22 replies to this topic

[Compute]

Hi I'm pretty new to form-mails so could I like get a little help if possible .

Now I heard form-mail was already pre-installed... So where is the file that is pre-installed. Can I have the name and locations plz.

Also I want to know to set up the form-mail what steps do I have to take and what HTML code do I have to put into my web pages.

I want the info from the forum to be sent to an email box I have at godaddy. My domain is hosted their to.

Can someone experienced in this please give me step by step directions on how to set up everything.

Thanks in advance.

[BuffaloHelp]

Thank you for your question.

Please take the time to familiarize yourself with cPanel, given by Trap17. Access your cPanel and look for the group "Preinstalled Scripts." Now select the CGI Center and you will see the complete list of preinstalled scripts at your disposal. CGI Email and FormMail Clone would be two examples. We have Tutorial section where members have posted guides and how to's regarding these and other FORMMAIL. Please use this key word to search the forum.

[midnightvamp]

I am in the middle of an evil form-mail battle, so I can relate to you. All yesterday, I tried to set up some forms... and now I finally have some set up, but they are still giving me nothing but trouble. I used the PHPformgenerator... I wanted to just set up some simple ones that I could direct the form input to be sent into my gmail account, but no such luck.

I don't know when to send the form action link to. I think that if I knew that, I could send it. Well, unless you still have to create a bunch of extra files to handle that too. Then, I'd be lost again. As it stands, with the formgenerator that I used, it created -tons- of files and folders... and that is all just for one form. I need two separate forms on my site, and there is so much room taken up for two small little forms.

And now that I put those premade formgenerators in there, it's messed up the permissions on my site somehow that I can't change and upload the new files. Even when I go into the files in cpanel and change the chmods of the files. Whatever the case is. I'd love to get rid of all those files and folders that it installed, but when I run the delete and uninstall thing for phpformgenerator, it doesn't get rid of the files and I can't delete them by hand either.

So, yes, a big head ache. All I wanted was something simple! This has been a long couple of days... and I'm no where close to where I'd like to be.

Sorry about the rant here. I'm a bit frustrated. And I would like to know how to make a -simple- form that submits three textbox's info to my email. I've tried php... it's not working for me. Anyway, if you are looking to take a crack at it, I'm about to try the cgiemail that is found in your cpanel -> scripts -> cgi center -> cgiemail...

[Compute]

I don't see any guides on how to set the FormMailer clone script? can you give me a link because i don't seem to see any. All i found was a email forum in php. Which is not what i need.

midnightvamp I totaly agree. You want something so simple but turns out to be harder then you think.

[BuffaloHelp]

I don't know how simple you guys are looking for. But I have written a tutorial regarding CGI mail. You can read it here http://www.trap17.com/forums/index.php?sho...ndpost&p=170547 and don't forget to read the post #3 for supplement.

This CGI script is basic information gatherer. When all you want is person's information entered by that person online--this is for you. I have been using this to gather anyone who's seriously interested in my website offers and takes the time to fill out information for me to contact that person.

The collecting form is whatever you want to make it look...you can even use the form generator found as free when you search the web (or search TRAP17 for form generator).

Let me know if that help you guys out.

[rvalkass]

midnightvamp said:

I've tried php... it's not working for me.

Why not? It's a lot simpler than trying to get CGI to work, or thats how I've found it in the past. If you want help getting it to work then I and many others are willing to help.

BuffaloHELP does explain it pretty well in that thread so have a look and see if it can help you. Also try the site of the creator of the script. I can't remember it at the moment so just have a look in cPanel.

[joelmachado]

I am posting a reply because this is the only forum that I found where i can post anykind of reply.


I wish I could help but without knowing what you are familiar with its difficult to give any kind of instructions without knowing how much in detail I would have to go.

There are two programs out there that are easy to use. One is microsoft publisher the other(of Course) is Mircosoft frontpage...they both offer forms when developing web pages...the easiest of the two is microsoft publisher... you can have forms e-mailed to your email instead of being hosted on your site.

joel

[midnightvamp]

BuffaloHELP, on Aug 27 2005, 02:00 PM, said:

This CGI script is basic information gatherer. When all you want is person's information entered by that person online--this is for you.

Let me know if that help you guys out.

That is all I'm after is basic information gathering type stuff. And I did find this tutorial yesterday, and I couldn't get it to work for me. Today, things are looking up. I've mananged to make a very basic form, that sends but I'm only getting the last two of the fields to arrive in the email. The first one doesn't show up at all.

Using your example... if on my template, I have:

Quote

To: your-receiving-address@server.com
Subject: testing out the application form

Name entered: [FirstName] [LastName]

Zip code: [zip]

Sender's email: [email]

Sender's phone: ([area])[exchange]-[number]

All I'm receiving is:

Quote

Zip code: [zip]

Sender's email: [email]

Sender's phone: ([area])[exchange]-[number]

I've checked to make sure that the words are spelled the same on both files, and that they don't have capitals or anything like that. Is there something I could need to add for it to send the first one along?

