Need help making a form

[Dennis885]

I want to make a form for a website, where I have a few text boxes, where the user types various things. I don't have any problem making the boxes, but I want to submit the info typed in by the person to an email account or a text file. Any help with how to do this would be great. Thanks

[Grizzly]

You'll need some sort of Server Side scripting languge in order to either:
a) E-mail the Form Results
or
b) Record the Form Results to a flat text file.

What languages do you have at your disposal? Perl, PHP, Cold Fusion?

[Dennis885]

I think the web host supports perl, but I don't know perl, so I'd imagine that the form idea is dead

[Alphathree]

As long as you know the fundamentals of programming, picking up a new language shouldn't take very long, especially if you're learning it to do a specific task.

Originally posted by Dennis885:
I think the web host supports perl, but I don't know perl, so I'd imagine that the form idea is dead

------------------
I miss Off Topic.

[Milkman]

it looks like someone is in need of a formmail script...and i just happen to know the someone that has one........you could go to http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts to download it, or you could copy the code here, put it into your text editor an save it as formmail.cgi (then place it on your webserver - this is perl, just saved as cgi...)

here is the source:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl
############################################################ ##################
# FormMail Version 1.6 #
# Copyright 1995-1997 Matt Wright [email protected] #
# Created 06/09/95 Last Modified 05/02/97 #
# Matt's Script Archive, Inc.: http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/ #
############################################################ ##################
# COPYRIGHT NOTICE #
# Copyright 1995-1997 Matthew M. Wright All Rights Reserved. #
# #
# FormMail may be used and modified free of charge by anyone so long as this #
# copyright notice and the comments above remain intact. By using this #
# code you agree to indemnify Matthew M. Wright from any liability that #
# might arise from its use. #
# #
# Selling the code for this program without prior written consent is #
# expressly forbidden. In other words, please ask first before you try and #
# make money off of my program. #
# #
# Obtain permission before redistributing this software over the Internet or #
# in any other medium. In all cases copyright and header must remain intact #
############################################################ ##################
# Define Variables #
# Detailed Information Found In README File. #

# $mailprog defines the location of your sendmail program on your unix #
# system. #

$mailprog = '/usr/lib/sendmail';

# @referers allows forms to be located only on servers which are defined #
# in this field. This security fix from the last version which allowed #
# anyone on any server to use your FormMail script on their web site. #

@referers = ('www.ehsso.com','www.geocities.com');

# Done #
############################################################ ##################

# Check Referring URL
&check_url;

# Retrieve Date
&get_date;

# Parse Form Contents
&parse_form;

# Check Required Fields
&check_required;

# Return HTML Page or Redirect User
&return_html;

# Send E-Mail
&send_mail;

sub check_url {

# Localize the check_referer flag which determines if user is valid. #
local($check_referer) = 0;

# If a referring URL was specified, for each valid referer, make sure #
# that a valid referring URL was passed to FormMail. #

if ($ENV{'HTTP_REFERER'}) {
foreach $referer (@referers) {
if ($ENV{'HTTP_REFERER'} =~ m|https?://([^/]*)$referer|i) {
$check_referer = 1;
last;
}
}
}
else {
$check_referer = 1;
}

# If the HTTP_REFERER was invalid, send back an error. #
if ($check_referer != 1) { &error('bad_referer') }
}

sub get_date {

# Define arrays for the day of the week and month of the year. #
@days = ('Sunday','Monday','Tuesday','Wednesday',
'Thursday','Friday','Saturday');
@months = ('January','February','March','April','May','June','July',
'August','September','October','November','December');

# Get the current time and format the hour, minutes and seconds. Add #
# 1900 to the year to get the full 4 digit year. #
($sec,$min,$hour,$mday,$mon,$year,$wday) = (localtime(time))[0,1,2,3,4,5,6];
$time = sprintf("%02d:%02d:%02d",$hour,$min,$sec);
$year += 1900;

# Format the date. #
$date = "$days[$wday], $months[$mon] $mday, $year at $time";

}

sub parse_form {

# Define the configuration associative array. #
%Config = ('recipient','', 'subject','',
'email','', 'realname','',
'redirect','', 'bgcolor','',
'background','', 'link_color','',
'vlink_color','', 'text_color','',
'alink_color','', 'title','',
'sort','', 'print_config','',
'required','', 'env_report','',
'return_link_title','', 'return_link_url','',
'print_blank_fields','', 'missing_fields_redirect','');

