Help with Forms [Archive] - The Church Webmasters' Forum

CUGrad02

Tue., Mar. 8, 2005, 12:47 pm

I am new to using Dreamweaver. I am building a site for my church (blindly, I might add) and would like to use a form for the contact page. I don't know what I am doing wrong, but for some reason, when I do a test submit on the form, I never get the e-mail. I'm 99.9% sure that our host (Register.com) will handle forms. Does anyone know where I can find some step by step instructions or can provide instructions on doing forms? Obviously, the Dreamweaver books are not working for me.

Thanks in advance.

michelle

iamcam

Tue., Mar. 8, 2005, 9:41 pm

There are sites that will allow you to submit your form to their CGI email form processing scripts. Try http://www.response-o-matic.com/. I used to use them before I learned scripting. From what I remember, it's pretty straightforward.

Here's an example of a simple form like what you are talking about (I think it's all right - it's off the top of my head):
<html><body>
<form method="Post" action="me@example.com">
Name: <input type="text" name="name"><br>
Email: <input type="email" name="email"><br>
Message:<br>
<textarea name="body"></textarea><br>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit!">
</body></html>
The only drawback to a form that posts directly to email is that you+get+text+separated+by+addition+signs+rather+than+spaces+and+linebreaks.

crowsfan85

Thu., Mar. 10, 2005, 12:09 am

http://webreference.com/programming/php/phpemail/

You might also find some more useful examples of email forms by doing a google search for php email form: http://www.google.com/search?q=php+email+form

Good luck.

HansR

Wed., Mar. 16, 2005, 10:45 am

when I do a test submit on the form, I never get the e-mail. I'm 99.9% sure that our host (Register.com) will handle forms.

Hi Michelle,

I too am having a similar problem. I was having trouble with GoLive generated forms and coded several HTML forms myself. Although things seem to be working better, we still have received reports of them crashing. The GoLive User Guide states:

"Internet Explorer has problems using mailto:, se we don't recommend that an action include an e-mail address for sending the information. Due to this browser issue, we recommend using CGI scripts only to process forms."

Has anyone else heard of this IE mailto: issue?

Hans

David Gillaspey

Sat., Mar. 19, 2005, 11:11 pm

I ... would like to use a form for the contact page. ... for some reason, when I do a test submit on the form, I never get the e-mail.
Hi Michelle,

You probably already have your problem solved by now, but I'll reply anyway.

To be honest, I wasn't exactly sure what you were talking about, from the description of your problem. Possibly you want an HTML form to post directly to email. I didn't know this was possible, but apparently it is (judging from Cameron's response), so I defer to his expertise.

I only know about using scripting or programming to process form data in the background and send it in the body of an email to the webmaster, e.g., CGI form-processing scripts or PHP scripts. Other forum members already have mentioned this.

I could swear I already posted the following response to your question, but I don't see it anywhere on the forum now, so I must have been dreaming.

On my contact (feedback) page,

http://www.greatchurchwebsites.org/feedback.php

I use the Basic version of Ultimate Form Mail Script

http://www.surefirewebdesign.com/scripts/

written by Jack Born of Sure Fire Web Design in Jacksonville, Florida. The script requires PHP 4. The unlicensed version of the script is freeware, but with the restriction that it includes advertising. I bought the license for $12, which eliminates the advertising. A Pro version is also available for $45. Among other things, it allows you to store submissions in a MySQL database.

Anyway, this script works great, and Jack provides excellent support. The best part of it is, the script [I]automatically accommodates as few or as many fields ? text fields, radio buttons, popup menus, checkboxes, etc. ? as you care to include in your form. The instructions don't really make that clear, but it's a really nice feature.

While I was testing this, I recall having some problems when I as a test visitor entered the same email address as the email address to which the processed form data was to be emailed. So I encourage you to avoid doing that. You'll want to have a Yahoo-type (browser-based) email address along with a normal someone@some_domain.com-type address.

Sincerely,

David Gillaspey
President
Great Church Websites

youthman

Sun., Jan. 22, 2006, 10:23 pm

Here is a php script that I use with Golive CS for my forms.

Form2Mail (http://web4future.com/easiest-form2mail.htm)

It is easy to use. You just change about 3 - 4 things in the php script and the script does the rest.