I tried adding a forth textbox, hoping that it just wouldn't send that one instead, but it just left out the first two areas instead and sent the same last two, so I'm not sure whatelse to try.


And thanks for the offer of help, rvalkass, I might have to take you up on that, if I can't get this one working. I'm not at all familiar with php... so I think that was half my problem.

[Compute]

BuffaloHELP I read your tutorial.

I made a contacts page. and I placed the HTML code into that page.

Next I made a the template.txt file in the CGI bin. I added the code to that file.

Now I want to test the form but lets say the user types all the info in. how does he submit it. I see there was no submit input code? Am I doing something wrong?


Here is what my TXT file looks like.

To: support@corzendesign.com
Subject: testing out the application form

Name entered: [FirstName] [LastName]

Zip code: [zip]

Sender's email: [email]

Sender's phone: ([area])[exchange]-[number]

And this is what the html code in my contacts.html page looks like.

<form method="POST" action="http://www.corzendesign.com/cgi-bin/cgiemail/directory/template.txt" name="myform" 
<input type="hidden" name="addendum" value="Thank you. If you are seeing this page, you should be contacted within 48 hours.">
<table border=0 cellspacing=0 celpadding=0> 
<tr>
<td colspan=2>Enter your information:<br>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p align=right>
First Name:</td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="FirstName" size=25 maxlength=50>
<td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p align=right>
Last Name:</td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="LastName" size=25 maxlength=50>
</td>
</tr> 
<tr>
<td><p align=right>
Zip Code:</td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="zip" size=25 maxlength=50>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p align=right>
Email:</td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="email" size=25 maxlength=50>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p align=right>
Phone:</td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="area" size=4 maxlength=5>-
<input type="text" name="exchange" size=4 maxlength=3>-
<input type="text" name="number" size=5 maxlength=4>
</td>
</tr>

So whats next?

[midnightvamp]

To add a submit button to the form (so the people can send it once it's filled out), you would type this at the bottom...

<INPUT TYPE="submit" value="Send">

You might also want a 'reset' button:

<INPUT TYPE="reset" value="Reset">

And I believe that you must add a line to end the code for the form too at the bottom:

</form>

[BuffaloHelp]

midnightvamp
There's a good possibility that FirstName isn't a compatible variable. Try first instead of that caps version. I use that variable to demonstrate the difference. So your HTML should look

First Name:</td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="first" size=25 maxlength=50>
<td>

and your TXT file should have first as the required field to be filled. And the rest, etc etc. When you don't see the desired information sent back to you, it means that the variable is mistaken or not recognized.

Compute
You should place both TXT and HTML form page in the same directory. Nothing should ever be in your CGI bin folder. And when receive the same result as midnightvamp did, refer to the reply I gave to midnightvamp.

Good luck guys

Edit: Compute let me reiterate that. Wherever you place your HTML form file, that's where the TXT file should be.

Edited by BuffaloHELP, 27 August 2005 - 07:00 PM.

[Compute]

Ok. Now i placed the TXT file into my Public html folder which is where contact.htm is also located. Now the defult for the action is

http://www.corzendesign.com/cgi-bin/cgiema...ry/template.txt

since the template.txt file is not loctaed in that I changed it to.

http://www.corzendes...om/template.txt

Now its saying.

Quote

Method Not Allowed
The requested method POST is not allowed for the URL /template.txt.

I'm so confused. exacly where should i put all my files. the txt and the contacts.htm.

Here is the URL to my contact.htm

http://www.corzendes...com/contact.htm

[midnightvamp]

Okay, but it's still not working... I've got variables which should work... these are my two files:

<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="http://chromlea.trap17.com/cgi-bin/cgiemail/formprocess/langtemplate.txt">
<input type="hidden" name="addendum" value="Thank you. Every submission helps the site a great deal.">

Language: <input type="text" input name="language"><p>
Word or Phrase: <input type="text" input name="phrase"><p>
Meaning: <input type="text" input name="meaning"><p>
<input name="Submit" type="submit" value="Send">
</FORM></p>

and:

To: chromlea@gmail.com                           
Subject: Language Submission
                                                  
Language:           [language]
Word or Phrase:     [phrase]          
Meaning:            [meaning]

Can you see anything wrong with this? I used all lowercase words now... and the form works and sends... but only sends the last two entries. And they are in the same directory, so that isn't the problem either.

And -- thank you one million times over for putting up with and helping me!

Compute, on Aug 27 2005, 03:08 PM, said:

I'm so confused. exacly where should i put all my files. the txt and the contacts.htm.

Hmm... it seems like it should work from there... but I had mine in the same place that you did... and it wouldn't work for me either. So I dropped them into their own folder, that only had the two files we are making in it, and that seemed to make it work. Or mostly work

Anyway, give that a try, and see if that helps you out.

