Set Up and Use of Emailed Form
The use of this form is unsupported by us, it simply works. This
instruction page is all that is needed to make the form functional.
These
instructions are layed out so each element is explained in detail.
At the bottom, all elements are put together so you can see a working
example which you may use if you wish.
This form emailer uses http 1.0 compliant fields, meaning that any
browser, including Lynx, can use them.
Form Basics:
The most basic form consists of 4 lines. This example is for personal
websites or Entry Level virtual web hosts:
<form method="post"
action="http://www.pil.net/cgi-bin/formmail.pl">
<input type=hidden name="recipient"
value="support@pil.net">
<input type="submit" value="Send
Report">
</form>
To do the same thing with a Full Featured virtual web host, since you have
your own cgi-bin directory, you would use:
<form method="post"
action="/cgi-bin/FormMail.pl">
<input type=hidden name="recipient"
value="support@pil.net">
<input type="submit" value="Send
Report">
</form>
Of course this 'form' does nothing but send an email to
support@pil.net, with NO useful information in it.
Putting useful
information INTO the form:
Specify the recipient of the emailed
form:
Syntax:
<input type=hidden name="recipient"
value="email@your.host.com">
Where email@your.host.com is YOUR Email
Address (IMPORTANT: As a security measure, you must specify
an email address that is either your domain hosted with us,
or pil.net).
The Subject line.
This statement may be either a hidden value, as set by you, or one
that is
set by the person filling the form out.
Syntax:
<input type=hidden name="subject" value="Site
Feedback">
This example will FORCE the subject line to be "Site Feedback",
while,
<input type=text name="subject">
This will provide the user a text box to input the subject they
want.
Return Email Address.
This is the user's return email address. This may be a required field (explained below).
Syntax:
<input type=text name="email">
Required field statement.
By setting this value, the form will be rejected until all the items
specified as required have been
satisfied.
Syntax:
<input type=hidden name="required" value="email">
This would cause this form to be rejected for processing until the
'email' field had been entered.
Text Areas.
This is how you set an area for the user to input the feedback (or
other) information. It is a free-form entry.
Syntax:
<textarea name="text" rows=6 cols=40></textarea>
The above statement will produce a text box 6 rows deep and 40
columns wide. Values for Row cannot be less than 1 or more than 20.
Values for Columns should not be less than 20 or greater than 60.
While other values can be used... these are the most
practical.
OK. While all that is a lot of new information, forms make much more
sense when you can actually SEE it in use. Below is the HTML code and the
working form. You can see how each element is used.
This form will send a feedback form, requiring a return email address and
a user provided subject.
<form method="post"
action="http://www.pil.net/cgi-bin/formmail.pl">
<input type=hidden name="recipient"
value="email@pil.net">
<input type=hidden name="required" value="email,subject">
<table>
<tr><td align=right>
Your Email Address:
</td><td align=left>
<input type=text name="email"><font
color=red><B>Required</b></font>
</td></tr>
<tr><td align=right>
Subject:
</td><td align=left>
<input type text name="subject"><font
color=red><B>Required</b></font>
</td></tr>
<tr>
<td align=right>
Please Put Your<br>Comments Here.</td><td align=left>
<textarea name="text" rows=6 cols=40></textarea>
</td></tr>
</table>
<input type="submit" value="Send Feedback">
</form>
You may cut and paste the above code into your own web page. Remember to change the recipient's email address from
email@pil.net to YOUR email
address!
Produces this form:
