Mailform FAQs

This page is the beginning of an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for the mailform program.

  1. Where is the back end mailform script located?
    There is a back-end mailform script located at http://www2.ucsc.edu/its/cgi-bin/mailform which will process forms hosted in either the ucsc.edu or ucolick.org domains. If your form resides elsewhere, you (or your ISP) will need to install it on your own server.
  2. Can I send a copy of the mail to the person filling out the form?
    Yes. Insert the hidden variable mailform-confirm in your form, like this:
      <input name="mailform-confirm" type="hidden" value="yes">
    
    If you do so, be sure to also have a visible text input tag named E-mail where people can enter their email address.
  3. Can I find out which page people are coming from?
    Use the hidden variable mailform-environment to list any of the environment variables known to the mailform script. To see the page people are coming from, insert the line:
      <input name="mailform-environment" type="hidden" value="HTTP_REFERER">
    
    You can put more than one variables in the value field. Other values people often like to monitor are: REMOTE_HOST, REMOTE_ADDR, HTTP_USER_AGENT.
  4. Can I send the form results to multiple people at the same time?
    You can do so by entering more than one addresses in the hidden variable mailform-notify. Use commas to separate the addresses; for example:
      <input name="mailform-notify" type="hidden" value="name1@address1, name2@address2">
    
  5. Can I use a separate reply page?
    You can do so by entering the URL of your reply page in the hidden variable mailform-reply instead of entering a reply message. For example:
      <input name="mailform-reply" type="hidden"
        value="http://www.your.domain/path/to/replypage.html">
    
  6. Can I save the data into a file?
    Yes, use the hidden variable mailform-file to specify where to save the data, and mailform-csv to save it in CSV (Comma Separated Values) format to make it easy to import in a spreadsheet. The web server must be authorized to write into the directory where the data file is to be saved (but do not save the data under any public_html directory). For example:
       <input name="mailform-file" type="hidden" value="/afs/cats.ucsc.edu/www/unitname/datadir/datafile.csv">
       <input name="mailform-csv" type="hidden" value="yes">
    
  7. How can I prevent bogus form submissions?
    Use the hidden variable mailform-captcha, and the submitter will have to respond to a captcha before sending the form.
      <input name="mailform-captcha" type="hidden" value="yes">
    
  8. How can I order the fields in the mail message?
    The order fo the fields reflects the original order of the fields as they are sent out by the browser of the person filling out the form (i.e. the order is browser dependent), but most browsers send them out from top to bottom. If you need a more consistent order, use the hidden variable mailform-sortkeys, and number your fields starting with 001-name, and they will appear in order.
      <input name="mailform-sortkeys" type="hidden" value="yes">
    
    There is a similar hidden variable mailform-sortvalues to sort values within a field if a field occurs multiple times.