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Setting up Matt's Script Archive Formmail in Microsoft FrontPage.

Prerequisites:

• You are on a Unix box. (Matt does have a list of ports to other operating systems; however, the instructions below may or may not be accurate for those ports).
• You have your own domain name. If you don't have one, you can edit the script to not make use of the @referers logic.
• You have the right to publish CGI scripts on your server.

Instructions:

1. Read Matt's Formmail instructions for general installation and use.
2. Edit the formmail.pl file using notepad or another text editor to modify the lines that contain the following:

   $mailprog = "/usr/lib/sendmail";
   @referers = ('worldwidemart.com','206.31.72.203');

   1. Check with your ISP as to where their sendmail program is located.
   2. Replace 'worldwidemart.com' with your domain name, and '206.31.72.203' with your domain's IP address.
3. Place the edited formmail.pl script in your FrontPage CGI-BIN directory.
4. From within FrontPage Explorer, switch to folder view, find your CGI-BIN directory on the left hand side, and right click on it.
   1. Select Properties.
   2. Make sure the "Allow scripts or programs to be run" check box is checked.

   Note: If you have FrontPage Extensions installed to your remote server, you will want to open your web live and do the above as well as doing it for any local copy you have on your system.

5. From within FrontPage Editor either bring up an existing page you wish wish to add email feedback to or create a new page.
6. Make sure you have your forms toolbar activated (View, Forms toolbar has a check mark next to it; if not, then select it).
7. Start making your form by adding those elements which you want to track.

   Examples:

   1. A subject text box to allow the person to state why they are writing to you.
   2. A comments scrolling text box to allow the person to write their thoughts.
   3. A email text box for the person to include their email address.
8. Include two push buttons at the end of the form.
9. Right click on the second push button, and give it a name and value of Reset, and select the Reset radio button.
10. Now, the tedious part. Right click on each field element you added, and select Form Field Properties.
    1. For each field's form field properties, give it a meaningful name that contains no spaces or non-alphanumeric characters.
    2. Modify the length (if applicable).
11. Right click within the form itself, and select Form Properties.
    1. Make sure the "Form Handler" is set to "Custom ISAP, NSAPI, or CGI Script"
    2. Under the "hidden fields" section of the tab, click on the add button.
    3. Type in "recipient" for the name, and enter the e-mail address you want the reply to go to in for the value
    4. If you wish to have a another page display on the browser after the user selects "submit" then create a hidden field with a name of "redirect" and a value of the complete URL of the page you wish to redirect the user.
    5. Other hidden fields you can add that modify how the form works or what information you can get are as follows: required, env_report, sort, print_config, title, return_link_url, return_link_title, background, bgcolor, text_color, link_color, vlink_color, and alink_color. For an explanation of these hidden fields and their usage, read Matt's Formmail instructions.
    6. Click on the "Settings Botton" next to "Form Handler" (in Form Properties. Enter the complete URL of the script in the action text box (example: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/formmail.pl).
    7. Make sure the method is set to Post.
12. Save your work.

Example of form in use:

Visit our Contact Form.

Problems?

1. Check out Matt's Formmail FAQ
2. A common CGI problem is the permissions for the scripts are not set to 755 (-rwxr-xr-x). If you can FTP or telnet into your server, do a "chmod 755 formmail.pl" on the server end to ensure the permissions are set correctly.

-- Peter Perchansky