# Determine the form's REQUEST_METHOD (GET or POST) and split the form #
# fields up into their name-value pairs. If the REQUEST_METHOD was #
# not GET or POST, send an error. #
if ($ENV{'REQUEST_METHOD'} eq 'GET') {
# Split the name-value pairs
@pairs = split(/&/, $ENV{'QUERY_STRING'});
}
elsif ($ENV{'REQUEST_METHOD'} eq 'POST') {
# Get the input
read(STDIN, $buffer, $ENV{'CONTENT_LENGTH'});

# Split the name-value pairs
@pairs = split(/&/, $buffer);
}
else {
&error('request_method');
}

# For each name-value pair: #
foreach $pair (@pairs) {

# Split the pair up into individual variables. #
local($name, $value) = split(/=/, $pair);

# Decode the form encoding on the name and value variables. #
$name =~ tr/+/ /;
$name =~ s/%([a-fA-F0-9][a-fA-F0-9])/pack("C", hex($1))/eg;

$value =~ tr/+/ /;
$value =~ s/%([a-fA-F0-9][a-fA-F0-9])/pack("C", hex($1))/eg;

# If they try to include server side includes, erase them, so they
# aren't a security risk if the html gets returned. Another
# security hole plugged up.
$value =~ s/<!--(.|\n)*-->//g;

# If the field name has been specified in the %Config array, it will #
# return a 1 for defined($Config{$name}}) and we should associate #
# this value with the appropriate configuration variable. If this #
# is not a configuration form field, put it into the associative #
# array %Form, appending the value with a ', ' if there is already a #
# value present. We also save the order of the form fields in the #
# @Field_Order array so we can use this order for the generic sort. #
if (defined($Config{$name})) {
$Config{$name} = $value;
}
else {
if ($Form{$name} && $value) {
$Form{$name} = "$Form{$name}, $value";
}
elsif ($value) {
push(@Field_Order,$name);
$Form{$name} = $value;
}
}
}

# The next six lines remove any extra spaces or new lines from the #
# configuration variables, which may have been caused if your editor #
# wraps lines after a certain length or if you used spaces between field #
# names or environment variables. #
$Config{'required'} =~ s/(\s+|\n)?,(\s+|\n)?/,/g;
$Config{'required'} =~ s/(\s+)?\n+(\s+)?//g;
$Config{'env_report'} =~ s/(\s+|\n)?,(\s+|\n)?/,/g;
$Config{'env_report'} =~ s/(\s+)?\n+(\s+)?//g;
$Config{'print_config'} =~ s/(\s+|\n)?,(\s+|\n)?/,/g;
$Config{'print_config'} =~ s/(\s+)?\n+(\s+)?//g;

# Split the configuration variables into individual field names. #
@Required = split(/,/,$Config{'required'});
@Env_Report = split(/,/,$Config{'env_report'});
@Print_Config = split(/,/,$Config{'print_config'});
}

sub check_required {

# Localize the variables used in this subroutine. #
local($require, @error);

if (!$Config{'recipient'}) {
if (!defined(%Form)) { &error('bad_referer') }
else { &error('no_recipient') }
}

# For each require field defined in the form: #
foreach $require (@Required) {

# If the required field is the email field, the syntax of the email #
# address if checked to make sure it passes a valid syntax. #
if ($require eq 'email' && !&check_email($Config{$require})) {
push(@error,$require);
}

# Otherwise, if the required field is a configuration field and it #
# has no value or has been filled in with a space, send an error. #
elsif (defined($Config{$require})) {
if (!$Config{$require}) {
push(@error,$require);
}
}

# If it is a regular form field which has not been filled in or #
# filled in with a space, flag it as an error field. #
elsif (!$Form{$require}) {
push(@error,$require);
}
}

# If any error fields have been found, send error message to the user. #
if (@error) { &error('missing_fields', @error) }
}

sub return_html {
# Local variables used in this subroutine initialized. #
local($key,$sort_order,$sorted_field);

# If redirect option is used, print the redirectional location header. #
if ($Config{'redirect'}) {
print "Location: $Config{'redirect'}\n\n";
}

# Otherwise, begin printing the response page. #
else {

# Print HTTP header and opening HTML tags. #
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
print "<html>\n <head>\n";

# Print out title of page #
if ($Config{'title'}) { print " <title>$Config{'title'}</title>\n" }
else { print " <title>Thank You</title>\n" }

print " </head>\n <body";

