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FormMailHow Netregistry Web Hosting customers can create a FeedBack/Enquiry Form with FormMail.plFormMail.pl is a CGI script which can be used to send the data entered on a Webpage to a recipient's email address. It is used for enquiry forms, feedback forms, order forms, etc. It comes pre-configured in all Netregistry Web Hosting packages for your easy installationBy presenting the user with an online form, and having then fill out the details and submit the form, the script processes the data, formats the output, and emails it to the configured email address. How do I add a form to my Website?FormMail.pl is one of the default scripts that we place into the cgi-bin directory of your hosted Webspace. To set up a form, simply complete the following steps:
** Please be aware, Windows IIS does not support CGI-BIN
Once these steps have been completed, add the following formmail script to your webpage: At the beginning of your feedback form, just add: At the end of your feedback form, just add: Please Note: many HTML Editors will move the Form tags around. If your form tags are not at the beginning of the form and at the very end of the form (after your submit button), the form will not work. Please Note: If you wish your order form to be secure, visit our tutorial on secure webpages Necessary Form FieldsThere is only one form field that you must have in your form, for FormMail to work correctly. This is the recipient field. Field: recipient An Example FORM<html> The above code will generate a form as such: (Please note that this is a test form and doesn't actually work) Submission of this form will produce an email to the receipient email address specified: Return-Path: < return@address.au.com > PLEASE NOTE: Anti-spam measureThe recipient email address specified in the HTML code <INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME="recipient" VALUE="support@yourDomain.net"> must be an email address related to your domain name. IF YOU WISH IT TO BE OTHERWISE, you must create a .TXT file (use Notepad.exe) called "allowed_recipients.txt". This text file must be uploaded to your /CGI-BIN directory. You must place each recipient on a new line. Example "allowed_recipients.txt": myalternateaddress@hotmail.com Optional Form FieldsField: 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, add: 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://yourdomainname.com/redirectionpage.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 the 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: The CGI Resource Index: 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,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://yourdomainname.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: return_link_title 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://yourdomainname.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://yourdomainname.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 V 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 active link color of Blue: <input type=hidden name="alink_color" value="#0000FF"> 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. What is an @referer error?An @referer error is a commom problem with FormMail.pl. It means that the refering URL (usually your web address) is not configured to use the FormMail.pl script. Taking a look at the script you will find the following line: @referers = ('netregistry.net','www.netregistry.net'); If your URL is not listed in this line then you will receive an @referer error. So how do we fix this problem?Because the FormMail.pl file is written for a unix system, we prefer to fix the problem ourselves but if you can handle basic perl scripting and have a WINDOWS to UNIX file converter then you have the right tools to complete the job, otherwise, please send a request to the Technical Support Team |
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