formmail.pl is an alternative way to get email responses from your users' form input. Using the ACTION=mailto FORM attribute doesn't permit you to control the content hiding and response page content. formmail.pl allows you total control over the email message content, as well as the response page that is presented to the user when the mail has been sent.
The formmail.pl CGI script is installed in the LiveZone public CGI directory. As the example below demonstrates, this script is invoked as though formmail.pl was present in your own /cgi-bin directory.
The text below is the complete source of an HTML page that displays a browser form, allows some fields to be filled-in, then emails the results to someone@someDomain.com. (We recommend you change this to your own email address if you plan to test this example.)
<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="/cgi-bin/formmail.pl">
This is the LiveZone formmail.pl test page...<BR><BR>
<INPUT TYPE=hidden name="recipient" value="someone@someDomain.com">
<INPUT TYPE=hidden name="subject" value="2003 Taste-Test
Survey Results">
return email: <input type=text name="email">
realname: <input type=text name="realname">
<INPUT TYPE=submit Name="submit" VALUE="Submit this to me">
<INPUT TYPE=hidden name="env_report" value="REMOTE_HOST,HTTP_USER_AGENT">
</FORM>
The action of your form needs to point towards this script (obviously), and the method must be POST or GET in capital letters. POST is recommended, especially with SSL forms, so that form data doesn't become visible from the browser when the form is submitted. Below is a list of form fields you can use and how to implement them.
Every form must specify a recipient field for FormMail to work correctly; all other fields are optional, and FormMail will work even if no other fields are defined.
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.xxx">
There are lots of optional form fields; they're all described in this document below. Any other form fields that appear in your script will be mailed back to you and displayed on the resulting page if you don't 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.
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">
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. Syntax: <input type=text name="email">
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">
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.address/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">
Version Added: 1.3 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. 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">
Version Added: 1.3
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.*
REMOTE_IDENT - If HTTP server supports RFC 931 identification, then
this variable will be set to the remote user name
retrieved from the server. *This is not usually set.*
HTTP_USER_AGENT - The browser the client is using to send the request.
General format: software/version library/version
There are others, but these are a few of the most useful.
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">
Version Added: 1.4 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 isn't always the exact same order 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. 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,etc...">
Version Added: 1.5 Description: print_config allows you to specify which of the config variables you would like to have printed in your e-mail message. By deafult, 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 shoul dbe 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">
Version Added: 1.3 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">
Version Added: 1.3
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.xxx/main.html">
Version Added: 1.3 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">
Version Added: 1.3 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.xxx/image.gif">
Version Added: 1.3 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">
Version Added: 1.3 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">
Version Added: 1.3 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">
Version Added: 1.3 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">
Version Added: 1.4 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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Last Updated January 2007 |