# Get Body Tag Attributes #
&body_attributes;

# Close Body Tag #
print ">\n <center>\n";

# Print custom or generic title. #
if ($Config{'title'}) { print " <h1>$Config{'title'}</h1>\n" }
else { print " <h1>Thank You For Filling Out This Form</h1>\n" }

print "</center>\n";

print "Below is what you submitted to $Config{'recipient'} on ";
print "$date<p><hr size=1 width=75\%><p>\n";

# Sort alphabetically if specified: #
if ($Config{'sort'} eq 'alphabetic') {
foreach $field (sort keys %Form) {

# If the field has a value or the print blank fields option #
# is turned on, print out the form field and value. #
if ($Config{'print_blank_fields'} | | $Form{$field}) {
print "<b>$field:</b> $Form{$field}<p>\n";
}
}
}

# If a sort order is specified, sort the form fields based on that. #
elsif ($Config{'sort'} =~ /^order:.*,.*/) {

# Set the temporary $sort_order variable to the sorting order, #
# remove extraneous line breaks and spaces, remove the order: #
# directive and split the sort fields into an array. #
$sort_order = $Config{'sort'};
$sort_order =~ s/(\s+|\n)?,(\s+|\n)?/,/g;
$sort_order =~ s/(\s+)?\n+(\s+)?//g;
$sort_order =~ s/order://;
@sorted_fields = split(/,/, $sort_order);

# For each sorted field, if it has a value or the print blank #
# fields option is turned on print the form field and value. #
foreach $sorted_field (@sorted_fields) {
if ($Config{'print_blank_fields'} | | $Form{$sorted_field}) {
print "<b>$sorted_field:</b> $Form{$sorted_field}<p>\n";
}
}
}

# Otherwise, default to the order in which the fields were sent. #
else {

# For each form field, if it has a value or the print blank #
# fields option is turned on print the form field and value. #
foreach $field (@Field_Order) {
if ($Config{'print_blank_fields'} | | $Form{$field}) {
print "<b>$field:</b> $Form{$field}<p>\n";
}
}
}

print "<p><hr size=1 width=75%><p>\n";

# Check for a Return Link and print one if found. #
if ($Config{'return_link_url'} && $Config{'return_link_title'}) {
print "<ul>\n";
print "<li><a href=\"$Config{'return_link_url'}\">$Config{'return_link_ title'}</a>\n";
print "</ul>\n";
}

# Print the page footer. #
print <<"(END HTML FOOTER)";
<hr size=1 width=75%><p>
<center><font size=-1><a href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/formmail.shtml">FormMail</a> V1.6 © 1995 -1997 Matt Wright<br>
A Free Product of <a href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/">Matt's Script Archive, Inc.</a></font></center>
</body>
</html>
(END HTML FOOTER)
}
}

sub send_mail {
# Localize variables used in this subroutine. #
local($print_config,$key,$sort_order,$sorted_field,$env_repo rt);

# Open The Mail Program
open(MAIL,"|$mailprog -t");

print MAIL "To: $Config{'recipient'}\n";
print MAIL "From: $Config{'email'} ($Config{'realname'})\n";

# Check for Message Subject
if ($Config{'subject'}) { print MAIL "Subject: $Config{'subject'}\n\n" }
else { print MAIL "Subject: WWW Form Submission\n\n" }

print MAIL "Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by\n";
print MAIL "$Config{'realname'} ($Config{'email'}) on $date\n";
print MAIL "-" x 75 . "\n\n";

if (@Print_Config) {
foreach $print_config (@Print_Config) {
if ($Config{$print_config}) {
print MAIL "$print_config: $Config{$print_config}\n\n";
}
}
}

# Sort alphabetically if specified: #
if ($Config{'sort'} eq 'alphabetic') {
foreach $field (sort keys %Form) {

# If the field has a value or the print blank fields option #
# is turned on, print out the form field and value. #
if ($Config{'print_blank_fields'} | | $Form{$field} | |
$Form{$field} eq '0') {
print MAIL "$field: $Form{$field}\n\n";
}
}
}

# If a sort order is specified, sort the form fields based on that. #
elsif ($Config{'sort'} =~ /^order:.*,.*/) {

# Remove extraneous line breaks and spaces, remove the order: #
# directive and split the sort fields into an array. #
$Config{'sort'} =~ s/(\s+|\n)?,(\s+|\n)?/,/g;
$Config{'sort'} =~ s/(\s+)?\n+(\s+)?//g;
$Config{'sort'} =~ s/order://;
@sorted_fields = split(/,/, $Config{'sort'});

