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How to set up a contact form?

Feedback forms can send e-mail through a form processor, such as soupermail.pl.

soupermail.pl is a highly customizable form handler with a long list of advanced features, including:

  • Email the contents of a form to one or more email addresses

  • Encrypt resulting emails

  • Copy the form email to the form's sender

  • Generate a unique reference number for each submission

  • Set certain form fields as required

  • Validate form fields

Call soupermail.pl as:

<form method="post" action="http://audited1-www.3dresearch.com/cgi-bin/soupermail.pl">

soupermail.pl is controlled by configuration files. Each form handled by soupermail.pl must have an associated configuration file. Important: soupermail.pl must be spelled in all lowercase.

Reserved field names. soupermail.pl assumes some form fields have special meanings. These are:

  • Email Assumed to be the email address of the form's sender. Needed if the email is to be copied to the sender, or you are using a sendertemplate. When soupermail.pl sends and email back, it will use the value of this field as the email's From: address.

  • SoupermailConf This is a path to the configuration file that controls soupermail.pl. The path to your configuration files should look like this:

    <input type="hidden" name="SoupermailConf" value="~your_username/private/config_file_name">

    Replace "your_username" and "config_file_name" with your real username and the filename of your configuration file; see the example below. While you can place your configuration files anywhere, it is a good idea to place it in your private directory so your configuration files could not be read by anyone through a web browser.

  • CGI variables CGI variables are set by the web server, and in some specific cases, Soupermail. These names should not be used as field names in your HTML forms.

soupermail.allow. For security reasons it is required to explicitly permit soupermail.pl to read configuration files. soupermail.pl will not read files in a directory unless the directory contains a file named "soupermail.allow". The "soupermail.allow" file does not need to contain anything, but must be present in the same directory where soupermail.pl configuration files are located.

Configuration file format and valid variable names. Soupermail is controlled by using configuration files. Each form handled by soupermail must have an associated configuration file.

Example form to be processed by soupermail.pl. In this example, username = fred, the form file's name is "feedback.html" and the configuration file's name is "feedback.con".

Step 1: In the form file "feedback.html" call as:

<form method="post" action="http://audited1-www.3dresearch.com/cgi-bin/soupermail.pl">

Step 2: In the form file "feedback.html" set the path to the configuration file "feedback.con":

<input type="hidden" name="SoupermailConf" value="~fred/private/feedback.con">

Set the other fields this form will send, such as your visitor's e-mail address:

<input type="text" name="Email" size="30">

Step 3: Set up the configuration file "feedback.con".

In this example the form's recipient is "fred@fred.com", the subject line is "Web inquiry", successful form submission displays the file "http://fred.com/thankyou.html", unsuccessful form submission displays the file "http://fred.com/sorry.html" and the "isemail" variable validates the entered e-mail address. Start a new file with Notepad (or SimpleText if you use a Mac) and enter:

mailto      : fred@fred.com
subject     : Web inquiry
gotofailure : http://fred.com/sorry.html
gotosuccess : http://fred.com/thankyou.html
isemail     : Email

Save this file as "feedback.con" in a plain text form.

Step 4: Create file "soupermail.allow". Start a new file with Notepad (or SimpleText if you use a Mac). Save the empty file as "soupermail.allow" in a plain text form.

Step 5: Upload your files. Upload "feedback.html" somewhere in the /htdocs directory tree. Upload "feedback.con" and "soupermail.allow" somewhere in the /private directory tree; make sure that the files "feedback.con" and "soupermail.allow" are in the same directory (such as /private/soupermail/).

Soupermail's full documentation can be found at http://soupermail.sourceforge.net.

 

Last modified 2006-03-02 00:45:37.

 

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