Formmail Configuration
The action of your form needs to point towards this script (obviously),
and the method must be POST or
GET in capital letters.
<form method="POST" action="http://you.host.com/cgi-bin/formmail.pl">
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 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
|
| Version: |
1.5 & Up |
| 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
|
| Version: |
1.6 |
| 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
|
| Version: |
1.3 & Up |
| 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
|
| Version: |
1.3 & Up |
| 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
|
| Version: |
1.3 & Up |
| 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:
|
| Syntax: |
<input type=hidden name="return_link_title"
value="Back to Main Page"> |
| Field:
|
missing_fields_redirect
|
| Version: |
1.6 |
| 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
|
| Version: |
1.3 & Up |
| 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"> |
| Field: |
bgcolor
|
| Version: |
1.3 & Up |
| 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
|
| Version: |
1.3 & Up |
| 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
|
| Version: |
1.3 & Up |
| 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
|
| Version: |
1.3 & Up |
| 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
|
| Version: |
1.4 & Up |
| 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">
|
|