Using PHP Form Mailers
Two non-CGI form mailers are included in Linux shared hosting account default files: webformmailer.php and gdform.php. They reside in the root directory of your hosting account. Incorporating either of these scripts into your Web site creates a form to capture user information and email it to a specified address.
For more information about designating the destination email address, see Specifying an Email Address for the PHP Form-Mailer.
Note: webformmailer.php is for use with accounts running Hosting Configuration 2.0, only. For information, see What functionality does Hosting Configuration 2.0 provide? and How do I upgrade my hosting account to run Hosting Configuration 2.0?
webformmailer.php
To Use webformmailer.php
- Create a Web form, assigning unique names to your form fields.
- In the form tag, assign
/webformmailer.phpto the action attribute and set the form method topost:
<form action="/webformmailer.php" method="post"> - In addition to the form fields you create, there are three hidden elements you can use.
form_format determines in what format the information is delivered. Its values are 'text', 'csv', 'html', 'xml', and 'default' (same as 'text').
form_order dictates in what order the fields are reported. Its values are 'default' (the same order as they appear on in the form), 'alpha' (alphabetized by field name) or a comma-separated, case-sensitive list of all or some field names.
form_delivery determines the frequency and packaging of deliver. To receive one email per form submission, the form_delivery values are 'default' (every 15 minutes), 'hourly', and 'daily'. To have receive all submissions in an attachment of one email, the form_delivery values are 'digest', 'hourly_digest', and 'daily_digest'.
For example:
<form action="/webformmailer.php" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="subject" value="Submission" />
<input type="hidden" name="redirect" value="thankyou.html" />
First Name: <input type="text" name="FirstName" />
Last Name :<input type="text" name="LastName" />
Email: <input type="text" name="email" />
Comments: <textarea name="comments" cols="40" rows="10">
Type comments here.</textarea>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit"/>
<input type="hidden" name="form_order" value="alpha"/> <input type="hidden" name="form_delivery" value="hourly"/> <input type="hidden" name="form_format" value="html"/> </form>
gdform.php
To Use gdform.php
- Create your Web form as normal and assign unique names to your form items.
- For the form action line, enter
/gdform.php. For example:<form action="/gdform.php" method="post"> - Set the form method to "post."
- In addition to the fields you create in your form, there are three special fields that you can use: subject, redirect, and email.
Subject. Controls the subject line in the form email.
Redirect. Controls the page that your visitors will see after they submit the form.
Email. Controls the return address for the form email.
For example:
<form action="/gdform.php" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="subject" value="Form Submission" />
<input type="hidden" name="redirect" value="thankyou.html" />
<p>First Name:<input type="text" name="FirstName" /></p>
<p>Last Name:<input type="text" name="LastName" /></p>
<p>E-Mail:<input type="text" name="email" /></p>
<p>Comments:<textarea name="comments" cols="40" rows="10">
Type comments here.</textarea></p>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit"/>
</form> - Save and upload your file to your hosting account.
NOTE: Keep in mind that our form-mailer script will sort the names of your form items alphabetically when it composes the email message. This is the order of precedence: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers.
For information on reinstalling your default scripts, see How Do I Reinstall the Default Scripts Directory?