Zend_Form_Element_Captcha Not Working - php

Question

Apparently this is a common problem but I have not been able to figure out how to get a Zend Captcha Image to show up, it will create the image and it will create the hidden element but the image tag never shows up, does anyone have a solution??
Here is the code that doesn't work:
<?php
class Application_Form_Contact extends Zend_Form
{
public function init()
{
/* Form Elements & Other Definitions Here ... */
$this->setAction('/contact/')->setMethod('post');
$element = new Zend_Form_Element_Text('name');
$element->setLabel('Name:')
->setRequired(true)
->addFilter('HtmlEntities');
$this->addElement($element);
$element = new Zend_Form_Element_Text('phone');
$element->setLabel('Phone:')
->setRequired(true)
->addFilter('HtmlEntities');
$this->addElement($element);
$element = new Zend_Form_Element_Text('email');
$element->setLabel('Email:')
->setRequired(true)
->addValidator('EmailAddress', true)
->addFilter('StripTags')
->addFilter('HtmlEntities')
->addFilter('StringToLower')
->addFilter('StringTrim');
$this->addElement($element);
$comments = $this->createElement('textarea', 'comments')
->setLabel('Comments:')
->setRequired(true)
->setOptions(array('style'=>'width:95%;'))
->addFilter('StripTags')
->addFilter('HtmlEntities')
->addFilter('StringTrim');
$this->addElement($comments);
$captcha= new Zend_Form_Element_Captcha('captcha', array(
'id'=>'captchas',
'title'=>'Security Check.',
'captcha' => array(
'captcha' => 'Image',
'required' => true,
'font'=> PUBLIC_PATH . '/verdana.ttf',
'wordlen'=>'4',
'width'=>'80',
'height'=>'50',
'ImgAlign'=>'left',
'imgdir'=> PUBLIC_PATH . '/images/captcha/',
'DotNoiseLevel'=>'0',
'LineNoiseLevel'=>'0',
'Expiration'=>'1000',
'fontsize'=>'16'
)));
$this->addElement($captcha);
$submit = new Zend_Form_Element_Submit('submit');
$submit->setLabel('Send');
$this->addElement($submit);
}
}

Answer 1

I've only got two ideas that might help:
Check to make sure your GD extension is enabled in php.
It requires the GD extension compiled with TrueType or Freetype support. Currently, the Zend_Captcha_Image adapter can only generate PNG images.
you may want to specify the imgUrl =>
setImgUrl($imgUrl) and getImgUrl() allow you to specify the relative path to a CAPTCHA image to use for HTML markup. The default is "/images/captcha/".
also just for information you don't need to set the element as required as the captcha is always required.
As noted, the captcha adapter itself acts as a validator for the element. Additionally, the NotEmpty validator is not used, and the element is marked as required. In most cases, you should need to do nothing else to have a captcha present in your form.
Try to edit your captcha down to bare bones
$captcha = new Zend_Form_Element_Captcha('Captcha', array(
'captcha' => array(
'captcha' => 'Image',
'wordLen' => 6,
'timeout' => 300,
'width' => 300,
'height' => 100,
'imgUrl' => '/captcha',
'imgDir' => APPLICATION_PATH . '/../public/captcha',
'font' => APPLICATION_PATH . '/../public/fonts/LiberationSansRegular.ttf')));
just get anything to work then add back what you need 'till you find the problem. I suspect you have a problem with one of your paths.
Start with the APPLICATION_PATH constant then change to PUBLIC_PATH if you feel it's better.

Answer 2

check your file permissions; I had to give group write access before the image would write.