GUIDE - formmail.pl

formmail.pl (version 1.5)
Homepage: http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/
Modifications Required: none
Optional Modifications: None recommended.

formmail.pl is a form delivery script with a wide variety of options. It is much more flexible than the form.cgi script, but less so than the cgiemail script. It accepts form submissions via either GET or POST methods, and allows e-mail to be sent to addresses outside the your domain. For sample usage, please see its How-To Guide.

The following fields can be defined for formmail.pl; only the recipient field is required:

recipient (required)

This field specifies the destination e-mail address for the form contents. Example:

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="recipient" VALUE="address@domain.com">

subject

This field specifies the Subject line of the outgoing e-mail. If not given, the default Subject is "WWW Form Submission". Example:

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="subject" VALUE="Some Subject Line">

You can also allow the user to specify the Subject field:

<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="subject">

email

This field specifies the return e-mail address of the user submitting the form. If supplied, this should be a field filled in by the user. The e-mail will be generated so that your mailer's reply function should go to this address; if not supplied, the default is nobody@pair.com. Example:

<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="email">

realname

This field specifies the real name of the user submitting the form. If supplied, this should be a field filled in by the user. The e-mail will be generated with this name in the headers. Example:

<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="realname">

redirect

This field specifies the URL to which the user should be automatically redirected after successful delivery of the form. If this is not specified, a default response will be generated by the script. Example:

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="redirect" VALUE="http://domain.com/whatever.html">

required

This field allows you to specify that certain fields in the form are "required"; that is, that they may not be empty when the form is submitted. If any of the specified fields are empty, the user will receive a warning, and the form will not be submitted. Example:

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="required" VALUE="email,subject">

env_report

This field specifies a list of environment variables that should be submitted along with the form contents. This is useful for recording, for example, the IP address of the user submitting the form. Useful environment variables to record include:

• REMOTE_ADDR - IP address of the user's host
• HTTP_USER_AGENT - name and version of the user's browser

Note: Case is important for environment variables. You can see the typical environment variables using the test.cgi script.

Example:

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="env_report" VALUE="REMOTE_HOST,HTTP_USER_AGENT">

sort

This field specifies how the fields submitted from the form should be sorted in the outgoing e-mail message. By default, the fields are not in any particular sort order (results are dependent on the user's browser). You may specify "alphabetic" for straight alphabetic sorting (same as form.cgi, described above), or you may specify the exact order with "order:". Examples:

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="sort" VALUE="alphabetic">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="sort" VALUE="order:name,email,phone">

print_config

This field specifies that the formmail.pl control fields, normally removed from the body of the outgoing message, be included for completeness. Example:

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="print_config" VALUE="email,subject">

title

This field specifies the title for the default response page that is generated by the script in absence of a redirect field. The default is "Thank You". Example:

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="title" VALUE="Form Results">

return_link_url

This field specifies a URL that will appear on the default response page that is generated by the script in absence of a redirect field. This URL can be used to allow users to return to, for example, your home page. Example:

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="return_link_url" VALUE="http://domain.com/">

return_link_title

This field specifies the text that will be used inside the link generated when return_link_url is specified. Example:

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="return_link_title" VALUE="Return to Home Page">

background

This field specifies the URL of a background image that will be used on the default response page that is generated by the script in absence of a redirect field. Example:

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="background" VALUE="http://domain.com/img/bkgr.gif">

bgcolor

This field specifies the background color that will be used on the default response page that is generated by the script in absence of a redirect field. Example (pure white):

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="bgcolor" VALUE="#FFFFFF">

text_color

This field specifies the text color that will be used on the default response page that is generated by the script in absence of a redirect field. Example (pure black):

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="text_color" VALUE="#000000">

link_color

This field specifies the unvisited link color that will be used on the default response page that is generated by the script in absence of a redirect field. Example (pure red):

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="link_color" VALUE="#FF0000">

vlink_color

This field specifies the visited link color that will be used on the default response page that is generated by the script in absence of a redirect field. Example (pure blue):

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="vlink_color" VALUE="#0000FF">

alink_color

This field specifies the active link color that will be used on the default response page that is generated by the script in absence of a redirect field. Example (pure green):

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="alink_color" VALUE="#00FF00">

Note that this script can also be referenced as FormMail.pl.