WEB EDITOR SPECIAL PAGES Mailto Form

Overview

The Mailto Form (also called Custom Form in old versions) is a feedback form that visitors can fill in, and after submit the form will be processed by visitor's default e-mail client, or by server application (CGI) or any other custom script.

Basics

The Mailto Form contains some or all of the fields available in your Contacts database. After user fills out the form, he uses the SEND button to send the form content as a formatted message.

By default, the Custom Form content is sent via the visitor's default e-mail client (such as Outlook Express, Eudora, Netscape Messenger etc) to the email address specified in Request Settings panel. Note that this will be only possible if the visitor have an e-mail client installed on his computer.

You can also set the form to be processed by server application (CGI), or any other custom script using the GET or POST methods.

You can add a Memo field to your Contacts database and use it like a message box in the form.

Request Page Settings

The following properties are available in the Request Page Settings panel for both Catalog and Contacts Custom Form:

MAIN

• E-Mail (text box) - If you want to send the form via visitor's e-mail client, type here the e-mail address it should be sent to. Otherwise, you can leave this box empty.
• Subject (text box) - If you send the form via visitor's e-mail client, this option sets the e-mail subject.
• Form Email Field (text box) - If you send the form via visitor's e-mail client, this field should contain the email field name as it is in the form.

Change the default value in this field, only if you have changed the email field name in the Mailto Form.

• Sender's email address in 'From' (check box) - Enable this checkbox if you want to use visitor's email address as 'From' address when sending the form via visitor's e-mail client. Note, that this option is not supported on all servers.
• Disable CSS (check box) - This will disable template CSS style for form fields, and standard html form fields will be used instead.

ACTION

• Redirect Url (text box) - Type Url to which the browser will navigate visitors after the form has been submitted. If you want to type here url of internal page, use Url button to select the page.
• Not Valid Msg. (text box) - Type the message that will be displayed when visitor fills invalid email address.
• Use Custom Form Script (check box) - Enable this checkbox if you want to use custom script to process the form.
• Method (combo box) - In case you want to use CGI application or any other custom script to process the form, you need to specify method to pass the data - GET or POST. If you are not sure about this setting, please contact the CGI application provider for more information. (This option is only available when the 'Use Custom Form Script' checkbox is checked)
• Action (text box) - In case you want to use CGI application or any other custom script to process the form, specify here the script URL. (This option is only available when the 'Use Custom Form Script' checkbox is checked)
• EncType (combo box) - Sets the data format used to send the form. Unless you have specific request for data format from the CGI application provider, the default value is acceptable for most forms. (This option is only available when the 'Use Custom Form Script' checkbox is checked)
• OnSubmit (text box) - This property allows you to type a custom script to be executed when the user submits the form. This is an experts only feature. If you are a novice user, it is highly recommended to leave this box empty, as it may cause your web page to display improperly. (This option is only available when the 'Use Custom Form Script' checkbox is checked)
• Name (text box) - Define Form name here. If you leave this box empty, default form name ('frm') is used. (This This option is only available when the 'Use Custom Form Script' checkbox is checked)
• Target (text box) - TARGET indicates which frame in a set of frames to send the results to. (This option is only available when the 'Use Custom Form Script' checkbox is checked)
• Events (text box) - Defines custom form event. (This option is only available when the 'Use Custom Form Script' checkbox is checked)

Accessible Fields and Special Objects

You can insert form controls for any field in your Contacts/Catalog database (the black buttons in the Fields panel),for example, create a text box for a text field, check box for a boolean field etc.

The following special objects are accessible in the Request page:

• Submit Button - Creates an image button "send", which sends the form content (through the visitor's e-mail client or to a CGI application). The following initialization properties are available: Caption (text box) - Lets you set the button caption.
• Reset Button - Inserts an image button "reset", which clears all contents in the web form. The following initialization properties are available: Caption (text box) - Lets you set the button caption.
• Hidden Field - Allows you to add hidden fields to your form. Hidden fields are not visible or accessible to the site visitors, but can be used to pass certain data, for example, the page from where the form was sent, or to help you to categorize the information when you receive it. The following initialization properties are available: Name (text box) - Lets you set the field name; Value (text box) - Sets the field value.
• Custom Field - Allows you to add custom fields to your custom form page. Custom fields are fields not connected to contacts/catalog database. Use custom field to create more advanced forms. The following field types are available: Text, Memo, Listbox, Checkbox, Radio, File, Button, Date and Password. When you insert custom field you have to set Caption, Name, Type and Value. Use the Required checkbox if you want to set the custom field as required.
• Default Submit Button - Creates standard HTML submit button "send", which sends the form content (through the visitor's e-mail client or to a CGI application). The following initialization properties are available: Caption (text box) - Lets you set the button caption.
• Default Reset Button - Inserts standard HTML rest button "reset", which clears all contents in the web form. The following initialization properties are available: Caption (text box) - Lets you set the button caption.
• Nopagefooter - Inserts NOFOOTERONPAGE macros in current page, which means that footer will not be appended on this page. See Macros.
• Tell a Friend - This object generates link to Tell a Friend page.