Using CWCi's FormMail to process forms on your HTML pages

FormMail.pl version 1.92
Copyright 1996-2003 Matt Wright

This script may be used as a universal WWW form --> E-mail gateway. It allows you to format the email reply that results when your form is submitted (i.e., ready to add to a database), as well as giving you control of where the form sender goes after he submits the form.

NOTE: If your site is a virtual domain (i.e., yourdomain.com or .net, etc.), you must request that your domain be allowed to access the formmail.pl. You can easily accomplish this by emailing webmaster@xtalwind with your request for access to FormMail. Be sure to include your domain name in the email.
If you have requested that your domain be allowed to access the
formmail.pl, then name@yourdomain.com or .net, etc. may be used in the recipient field.
In other words, the domain to the right of the "@" in the recipient field must be xtalwind.net or a domain which is allowed to call FormMail.
Unless specifically requested (see above) virtual domains can not useFormMail.

There are a few restrictions on the HTML forms and what may be in the forms:

Form Configuration:
The action of your form needs to point to this script (obviously), and the method must be POST. Below is a list of form fields you may use and how to implement them. NOTE: On our system FormMail is called as: <form method=POST ACTION="http://www.xtalwind.net/cgi-bin/FormMail.pl"> (this is case sensitive)

Necessary Form Fields:
There is only one form field that must be in your form for FormMail to work correctly, 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="YOUR-EMAIL-NAME@xtalwind.net">
You can include multiple recipients by separating the values with commas:
<input type=hidden name="recipient" value="user@yourhost.com,user2@yourhost.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 the subject: WWW Form Submission
Syntax:
If you wish to designate a subject: <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 his return e-mail address. If you want to be able to return e-mail to your user, it is strongly suggested that you include this form field and require this field to be filled in (see "required field" below). This will be put into the from: field of the message you receive.
Syntax: <input type=text name="email">

Field: realname
Description: The realname form field will allow the user to input his 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 URL you specify after he submits your form, rather than having him see the default response to the form, you can use this hidden variable to send him to an URL you specify here.
Syntax:
To choose the URL he will see after submitting: <input type=hidden name="redirect" value="http://www.your_domain_or_webspace/your_redirect_target.html">
To allow the user to specify a URL he wishs to travel to once the form is submitted: <input type=text name="redirect">

Field: required
Description: You can require that specified fields in your form 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 which fields he needs to fill in, and a link back to the form they just submitted will be provided.
Syntax: If you want to require that the user fill in the email and phone fields in your form, so that you can reach him once you have received the email response, use syntax like: <input type=hidden name="required" value="email,phone">
To use a customized error page, see 'missing_fields_redirect'

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, from what domain they were coming, 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 with which they have authenticated. This is not usually set. REMOTE_IDENT - If HTTP server supports RFC 931 identification, 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">

Field: sort
Description: This field allows you to choose the order in which you want 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 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.
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 configuration 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 fieldsare printed in the return HTML, regardless of whether or notthey were filled in. FormMail defaults to turning this off, sothat 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 want 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 him a way to get back to your main page.
Syntax: <input type=hidden name="return_link_url" value="http://your.host.xxx/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:
<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">

Field: missing_fields_redirect
Description: This form field allows you to specify a URL that users will beredirected to if there are fields listed in the required formfield that are not filled in. This is so you can customize anerror page instead of displaying the default.
Syntax: <input type=hidden name="missing_fields_redirect" value="http://your.host.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://your.host.xxx/image.gif">

Field: bgcolor
Description: This form field allow you to specify a background color 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
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 used.
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 used.
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 used.
Syntax: For a visited 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.
Matt Wright
mattw@scriptarchive.com
http://www.scriptarchive.com/

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The Crystal Wind is the Storm, and the Storm is Data, and the Data is Life.
--The Players Litany from 'The Long Run' by Daniel Keys Moran