FormMail is a generic www form to e-mail gateway, which will parse the results of any form and send them to the specified user. This script has many formatting and operational options, most of which can be specified through the form, meaning you don't need any programming knowledge or multiple scripts for multiple forms. This also makes FormMail the perfect system-wide solution for allowing users form-based user feedback capabilities without the risks of allowing freedom of CGI access.

There is only one form field that you must have in your form, for FormMail to work correctly. This is the recipient field. Other hidden configuration fields can also be used to enhance the operation of FormMail on your site. The action of your form needs to point towards this script (obviously), and the method must be POST in capital letters.

Here's an example of the form fields to put in your form:

<form action = "/cgi-sys/formmail.pl" method = "post"> <input
type="hidden" name="recipient" value="sales@yourdomain.com">
<input type="hidden" name="subject" value="subject"> <input
type="hidden" name="return_link_title" value="title"> <input type="hidden"
name="redirect" value="http://www.yourdomain.com/page.htm">

The following are descriptions and proper syntax for fields you can use with FormMail.

Recipient Field:

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 email address.

Syntax:

<input type="hidden" name="recipient" value="sales@yourdomain.com">

Subject Field:

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">

E-mail Field:

Description: This form field will allow the user to specify a return e-mail address. If you want to be able to return e-mail to your user,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 wish to require an e-mail address with valid syntax, add this field name to the 'required' field.

Syntax:

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

Realname Field:

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="real name">

Redirect Field:

Description: If you wish to redirect the user to a URL different from the default response page, use 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://www.yourdomain.com/file.htm">

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

Required Field:

Description: You can require 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, separated by commas. 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.

Syntax: If you want to require that they fill in the e-mail and phone fields in your form, so that you can reach them once you have received the mail, use syntax similar to:

<input type="hidden" name="required" value="email,phone">

Env_report Field:

Description: Allows you to have Environment variables included in the e-mail message you receive after a user has filled out your form. This will tell you what browser they were using, what domain they were coming from and any other attributes associated with environment variables. The following is a short list of valid environment variables:

remote_host - Sends the host name making the request.
remote_addr - Sends the IP address of the remote host.
http_user_agent - The browser the client is using.

Syntax: If you wanted to find all the above variables, you would put the following into your form:

<input type="hidden" name="env_report" value="remote_host,remote_addr,http_user_agent">

Sort Field:

Description: This field allows you to choose the order for your variables to appear in the e-mail form 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 send the information to the script (which is usually 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...">

Print_config Field:

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 email. This is because the important form fields, like e-mail, 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 e-mail 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">

Print_blank_fields Field:

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:
<input type="hidden" name="print_blank_fields" value="1">

Title Field:

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">

Return_link_url Field:

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://www.yourdomain.com/index.html">

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:

Back to Main Page

Syntax:

<input type="hidden" name="return_link_title" value="Back to Main Page">

For more information about setting up FormMail, please check this knowledgebase.

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