# For each sorted field, if it has a value or the print blank #
# fields option is turned on print the form field and value. #
foreach $sorted_field (@sorted_fields) {
if ($Config{'print_blank_fields'} | | $Form{$sorted_field} | |
$Form{$sorted_field} eq '0') {
print MAIL "$sorted_field: $Form{$sorted_field}\n\n";
}
}
}

# Otherwise, default to the order in which the fields were sent. #
else {

# For each form field, if it has a value or the print blank #
# fields option is turned on print the form field and value. #
foreach $field (@Field_Order) {
if ($Config{'print_blank_fields'} | | $Form{$field} | |
$Form{$field} eq '0') {
print MAIL "$field: $Form{$field}\n\n";
}
}
}

print MAIL "-" x 75 . "\n\n";

# Send any specified Environment Variables to recipient. #
foreach $env_report (@Env_Report) {
if ($ENV{$env_report}) {
print MAIL "$env_report: $ENV{$env_report}\n";
}
}

close (MAIL);
}

sub check_email {
# Initialize local email variable with input to subroutine. #
$email = $_[0];

# If the e-mail address contains: #
if ($email =~ /(@.*@)|(\.\.)|(@\.)|(\.@)|(^\.)/ | |

# the e-mail address contains an invalid syntax. Or, if the #
# syntax does not match the following regular expression pattern #
# it fails basic syntax verification. #

$email !~ /^.+\@(\[?)[a-zA-Z0-9\-\.]+\.([a-zA-Z]{2,3}|[0-9]{1,3})(\]?)$/) {

# Basic syntax requires: one or more characters before the @ sign, #
# followed by an optional '[', then any number of letters, numbers, #
# dashes or periods (valid domain/IP characters) ending in a period #
# and then 2 or 3 letters (for domain suffixes) or 1 to 3 numbers #
# (for IP addresses). An ending bracket is also allowed as it is #
# valid syntax to have an email address like: user@[255.255.255.0] #

# Return a false value, since the e-mail address did not pass valid #
# syntax. #
return 0;
}

else {

# Return a true value, e-mail verification passed. #
return 1;
}
}

sub body_attributes {
# Check for Background Color
if ($Config{'bgcolor'}) { print " bgcolor=\"$Config{'bgcolor'}\"" }

# Check for Background Image
if ($Config{'background'}) { print " background=\"$Config{'background'}\"" }

# Check for Link Color
if ($Config{'link_color'}) { print " link=\"$Config{'link_color'}\"" }

# Check for Visited Link Color
if ($Config{'vlink_color'}) { print " vlink=\"$Config{'vlink_color'}\"" }

# Check for Active Link Color
if ($Config{'alink_color'}) { print " alink=\"$Config{'alink_color'}\"" }

# Check for Body Text Color
if ($Config{'text_color'}) { print " text=\"$Config{'text_color'}\"" }
}

sub error {
# Localize variables and assign subroutine input. #
local($error,@error_fields) = @_;
local($host,$missing_field,$missing_field_list);

if ($error eq 'bad_referer') {
if ($ENV{'HTTP_REFERER'} =~ m|^https?://([\w\.]+)|i) {
$host = $1;
print <<"(END ERROR HTML)";
Content-type: text/html

<html>
<head>
<title>Bad Referrer - Access Denied</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor=#FFFFFF text=#000000>
<center>
<table border=0 width=600 bgcolor=#9C9C9C>
<tr><th><font size=+2>Bad Referrer - Access Denied</font></th></tr>
</table>
<table border=0 width=600 bgcolor=#CFCFCF>
<tr><td>The form attempting to use
<a href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/formmail.shtml">FormMail</a>
resides at <tt>$ENV{'HTTP_REFERER'}</tt>, which is not allowed to access
this cgi script.<p>

If you are attempting to configure FormMail to run with this form, you need
to add the following to \@referers, explained in detail in the README file.<p>

Add <tt>'$host'</tt> to your <tt><b>\@referers</b></tt> array.<hr size=1>
<center><font size=-1>
<a href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/formmail.shtml">FormMail</a> V1.6 © 1995 - 1997 Matt Wright<br>
A Free Product of <a href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/">Matt's Script Archive, Inc.</a>
</font></center>
</td></tr>
</table>
</center>
</body>
</html>
(END ERROR HTML)
}
else {
print <<"(END ERROR HTML)";
Content-type: text/html

