Forms: Add ref support to the contact-form shortcode

[enejb]

Add ref support for the

Proposed changes:

• Add support for the ref attribute in the [contact-form] shortcode to load form content from a jetpack_form post
• The shortcode [contact-form ref='1234'] now properly loads the form from the referenced jetpack_form post, matching the behavior of the block version
• Includes circular reference prevention to avoid infinite loops
• Validates that referenced form exists, is the correct post type, and is published (or user can edit)

Other information:

• Have you written new tests for your changes, if applicable?
• Have you checked the E2E test CI results, and verified that your changes do not break them?
• Have you tested your changes on WordPress.com, if applicable (if so, you'll see a generated comment below with a script to run)?

Jetpack product discussion

Does this pull request change what data or activity we track or use?

No.

Testing instructions:

Enable Central Form Management

add_filter( 'jetpack_block_editor_feature_flags', 'eb_register_feature' );
function eb_register_feature( $flags ) {
    $flags['central-form-management'] = true;
    return $flags;
}

1. Create a new jetpack_form post via the Forms dashboard (WP Admin > Forms > Add New)
2. Add some form fields (e.g., Name, Email, Message) and publish the form
3. Note the form's post ID from the URL (e.g., post=123)
4. In a post or page, add the shortcode: [contact-form ref="123"] (using your form's ID)
5. View the post/page on the frontend and submit the form.
6. Expected: The form fields from the referenced jetpack_form should be displayed
7. Before this fix: The shortcode would render a default form, ignoring the ref attribute

[github-actions]

Are you an Automattician? Please test your changes on all WordPress.com environments to help mitigate accidental explosions.

• To test on WoA, go to the Plugins menu on a WoA dev site. Click on the "Upload" button and follow the upgrade flow to be able to upload, install, and activate the Jetpack Beta plugin. Once the plugin is active, go to Jetpack > Jetpack Beta, select your plugin (Jetpack), and enable the fix/missing-shortcode-ref-attribute branch.
• To test on Simple, run the following command on your sandbox:

bin/jetpack-downloader test jetpack fix/missing-shortcode-ref-attribute

Interested in more tips and information?

• In your local development environment, use the jetpack rsync command to sync your changes to a WoA dev blog.
• Read more about our development workflow here: PCYsg-eg0-p2
• Figure out when your changes will be shipped to customers here: PCYsg-eg5-p2

[github-actions]

Thank you for your PR!

When contributing to Jetpack, we have a few suggestions that can help us test and review your patch:

• ✅ Include a description of your PR changes.
  
• ✅ Add a "[Status]" label (In Progress, Needs Review, ...).
  
• ✅ Add testing instructions.
  
• ✅ Specify whether this PR includes any changes to data or privacy.
  
• ✅ Add changelog entries to affected projects
  

This comment will be updated as you work on your PR and make changes. If you think that some of those checks are not needed for your PR, please explain why you think so. Thanks for cooperation 🤖

---

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This pull request adds support for the ref attribute in the [contact-form] shortcode to load form content from a jetpack_form post type, bringing feature parity with the block version of the contact form. The implementation includes proper validation, permission checks, and circular reference prevention.

Changes:

• Added render_form_by_ref() method to handle loading and rendering forms from jetpack_form posts
• Modified the parse() method to handle the ref attribute in shortcodes
• Added comprehensive test coverage for valid refs, invalid refs, circular references, and status checks

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
projects/packages/forms/src/contact-form/class-contact-form.php	Adds render_form_by_ref() method and integrates ref attribute handling into the shortcode parser with validation, permission checks, and circular reference prevention
projects/packages/forms/tests/php/contact-form/Contact_Form_Synced_Test.php	Adds four new test cases covering shortcode ref attribute: valid form loading, invalid ref handling, circular reference prevention, and status validation
projects/packages/forms/changelog/fix-missing-shortcode-ref-attribute	Adds changelog entry documenting the fix

[Copilot]

The circular reference check using has_seen happens before set_ref_id is called, which means the first check at line 219 can never catch the immediate self-reference case. The redundant check at line 247 catches this case instead. Consider either removing the check at line 219 or moving set_ref_id before has_seen to make the logic clearer. The block implementation in class-contact-form-block.php only uses one check (at line 813) before set_ref_id (at line 860), which is clearer.

Suggested change

	// Circular reference prevention.
	if ( self::has_seen( $ref_id ) ) {
	return '';
	}

[jp-launch-control]

Code Coverage Summary

Coverage changed in 2 files.

File	Coverage	Δ%	Δ Uncovered
projects/packages/forms/src/contact-form/class-contact-form.php	952/1518 (62.71%)	-1.11%	40 💔
projects/packages/forms/src/blocks/contact-form/class-contact-form-block.php	567/609 (93.10%)	5.36%	-40 💚

Full summary · PHP report · JS report

_{If appropriate, add one of these labels to override the failing coverage check: Covered by non-unit tests Use to ignore the Code coverage requirement check when E2Es or other non-unit tests cover the code Coverage tests to be added later Use to ignore the Code coverage requirement check when tests will be added in a follow-up PR I don't care about code coverage for this PR Use this label to ignore the check for insufficient code coveage.}

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.