slug filtering.

3.2.1

• Deferred dropdown flag loading until the country selector is first opened, significantly reducing initial page requests.

3.2.0

• Added named country lists: save a slug plus a subset of countries from the settings page and restrict any field to it with list:slug.
• Each country list now has its own Save and Delete buttons and saves independently of the other lists and of the settings above, with duplicate-slug protection on both the browser and the server.
• Country pickers (allowed countries and each list) use a two-column "available / selected" transfer control with per-column search.
• [country] and other country_select mail-tags now output the full translated country name with its ISO code, e.g. "Ukraine (UA)", instead of the bare code; submitted values used by integrations are unaffected and remain the plain ISO code.
• Redesigned the settings page with the OliForge brand system: header, cards, buttons, selects, checkboxes and a self-dismissing save confirmation.

3.1.1

• Sanitized submitted country values before validation and retrieval.
• Updated WordPress compatibility metadata to 7.0.
• Aligned the plugin name with readme.txt.
• Reduced tags to the WordPress.org maximum of five.
• Shortened the readme short description to under 150 characters.

3.1.0

• Added protected full-column geometry for the visible country control in grid and flex layouts.
• Prevented theme rules such as fixed .custom-field widths from separating the input from its flag and chevron.
• Kept author classes on the visible input for typography, colors, borders and border-radius while protecting only layout dimensions.
• Made the dropdown follow the exact width of the country field column.
• Avoided copying author field classes to the outer wrapper, preventing duplicate borders and backgrounds.

3.0.2

• Removed JavaScript-generated inline widths from the enhanced country selector.
• The component, visible control, and dropdown now follow the width of their CF7 grid or flex column using CSS.
• Fixed narrow 110px rendering in responsive three-column forms.

2.1.2

• Added a global validation-appearance setting; message-only validation is now the default.
• The visible selector no longer receives a red validation border unless explicitly enabled.
• Kept Contact Form 7 validation messages and ARIA invalid state active in both modes.
• Clears the country field error immediately after a valid country is selected.
• Closes open country dropdowns when Contact Form 7 reports a validation error.

2.1.1

• Prevented form-tag options from overriding internal accessibility state attributes: aria-invalid, aria-required, aria-describedby, aria-controls and aria-expanded.
• Preserved support for safe custom aria- and data- attributes while retaining the data-oliforge-* namespace reservation.
• Restored readable development CSS sources and rebuilt genuinely minified production CSS files.
• Added release verification for protected ARIA attributes and CSS source/minified-file separation.

2.1.0

• Added a native Contact Form 7 Tag Generator v2 dialog named Country Select.
• Generator supports required, name, placeholder, language, preferred/include/exclude lists, default, autocomplete, tabindex, ID and classes.
• Added per-field nosearch, noflags and nochevron interface options.
• Added lifecycle synchronization for wpcf7invalid, wpcf7submit, wpcf7mailsent, wpcf7mailfailed and wpcf7reset.
• Replaced broad repeated DOM rescanning with added-node initialization for dynamically inserted forms.
• Preserved existing country_select tags and mail-tags without migration.

2.0.4

• Fixed Contact Form 7 AJAX validation-message placement for the custom country field.
• Added the required data-name attribute to the CF7 form-control wrapper.
• Added server-rendered validation error fallback and synchronized aria-invalid state.
• No additional Contact Form 7 setting is required.

2.0.3

• Fixed an infinite MutationObserver loop after Contact Form 7 AJAX validation.
• Validation state now observes only the native select and error-tip DOM changes.
• Added requestAnimationFrame batching for stable error-state synchronization.
• Required empty country fields now show the Contact Form 7 validation message without freezing the page.

2.0.2

• Fixed production CSS minification that removed the descendant combinator before :where(), causing search and country options to fall back to browser button styles.
• Restored isolated dropdown styling while keeping Contact Form 7/theme classes only on the visible toggle control.
• Added release verification that source and production selectors preserve the required descendant combinators.

2.0.1

• Apply Contact Form 7 custom classes to the visible country selector control.
• Synchronize CF7 invalid state, aria-invalid, and error message association with the custom control.
• Lower default style specificity so theme field styles can override the plugin defaults.

2.0.0

• Added per-field include:, exclude: and preferred: ISO country lists.
• Added default:XX and locale-based default:auto selection.
• Added support for tabindex:, autocomplete:, aria- and data- attributes while preserving id: and class:.
• Added a preferred-country section to the enhanced dropdown without duplicating native select values.
• Fixed placeholder clearing so selecting “Select a country” always submits an empty value.
• Strengthened required-field validation so missing, blank and non-ISO placeholder values cannot pass.
• Synchronized the custom UI after native change and form reset events.
• Updated plugin header, version constant, stable tag and changelog to 2.0.0.

1.5.1

• Canonicalized valid submitted country values to uppercase ISO alpha-2 codes before Contact Form 7 mail tags and integrations process them.
• Rejected arrays and other invalid submitted types even for optional country fields.
• Revalidated and sanitized country maps returned by developer filters.
• Sanitized filtered country labels before returning them through the public translation API.
• Added explicit direct-access guards to all PHP data files.
• Added uninstall cleanup for the plugin's country allowlist and display-language options.
• Synchronized plugin header, version constant, stable tag and changelog at 1.5.1.

1.5.0

• Added complete Ukrainian country-name translations.
• Added complete Russian country-name translations.
• Reorganized translations into one country-centric structure: ISO code => language => name.
• Added automatic detection for uk, uk_UA, ru and ru_RU locales.
• Added Ukrainian and Russian options to global settings and per-field language overrides.
• Added the oliforge_country_select_countries developer filter.
• Added the oliforge_country_select_country_name developer filter.
• Added the oliforge_country_select_allowed_countries developer filter.
• Added RTL-ready frontend alignment rules for future right-to-left languages.
• Expanded plugin header and readme descriptions for the OliForge plugin suite.
• Updated plugin header, constant, stable tag and changelog versioning to 1.5.0.

1.4.0

• Added locally bundled English, German, Spanish and French country names.
• Added automatic language selection based on the current WordPress locale.
• Added a global country-name language setting.
• Added per-field language overrides.
• Added a public PHP translation helper for ISO alpha-2 country codes.

1.3.0

• Added an animated toggle chevron.
• Added the selected-country flag to the field button.
• Added a settings page for enabling or disabling countries globally.
• Added server-side validation against the administrator-approved country list.

1.2.0

• Rebranded and packaged for the OliForge plugin suite.
• Added unique OliForge constants, classes, handles and selectors.
• Preserved existing Contact Form 7 tags for backward compatibility.

1.1.1

• Hardened country validation and rebuilt minified production assets.

1.1.0

• Added country search and keyboard navigation.

1.0.0

• Initial release.