<html>
<head>
<title>FormMail v1.6</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor=#FFFFFF text=#000000>
<center>
<table border=0 width=600 bgcolor=#9C9C9C>
<tr><th><font size=+2>FormMail</font></th></tr>
</table>
<table border=0 width=600 bgcolor=#CFCFCF>
<tr><th><tt><font size=+1>Copyright 1995 - 1997 Matt Wright<br>
Version 1.6 - Released May 02, 1997<br>
A Free Product of <a href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/">Matt's Script Archive,
Inc.</a></font></tt></th></tr>
</table>
</center>
</body>
</html>
(END ERROR HTML)
}
}

elsif ($error eq 'request_method') {
print <<"(END ERROR HTML)";
Content-type: text/html

<html>
<head>
<title>Error: Request Method</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor=#FFFFFF text=#000000>
<center>
<table border=0 width=600 bgcolor=#9C9C9C>
<tr><th><font size=+2>Error: Request Method</font></th></tr>
</table>
<table border=0 width=600 bgcolor=#CFCFCF>
<tr><td>The Request Method of the Form you submitted did not match
either <tt>GET</tt> or <tt>POST</tt>. Please check the form and make sure the
<tt>method=</tt> statement is in upper case and matches <tt>GET</tt> or <tt>POST</tt>.<p>

<center><font size=-1>
<a href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/formmail.shtml">FormMail</a> V1.6 © 1995 - 1997 Matt Wright<br>
A Free Product of <a href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/">Matt's Script Archive, Inc.</a>
</font></center>
</td></tr>
</table>
</center>
</body>
</html>
(END ERROR HTML)
}

elsif ($error eq 'no_recipient') {
print <<"(END ERROR HTML)";
Content-type: text/html

<html>
<head>
<title>Error: No Recipient</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor=#FFFFFF text=#000000>
<center>
<table border=0 width=600 bgcolor=#9C9C9C>
<tr><th><font size=+2>Error: No Recipient</font></th></tr>
</table>
<table border=0 width=600 bgcolor=#CFCFCF>
<tr><td>No Recipient was specified in the data sent to FormMail. Please
make sure you have filled in the 'recipient' form field with an e-mail
address. More information on filling in recipient form fields can be
found in the README file.<hr size=1>

<center><font size=-1>
<a href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/formmail.shtml">FormMail</a> V1.6 © 1995 - 1997 Matt Wright<br>
A Free Product of <a href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/">Matt's Script Archive, Inc.</a>
</font></center>
</td></tr>
</table>
</center>
</body>
</html>
(END ERROR HTML)
}

elsif ($error eq 'missing_fields') {
if ($Config{'missing_fields_redirect'}) {
print "Location: $Config{'missing_fields_redirect'}\n\n";
}
else {
foreach $missing_field (@error_fields) {
$missing_field_list .= " <li>$missing_field\n";
}

print <<"(END ERROR HTML)";
Content-type: text/html

<html>
<head>
<title>Error: Blank Fields</title>
</head>
<center>
<table border=0 width=600 bgcolor=#9C9C9C>
<tr><th><font size=+2>Error: Blank Fields</font></th></tr>
</table>
<table border=0 width=600 bgcolor=#CFCFCF>
<tr><td>The following fields were left blank in your submission form:<p>
<ul>
$missing_field_list
</ul><br>

These fields must be filled in before you can successfully submit the form.<p>
Please use your browser's back button to return to the form and try again.<hr size=1>
<center><font size=-1>
<a href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/formmail.shtml">FormMail</a> V1.6 © 1995 - 1997 Matt Wright<br>
A Free Product of <a href="http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/">Matt's Script Archive, Inc.</a>
</font></center>
</td></tr>
</table>
</center>
</body>
</html>
(END ERROR HTML)
}
}
exit;
}



yes it does look complicate but it really isn;t. specify your form in the html:

<form name="whatever" method="post" action="scripts/formmail.cgi">

you will then need a few hidden values like:

<INPUT type=hidden name="recipient" value="[email protected]">
<INPUT type=hidden name="redirect" value="http://www.myserver.com/done.htm">
<INPUT type=hidden name="subject" value="Comments"><INPUT type=hidden name="required" value="name,email,questions/comments">
<INPUT type=hidden name="env_report" value="REMOTE_HOST,HTTP_USER_AGENT">

hope this helps!!!




------------------
"There are two steps to success: 1. Never tell everything you know 2. See #1"