FormMail is a universal WWW form to E-mail gateway. There is only one
required form input tag which must be specified in order for this script
to work with your existing forms. Other hidden configuration fields can
also be used to enhance the operation of FormMail on your site. Any other
form fields that appear in your script will be mailed back to you and displayed
on the resulting page if you do not have the redirect field set. There
is no limit as to how many other form fields you can use with this form,
except the limits imposed by browsers and your server. To see an example
of a form using this script, click on the following link: Sample
FormMail Web Form
Once you have loaded this page, you can view the document source to
see how it was constructed.
Form Configuration:
The action of your form needs to point towards this script (obviously),
and the method must be POST or GET in capital letters. One of the following
tags must be at the start of your web form:
<form method=POST action="http://www.directcon.net/cgi-bin/FormMail.pl">
or
<form method=GET action="http://www.directcon.net/cgi-bin/FormMail.pl">
Below is a list of form fields you can use and how to implement them.
Necessary Form Fields:
There is only one form field that you must have in your form, for FormMail
to work correctly. This is the recipient field.
Field: recipient
Description: This form field allows you to specify to whom you wish
for your form results to be mailed. Most likely you will want to configure
this option as a hidden form field with a value equal to that of your e-mail
address.
Syntax:
<input type=hidden name="recipient"
value="email@your.host.com">
Optional Form Fields:
Field: subject
Description: The subject field will allow you to specify the subject
that you wish to appear in the e-mail that is sent to you after this form
has been filled out. If you do not have this option turned on, then the
script will default to a message subject: WWW Form Submission
Syntax: If you wish to choose what the subject is:
<input type=hidden name="subject"
value="Your Subject">
To allow the user to choose a subject:
<input type=text name="subject">
Field: email
Description: This form field will allow the user to specify their return
e-mail address. If you want to be able to return e-mail to your user, I
strongly suggest that you include this form field and allow them to fill
it in. This will be put into the From: field of the message you receive.
If you want to require an email address with valid syntax, add this field
name to the 'required' field.
Syntax:
<input type=text name="email">
Field: realname
Description: The realname form field will allow the user to input their
real name. This field is useful for identification purposes and will also
be put into the From: line of your message header.
Syntax:
<input type=text name="realname">
Field: redirect
Description: If you wish to redirect the user to a different URL, rather
than having them see the default response to the fill-out form, you can
use this hidden variable to send them to a pre-made HTML page.
Syntax: To choose the URL they will end up at:
<input type=hidden name="redirect"
value="http://your.host.com/to/file.html">
To allow them to specify a URL they wish to travel to once the form
is filled out:
<input type=text name="redirect">
Field: required
Description: You can now require for certain fields in your form to
be filled in before the user can successfully submit the form. Simply place
all field names that you want to be mandatory into this field. If the required
fields are not filled in, the user will be notified of what they need to
fill in, and a link back to the form they just submitted will be provided.
To use a customized error page, see 'missing_fields_redirect'
Syntax: If you want to require that they fill in the email and phone
fields in your form, so that you can reach them once you have received
the mail, use a syntax like:
<input type=hidden name="required"
value="email,phone">
Field: env_report
Description: Allows you to have Environment variables included in the
e-mail message you receive after a user has filled out your form. Useful
if you wish to know what browser they were using, what domain they were
coming from or any other attributes associated with environment variables.
The following is a short list of valid environment variables that might
be useful:
REMOTE_HOST - Sends the hostname making a request. REMOTE_ADDR - Sends
the IP address of the remote host making the request. REMOTE_USER - If
server supports authentication and script is protected, this is the username
they have authenticated as. *This is not usually set.* HTTP_USER_AGENT
- The browser the client is using to send the request.
There are others, but these are a few of the most useful. For more information
on environment variables, see:
http://www.cgi-resources.com/Documentation/Environment_Variables/
Syntax: If you wanted to find the remote host and browser sending the
request, you would put the following into your form:
<input type=hidden name="env_report"
value="REMOTE_HOST, HTTP_USER_AGENT">
Field: sort
Description: This field allows you to choose the order in which you
wish for your variables to appear in the e-mail that FormMail generates.
