Email Form Handler

The form handler available on the UAF web server is called email. This is a cgi (Common Gateway Interface) program that formats information from a form and emails it to an email address given in the form. When finished, it sends the user a screen telling them that the form has been submitted, and reports the information sent.

How to use the email form handler cgi

The cgi is called from within the <form> tag. The syntax should look like this:

<form action="http://cgis.uaf.edu/cgi-bin/email" method="post">

This handler requires at least three inputs to work. First, name  and mail  are required inputs. For example:

IF YOU WISH YOUR FORM TO BE ANONYMOUS, the name and mail inputs can either have the initial value set to anonymous, e.g. <input type="text" name="name" value="anonymous">, or these inputs can be hidden with a value set to anonymous; e.g. <input type="hidden" name="name" value="anonymous">

A hidden input called mailto is also required. The syntax for this is:

<input type="hidden" name="mailto" value="your email address goes here">

Form results can be sent to more than one email address by separating email addresses with a comma. PLEASE be careful of this - do not use this cgi as a general mailer.

The cgi formats input items into Name = Value pairs and sends the resulting message to an email address.

Formatting the form and the feedback

There are additional hidden inputs that will affect the return report to the user, after the form has been submitted.

name: formname
html coding:<input type="hidden" name="formname" value="your form name">
what it does: this is placed at the beginning of the email message to indicate which form is being handled. This allows the end user to distinguish which form is outputing the email, when there are multiple forms on a site. The formname can be no longer than 14 characters.

Name: nexturl
html coding:<input type="hidden" name="nexturl" value="http://a_url_on_your_site">
what it does: creates the url for a link that will appear on the submittal report the user gets after successfully submitting the form. Used with the nextdesc hidden input. Maximum length of url: 64 characters.

Name: nextdesc
html coding:<input type="hidden" name="nextdesc" value="Text that will be associated with the url that creates a link">
What it does: Creates the text for a link that will appear on the submittal report the user gets after successfully submitting the form. Used with the nexturl hidden input. Maximum length of description: 64 characters.

Name: redirurl
html coding:<input type="hidden" name="redirurl" value="url where you want the user sent">
What it does: Will redirect the user to an alternate thank you page on the departmental site when the form has been successfully submitted. This replaces the default "Information submitted" form created by the cgi, and the user will not have their input reported back to them. Maximum length of url: 64 characters.

Additional features

name: formsub
html coding: <input type="hidden" name="formsub" value="Subject of the form you are making">
What it does: Whatever is put in the value field of this input will appear as the subject in the email program that you use when you receive feedback from this form. Maximum length of subject: 64 characters.

Name: userhide
html coding: <input type="hidden" name="userhide">
What it does: By default, the user sees the submittal report upon submitting their answers on the form. Userhide turns this feature off - when used, the user will not see the answers they submitted on the default submittal report.

Name: errurl
html coding: <input type="hidden" name="errurl" value="http://some_url">
What it does: Adds this url as a link on the default error page, which will take the user to a page that you make up, explaining what items are required in your form, and why.

Name:R- (added before any input name)
html coding: <input type="text" name="R-phone">
What it does: This command at the beginning of any named input allows the web developer to make that input required. In the example above, phone is now required. The form cannot be submitted without something in the phone textbox.

Name: H- (added before any input name)
html coding: <input type="text" name="H-street_address">
What it does: Similar to userhide, this turns off specific inputs, rather than all inputs in the form. The example above would not return the input street_address in the submittal report following submission of the form.

Name: X- (added before any input name)
html coding: <input type="text" name="X-job_title">
What it does: This combines both the R- and H- command: it makes an input both required and hidden from the user after form submission. In the example above, it would make the input job_title required, and would hide the results from the user on the submittal report page.

Name: formdir
html coding: <input type="hidden" name="formdir" value="SDE"> ( any combination of the following letters,, depending on what you want.) Maximum length: 8 characters.
What it does:

S will sort your Name = Value pairs by name, with the required fields first.

D will report the name and mail pairs at the beginning of the message, but remove any name and mail = value pair duplicates further down in the email.

E will not report fields left empty by the user.

A will omit the lines in the beginning of the message which identify the sender. This permits true anonymity on a form. When combined with D, this will leave all indication of the sender out
of the message. At this time, this does not turn off the requirement for a value in the name and mail fields, but they can be stuffed with dummy values in hidden fields in the form so that the user doesn't see them.

N will omit the entire introduction in the beginning of the message, leaving only the Name = Value pairs. This option is handy for creating messages which can be used as data entry for another program (like a database).

T will replace the equal sign in the Name = Value pairs by a tab character. This option combined with the N option allows the email message to be used as a tab-delimited data file.

For an example of how to use the updated email CGI, you may refer to the emailtest document. Be sure to examine the source html file.