Form Setup for the E-Mail Form Handler


The instructions contained here are to setup an HTML form that will result in the variables and the values that are entered by the user being mailed to a given e-mail address or addresses.

There are five important pages:

  form pagea web page that defines the form with the fill-in blanks, etc. written using standard HTML constructs
 error pagean optional web page that is generated if any fields are required and the required fields have been left blank, the user is instructed to go back and complete the form; the form's contents are not submitted
 confirm pagean optional web page that is generated for the user upon submission of the form's contents to give a chance to review the information before final submission
 submitted pagea web page that is generated for the user upon successful submission of the form's contents
 e-mail messagethe list of the variables and their contents are posted to the designated e-mail address(es)


create the HTML form, use:
<form method="POST" action="https://services.swau.edu/formhandler/email/">
the process used is a form handler that takes all the information entered into the form and mails it to specified address(es)
 
specify e-mail address
<input type="hidden" name="recipient" value="e-mail_address">
multiple e-mail addresses may be specified by separating them with commas
specify e-mail subject
<input type="hidden" name="subject" value="subject_line">
the subject_line is what appears as the subject of the e-mail; it also appears on the tops of the error page, the confirm page (if used), the submitted page, and the first line of the e-mail message body
optionally, specify e-mail sender
<input type="hidden" name="sender" value="sender <e-mail_address>">
the sender can be any short message, the <e-mail_address> should be a legitimate address, a suggested one is <noreply@swau.edu>
 
optionally, specify required fields
<input type="hidden" name="required" value="list of input fields">
requires the variables to contain something before the form is accepted—if not, an error page is displayed
multiple fields are separated by commas
only the specific name="required" is used, not the formvar[ ] format (see below)
Note: multiple copies of this line may appear within the form; however, all occurrences must use ... name="required[]" ...
optionally, specify header message on the error page
<input type="hidden" name="error_header" value="message">
the message will appear on the error between the subject line and the required variable list
will be ignored if no list of required fields are specified
optionally, specify footer message on the error page
<input type="hidden" name="error_footer" value="message">
the message will appear on the error after the required variable list
will be ignored if no list of required fields are specified
 
optionally, specify a confirm page
<input type="hidden" name="user_confirm" value="submit message">
the confirm page will give the user the opportunity to review the entered data before final submission
the submit message appears on the confirm page submit button
Note, a confirm page will only be generated if the form includes this line
optionally, specify header message on the confirm page
<input type="hidden" name="confirm_header" value="message">
the message will appear on the confirm page (if used) between the subject line and the variable   value list
will be ignored if a confirmation is not specified
optionally, specify footer message on the confirm page
<input type="hidden" name="confirm_footer" value="message">
the message will appear on the confirm page (if used) after the variable   value list
will be ignored if a confirmation is not specified
 
optionally, specify header message on the submitted page
<input type="hidden" name="submit_header" value="message">
the message will appear on the submit page between the subject line and the variable   value list
optionally, specify footer message on the submitted page
<input type="hidden" name="submit_footer" value="message">
the message will appear on the submit page after the variable   value list
 
optionally, specify header message on the destination e-mail
<input type="hidden" name="email_header" value="message">
the message will appear on the destination e-mail between the subject line and the variable   value list
optionally, specify footer message on the destination e-mail
<input type="hidden" name="email_footer" value="message">
the message will appear on the destination e-mail after the variable   value list
 
optionally, specify fields to be suppressed
<input type="hidden" name="suppress" value="list of input fields">
if the user does not supply a value, then any field listed will not appear on the submitted page or the e-mail message
multiple fields are separated by commas
only the the specific name="suppress" is used, not the formvar[ ] format(see below)
Note: multiple copies of this line may appear within the form; however, all occurrences must use ... name="suppress[]" ...
 
specify input fields, as an example:
<input type="text" name="formvar[Name]">
all the normal field names are placed in: formvar[   ]
the name cannot contain spaces and cannot begin with a digit, most non-alphanumeric characters are not allowed except underscore and dash
optionally, specify a message that appears with the fields
<input type="hidden" name="formvar[message_XX]" value="message">
the variable name is not printed, only the value
all the variable names must be unique and must begin with message_
the text of the message entered will appear in the list of variables and values on the confirm page (if used), the submitted page, and the e-mail message
the message may include HTML commands which will be interpreted by the browser; indeed, to generate a single line space, use &nbsp; or <BR>
Note:   all formvar[ ] "variables" will appear on the confirm page (if used), the submitted page, and the e-mail message in the order they occur in the original Form page

9 Aug 04