You can choose to have the field sorted alphabetically or specify a set
order in which you want the fields to appear in your mail message. By leaving
this field out, the order will simply default to the order in which the
browsers sends the information to the script (which is usually the exact
same order as they appeared in the form.) When sorting by a set order of
fields, you should include the phrase "order:" as the first part
of your value for the sort field, and then follow that with the field names
you want to be listed in the e-mail message, separated by commas. Version
1.6 allows a little more flexibility in the listing of ordered fields,
in that you can include spaces and line breaks in the field without it
messing up the sort. This is helpful when you have many form fields and
need to insert a line wrap.
Syntax:
To sort alphabetically:
<input type=hidden name="sort"
value="alphabetic">
To sort by a set field order:
<input type=hidden name="sort"
value="order:name1,name2, name3,etc...">
Field: print_config
Description: print_config allows you to specify which of the config
variables you would like to have printed in your e-mail message. By default,
no config fields are printed to your e-mail. This is because the important
form fields, like email, subject, etc. are included in the header of the
message. However some users have asked for this option so they can have
these fields printed in the body of the message. The config fields that
you wish to have printed should be in the value attribute of your input
tag separated by commas.
Syntax: If you want to print the email and subject fields in the body
of your message, you would place the following form tag:
<input type=hidden name="print_config"
value="email,subject">
Field: print_blank_fields
Description: print_blank_fields allows you to request that all form
fields are printed in the return HTML, regardless of whether or not they
were filled in. FormMail defaults to turning this off, so that unused form
fields aren't e-mailed.
Syntax: If you want to print all blank fields:
<input type=hidden name="print_blank_fields"
value="1">
Field: title
Description: This form field allows you to specify the title and header
that will appear on the resulting page if you do not specify a redirect
URL.
Syntax: If you wanted a title of 'Feedback Form Results':
<input type=hidden name="title"
value="Feedback Form Results">
Field: return_link_url
Description: This field allows you to specify a URL that will appear,
as return_link_title, on the following report page. This field will not
be used if you have the redirect field set, but it is useful if you allow
the user to receive the report on the following page, but want to offer
them a way to get back to your main page.
Syntax:
<input type=hidden name="return_link_url"
value="http://your.host.com/main.html">
Field: return_link_title
Description: This is the title that will be used to link the user back
to the page you specify with return_link_url. The two fields will be shown
on the resulting form page as:
<ul> <li><a href="return_link_url">return_link_title</a>
</ul>
Syntax:
<input type=hidden name="return_link_title"
value="Back to Main Page">
Field: missing_fields_redirect
Description: This form field allows you to specify a URL that users
will be redirected to if there are fields listed in the required form field
that are not filled in. This is so you can customize an error page instead
of displaying the default.
Syntax:
<input type=hidden name="missing_fields_redirect"
value="http://your.host.com/error.html">
Field: background
Description: This form field allow you to specify a background image
that will appear if you do not have the redirect field set. This image
will appear as the background to the form results page.
Syntax:
<input type=hidden name="background"
value="http://your.host.com/image.gif">
Field: bgcolor
Description: This form field allow you to specify a bgcolor for the
form results page in much the way you specify a background image. This
field should not be set if the redirect field is.
Syntax: For a background color of White:
<input type=hidden name="bgcolor"
value="#FFFFFF">
Field: text_color
Description: This field works in the same way as bgcolor, except that
it will change the color of your text.
Syntax: For a text color of Black:
<input type=hidden name="text_color"
value="#000000">
Field: link_color
Description: Changes the color of links on the resulting page. Works
in the same way as text_color. Should not be defined if redirect is.
Syntax: For a link color of Red:
<input type=hidden name="link_color"
value="#FF0000">
Field: vlink_color
Description: Changes the color of visited links on the resulting page.
Works exactly the same as link_color. Should not be set if redirect is.
Syntax: For a visited link color of Blue:
<input type=hidden name="vlink_color"
value="#0000FF">
Field: alink_color
Description: Changes the color of active links on the resulting page.
Works exactly the same as link_color. Should not be set if redirect is.
Syntax: For a visited link color of Blue:
<input type=hidden name="alink_color"
value="#0000FF">
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