Notice from BuffaloHELP:

Merging two posts.

[BuffaloHelp]

Compute
There was a bit misunderstanding when I saw your previous post. You place your TXT file in the same directory as your contact.htm file. That you did right. But you still have to leave it as

<form method="POST" action="http://www.corzendesign.com/cgi-bin/cgiemail/template.txt" name="myform">

in your contact.htm and no other directory name before /template.txt since you placed it directory in the public_html folder.

midnightvamp
I think the variable is still misread by the form. Try name instead of language and change it in your TXt file to reflect the same. If it still doesn't work I guess I'll fire-up the editing software and I'll test it out myself. Sorry that I did not check my work thoroughly.

[Compute]

O ok now the form kind of works. when i click submit i get this...

Quote

The following email message was sent.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To: support@corzendesign.com
Subject: testing out the application form

Name entered: rhrhthrtr htrthrhtrth

Zip code: rhtrhtrthrth

Sender's email: rhtrthrthrht

Sender's phone: (43455)333-3333

cgiemail 1.6

When i check my mail box. No massage was ever sent....

[BuffaloHelp]

Allow me to give you further examples:

You have contact.htm and template.txt

You place them both in public_html then your code will be

<form method="POST" action="http://www.user.trap17.com/cgi-bin/cgiemail/template.txt" name="myform">

You place them both in public_html/foldername then your code will be

<form method="POST" action="http://www.user.trap17.com/cgi-bin/cgiemail/foldername/template.txt" name="myform">

[Compute]

I understand that now but why didn't it send the email. It said it did but when i check my email it didn't... does it take some time?

Sorry for asking so many questions. Thanks for all your help.

[BuffaloHelp]

Compute, on Aug 27 2005, 03:29 PM, said:

When i check my mail box. No massage was ever sent....

Never SENT or never RECEIVED? Your mailbox will not keep records of what is sent unless you configure your mailbox to do so. But this CGI script uses another mailserver other than TRAP17 and yours so you will not have any record of sending. This is sending data using straight character send, hence called CGI (common gateway interface). It does not need permission of SMTP to send data over the net.

Edit: lol sorry, my reply is slower than your question... did you set up your top level domain with trap17's mail service? Instead of fixing what I assume as a faulty setup with your domain name and the hosting, use your Yahoo or Gmail or whatever to test it out. Just change the To: email@wherever.com in your TXT file and you should be able to find out right away.

Edited by BuffaloHELP, 27 August 2005 - 07:36 PM.

[Compute]

kk it finally worked but I would also like to know how could I make it so that when they click submit it doesn't send them to the txt file but a confirmation page.


Again Thanks a lot!

[BuffaloHelp]

Compute
To redirect to another page without showing up the user's confirmation page use this html mark

<input type="hidden" name="success" value="http://yourWebsite.com/whatever_you_want_them_to_see">

INSTEAD OF

<input type="hidden" name="addendum" value="Thank you. If you are seeing this page, you should be contacted within 48 hours.">

You can check out this page to read up on instructions http://web.mit.edu/w...email/user.html


midnightvamp
I double checked using language and it worked for me. Make sure you follow this TXT format found here http://web.mit.edu/w...r.html#template Spacing in TXT file is important.

Please let me know if you were all able to use this feature. I'm sorry that my tutorial isn't perfect and not working out as I hoped.

[Compute]

Ok thanks for all the help sir. This is by far one of the most active and supportive forums I have ever been part of. The problem with the tutorial is that it just says the basics. and some new people like me sometimes need further explaining lol. But overall its a good tutorial its just my first time that I really didn't understand much.

Thanks for the quick responses and the outstanding help. you too midnightvamp

THANKS a BILLLLLION lol

[midnightvamp]

BuffaloHELP, on Aug 27 2005, 04:18 PM, said:

midnightvamp
I double checked using language and it worked for me. Make sure you follow this TXT format found here http://web.mit.edu/w...r.html#template Spacing in TXT file is important.

Please let me know if you were all able to use this feature. I'm sorry that my tutorial isn't perfect and not working out as I hoped.

Hi... I got it working now. It wasn't your tutorial that was wrong. I'm sure it's just me because like Compute said, we are just not so experianced at this, so we need a little extra help

Anyway. I did have the space in the txt file. Only one space though in between the headers and the body (I believe that is what they were called), but when I added a second space, it works perfect now.

I'm happy that I got it working, because I was playing around with it, because I couldn't get into the Trap17 site, so I wanted to come on here, and tell you sooner, but I wasn't getting in, and then it was dinner

So thank you for all your help... It means the world to me. You have no idea how the past two days have been driving me crazy over the forms lol.

[BuffaloHelp]

I'm glad to be a help.

For multiple formmail using CGI script, please refer to this thread http://www.trap17.com/forums/index.php?sho...ndpost&p=179122

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