Form Mail Script

The Form Mail CGI script is a simple script that send the contents of a form via E-mail. To use the script, you will need to create a webpage with the appropriate input fields and hidden options. When a use of this web page enters in data and clicks submit, an email message is created and sent out.

Download the sample HTML file

The first step is to download and save locally the sample Form mail HTML file. You can use this as a base for your Form mail web page or as a guide on how to modify your existing Form mail web page.

Fields

The Form mail script relies on visible and hidden HTML form tags to get the necessary information to send its email. The following table provides a list of the Folly the link on the tag name for a detailed description of the tag and it's usage. Only the recipient tag is required, however, we recommend you at least include the realname and email tags. Any tags not listed below but included in the form will be e-mailed to you in the body of the message.

The following tags are used by form mail:

Form mail tag details

recipient

REQUIRED. If this field does not exist, no email will be generated, and the user will receive an error. This field is generally a hidden field and specifies the email address for the destination of the email message generated by the form.

Syntax: <input type="hidden" name="recipient" value="user@domain.com">

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email

REQUIRED. This tag is generally a visible field that allows the use to specify a return email address. This will be put into the From: field of the message you receive. You should also include this field in the list of required fields with the required tag, otherwise, a CGI error message will be generated.

Syntax: <input type=text name="email">

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subject

The subject field will allow you to specify the subject that you wish to appear in the email after completion of the form. If this tag is not used, then the form mail CGI 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="Subject">
To allow the user to choose a subject: <input type=text name="subject">

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realname / name

The realname and name tags are interchangeable. This is for compatibility with older form mail forms. The realname and name fields permit the user to enter their real name. It becomes part of the From: line in the email message.

Syntax: <input type=text name="realname"> or <input type=text name="name">

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redirect

When the form mail form completes, then by default it returns a confirmation web page to the user. If you wish to not use the default conformation webpage, you can redirect them to your own confirmation page or other web page by specifying the URL for this page in the redirect tag. Optionally, you can make this a visible tag and let the user specify what web page to go to.

Syntax: To choose the URL they will end up at: <input type=hidden name="redirect" value="http://www....">

To allow them to specify a URL they wish to travel to once the form is filled out: <input type=text name="redirect">

required

Some fields in your form can be made to be mandatory. The required tag permits you to force the user to complete a set of "required" fields. If the user fails to do so, that he/she will get an error message asking them to go back and complete the missing field.

To use the 'Required' tag, place all tag names that you want to be mandatory into this tag.

Syntax: If you want to require that the user fill in the email and phone fields in your form, use a syntax like: <input type=hidden name="required" value="email,phone">

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env_report

This tag allows you to have environment variables included in the email message you receive. This can be 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. This following table is a short list of valid environment variables that you may find useful:

For a full list of environment variables available, please refer to the Zeus Documentation.

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">

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sort

This tag allows you to choose the order in which you wish for your tags to appear in the email that Form mail generates. You can choose to have the field sorted alphabetically or you can 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 send the information to the script which may or may not be the same order they appeared in the HTML 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 fields, and then follow that with the tag names you want to be listed in the email 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,...">

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print_config

print_config allows you to specify which of the config tags you would like to have included in your e-mail message. By default, no config tags are included in your email. This is because of the the important for fields, like email, subject, etc... are included in the header of the message. However, some form mail users like to have the option to have tags included in the message body that normally are not. The config tags that you wish to have included 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">

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title

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">

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return_link_url

This tag allows you to specify a URL that will appear, as return_link_title, on the resultant "Email was sent!" report page. This field will not be used if you have the redirect tag 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/index.html">

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return_link_title

This is the title that will be sued to link the user back tot eh page you specify with return_link_url. The two fields will be shows 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">

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background

This form tag allows 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 for the form results page.

Syntax: <input type=hidden name="background" value="http://your.host/image.gif">

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bgcolor

This form tag allows you to specify a bgcolor for the form results page in much the same way you specify a background image. This tag only takes effect if the redirect tag is not used.

Syntax: For a background color of white: <input type=hidden name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF">

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text_color

This tag works in the same was 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">

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link_color

This tag changes the color of links on the resulting page. It works in the same way as text_color.

Syntax: For a link color of Red: <input type=hidden name="link_color" value="#FF0000">

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vlink_color

This tag changes the color of visited links on the resulting page. It works exactly the same as link_color.

Syntax: For a visited link color of Blue: <input type=hidden name="vlink_color" value="#0000FF">

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alink_color

This tag changes the color of active links on the resulting page. It works exactly the same as link_color.

Syntax: For an active link color of Green: <input type=hidden name="alink_color" value="#00FF00">

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