Blacksburg Electronic Village: Help

Community Connections

Detailed Form Instructions

Forms processing is available for Arts and Community Connections customers. In order to use our forms processing script you will need to use the following syntax:

Those users who are not as familiar with HTML may wish to view a simplified version of the following instructions when their first form. See Simplified Instructions (http://www.bev.net/help/connections/scripts.php).

The following instructions will assist you in using the form. Please remember to substitute the following domain names wherever the instructions refer to "http://www.yourdomain.com".

If you are a Community Connections customer:
http://civic.bev.net/YOUR_FILEBOX_NAME/
If you are an Arts Connections customer:
http://arts.bev.net/YOUR_FILEBOX_NAME/

Note: The form will not work from your computer at home or any other remote location. The form must reside in your filebox on the BEV Arts or Civic Servers.
Please see formtest.html for a working example of the form script. See also:

ccexample.txt to view the source code for most of the features of the form for use on the civic server.
artsexample.txt to view the source code for most of the features of the form for use on the arts server.

Basic Features

Basic parameters include the hidden input fields name "to", "next_url", "subject", "cc", and "bcc".

Reserved Word: "to"

The input parameter "to" tells what email address(es) to email the form. You may use multiple email addresses by separating them with a comma. Typically the value will be your email address.

Important Note:
You must send BEV any email addresses you would like the submitted form information to go to. For example, if you would like for the submitted form to go to three different email addresses, such as you@yourdomain.com, addy2@anydomain.com, and addy3@anydomain.com, then you would need to send these three email addresses to the BEV in order for your form to work. This is necessary in order to counter possible exploits by spammers.

Reserved Word: "next_url"

The input parameter "next_url" tells what url to call after the form is submitted. You must use the full url. Typically, this will be the full url to your thank you page, which you would want to tell the person in your own style and words that the form was submitted successfully and anything else you might want to say or do.

Reserved Word: "subject"

The input parameter "subject" tells the email script what the subject of the email message is to be.

You may print the value of an input parameter by providing its name in the following form: #Input Tag Name#. The example

will print the value of the submitted input field named "Name" in the subject heading.

Reserved Word: "cc"

The input parameter "cc" tells the email script who to carbon copy the email message. Separate multiple email addresses with a comma.

Reserved Word: "bcc"

The input parameter "bcc" tells the email script who to blind carbon copy the email message. Separate multiple email addresses with a comma.

Checking for Required Input

These parameters allow you to check to make sure certain input fields are submitted before anything is emailed. You may specify the required fields and specify the url to give if fields are not completed so that you may give further instructions at this url.

Reserved Word: "required"

The input parameter "required" tells the email script what input names on the form are required not to be blank for correct submission. These input names must be identical and separated with a comma. Input names may contain spaces and you may add a space after the comma.

Reserved Word: "required_url"

The input parameter "required_url" tells the email script what url to give next if the required input specified by "required" are blank. This must be a full url, typically to your website. You should tell the submitter in your own words and style what input is needed for correct submission. You typically want a link back to the form or instruct the person to go back one url using their browser so that their completed form thus far is still intact.

Security Features

I hope you never will have to use this, but I have provided this feature anyway if someone is sending you spam through your form.

Reserved Word: "ignore_ip"

You may provide the remote host address or remote host name in this field if you wish to have the email script to ignore submissions from a host. This will help if anyone is bothering you. You may use the wildcard "*" instead of a number or name in any part. You could ignore everyone from a commercial computer if you wish.

Autoresponse Feature

These input tags allow you specify an autoresponse message. Only the first input tag is required. The rest of the tags allow you to further customize your autoresponse feature into a higher quality one.

Reserved Word: "autoresponse"

This input parameter "autoresponse" tells the email script that you wish to automatically email a reply to the submitter of the the form. The autoresponse will include all the contents of the submitted form similiar to what you see. In addition, it automatically prints a message. You may use the following values.

thank_you - tells the submitter to review the what was submitted.
verify - tells the submitter to send an email to verify submission.
generic - very brief message.
custom - no automatic message provided unless provided by "autoresponse_hidden" input tags. this will include the contents of the form.

This is the only input tag necessary for autoresponses, but you may wish to customize it further with the follow input tags.

Reserved Word: "autoresponse_name"

This input parameter "autoresponse_name" tells the email script to to set the email header "From:" to include the name you specify as the value.

You may print the value of an input parameter by providing its name in the following form: #Input Tag Name#. The example

will print the value of First Name submitted as the name of who the autoresponse is from in the header.

Reserved Word: "autoresponse_email"

This input parameter tells the email script to set the email header "Reply-to:" to the custom email address(es) provided as the value instead of the default email addresses specified in who the email is sent to. Separate multiple email addresses with a comma.

Reserved Word: "autoresponse_subject"

This input parameter tells the email script to set the email header "Subject:" to the custom value of this input tag instead of the default subject heading.

You may print the value of an input parameter by providing its name in the following form: #Input Tag Name#. The example

will print the value of First Name submitted in the email autoresponse subject heading.

Reserved Word: "autoresponse_verbose"

This input parameter tells the email script to suppress including the contents of the submitted form in the autoresponse email message.

Reserved Word: "autoresponse_hidden"

This input parameter tells the email script to provide the value in the body of the autoresponse email message. This allows you to customize the autoresponse message. You may include multiple tags for multiple lines. Provide a value of " " to print a blank line.

You may print the value of an input parameter by providing its name in the following form: #Input Tag Name#. The example

will print the value of First Name submitted and a comma on one line of the the email message.

Reserved Input Tags within the Form

There are also other input fields that you may wish to use in your form. These allow the submitter to provide their name and and return email address to you in the email header (so that you can automatically reply to the message by email) and to allow you to format the contents of the form when its emailed to you.

Reserved Word: "hidden"

This tag will tell the email script to print its value without printing its name "hidden:" in the email that is emailed to you and in autoresponses. The value "hr" has special meaning and will print a horizontal rule, around 70 dashes.

Reserved Word: "Email" or "E-mail"

<input name="Email"> Email Address

Any input field with this name will provide its value as the return email address in the email message header. Case is ignored meaning that you may use capital letters if you wish. The email script checks to make sure an valid email address is provided. If it is not, "[Invalid]" will appear as the persons name in the "From:" email header and the "Reply-to" field will be set to the hidden input field "to" as a means of sending the email back to sender.

Reserved Word: "Name"

<input name="Name"> Name

Any input field with this name will provide its value as who the email message is from in the email message header. Case is ignored meaning that you may use capital letters if you wish.