Information Technology Services

The Formmail CGI is a forms processor that emails the contents of a web form to a specified recipient(s). To use the "formmail.cgi" program on the NDSU web server, the form that is calling the program must also be on the NDSU web server.

Use the following instructions to incorporate the Formmail CGI script into your forms. In each section you will find instructions on how to use Dreamweaver to accomplish each task, and you will also find the HTML coding that would result.

Insert a Form into your Web Page:

First of all, you must invoke the Formmail CGI program by including the following line in your web file's HTML code:
<FORM action="http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/cgi-bin/formmail.cgi" method="POST">

For those of you who "don't do HTML," you can accomplish the same thing using Dreamweaver by inserting your cursor where you want the form to start and choosing INSERT > FORM. A box will appear on your screen, and the Properties window will change. In the Properties window, enter "http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/cgi-bin/formmail.cgi" into the ACTION box, and leave the METHOD as POST. All of the form's fields must reside within this box.

Insert the Recipients Field:

There is only one required field, the "Recipients" field, in which you specify the person or persons who will receive the results of the submitted web form. To add the "recipients" field to your form, place your cursor inside the form box and choose INSERT > FORM OBJECT > HIDDEN FIELD. In the changed Properties window set NAME to be "recipient" and VALUE to be the full email address of the person(s) who will receive the form results. If entering multiple recipients, separate each email address with a comma but not an extra space.

Please note that you can only use "@ndsu.edu" email addresses in this field. If the recipient normally uses a different email, such as Groupwise, he/she will have to use a "@ndsu.edu" email address here and then set the NDSU email address to automatically forward all mail to the Groupwise email address. (You can set the forwarding of your email on the http://enroll.nodak.edu site.)

The resulting HTML coding for the recipient field will look like:
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="recipient" VALUE="your.name@ndsu.edu">

Insert Optional Fields as Needed:

The following fields are not required, but may make your form and its results more effective. Please note that fields that are not "hidden" should have Labels so that the user will know what goes into the field. Example: Before the email field, you might display "Please enter your email address here:"

1. SUBJECT - The subject field will allow you to specify the subject that you wish to appear in the e-mail that is sent to you after this form has been filled out. If you do not have this option turned on, then the script will default to a message subject: WWW Form Submission.
   To add a "Subject" field in Dreamweaver, place your cursor inside the form box and choose INSERT > FORM OBJECTS > HIDDEN FIELD. In the Properties window set NAME to be "subject" and VALUE to be whatever you want the subject of the email to be. The HTML equivalent is:
   <INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="subject" VALUE="The subject of your email goes here">
   
2. EMAIL - This form field will allow the user to specify their return e-mail address. If you want to be able to return e-mail to your user, I strongly suggest that you include this form field and allow them to fill it in. This will be put into the From: field of the message you receive.
   To add an "Email" field in Dreamweaver, place your cursor inside the form box and choose INSERT > FORM OBJECT > TEXTFIELD. In the Properties window set TEXTFIELD to be "email" and verify that the type is "single line."
   The HTML equivalent is: <input name="email" type="text" id="email">
   
3. REALNAME - The realname form field will allow the user to input their real name. This field is useful for identification purposes and will also be put into the From: line of your email message header.
   To add the "realname" field in Dreamweaver, place your cursor inside the form box and choose INSERT > FORM OBJECTS > TEXTFIELD. In the Properties window set TEXTFIELD to be "realname" and verify that the type is "single line."
   The HTML equivalent is: <input type=text name="realname">
   
4. REDIRECT - After the visitor submits your form, you normally send them a web page that thanks them for their participation and assures them that the submitted information was received. If you wish to redirect the user to a custom page, rather than having them see the default response page, you can use this hidden variable to send them to your "Thank-you" page.
   To add a "redirect" field in Dreamweaver, place your cursor inside the form box and choose INSERT > FORM OBJECTS > HIDDEN FIELD. In the Properties window set NAME to be "redirect" and VALUE to be the complete URL of your custom response page, including the "http://" at the beginning of the URL.
   The HTML equivalent is:
   <input type=hidden name="redirect" value="http://www.ndsu.edu/ndsu/??/??.html">
   
5. REQUIRED - You can require certain fields in your form to be filled in before the user can successfully submit the form. Simply place all field names that you want to be mandatory into this field, separated by commas. If the required fields are not filled in, the user will be notified of what they need to fill in, and a link back to the form they just submitted will be provided.
   To add a "required" field in Dreamweaver, place your cursor inside the form box and choose INSERT > FORM OBJECTS > HIDDEN FIELD. In the Properties window set NAME to be "required" and VALUE to be the comma- separated list of fields that are required.
   The HTML equivalent is: <input type=hidden name="required" value="email,realname"> (Your list of required fields may vary from this example!
   
6. SORT - This field allows you to choose the order in which you wish for your variables to appear in the e-mail that FormMail generates. You can choose to have the field sorted alphabetically or specify a set order in which you want the fields to appear in your mail message. By leaving this field out, the order will usually be the same order as they appeared in the form.
   To add a "sort" field in Dreamweaver, place your cursor inside the form box and choose INSERT > FORM OBJECTS > HIDDEN FIELD. In the Properties window set NAME to be "sort". If you want to sort by a set field order, VALUE will start out as "order:" followed by the field names separated by commas. If you want to sort the fields alphabetically, insert the form as described above, but set VALUE equal to "alphabetic".
   The HTML equivalent is:
   To sort alphabetically: <input type=hidden name="sort" value="alphabetic">
   To sort by a set field order: <input type=hidden name="sort" value="order:name1,name2,etc...">
7. Note that in your particular form, you'll add other fields according to the purpose of your form for the data fields that you need.

Insert Advanced Fields, if You Wish:

There are more defined form fields available for the FormMail program that are not normally used. If you are interested in using these advanced fields, please link to the FormMail Advanced Fields page for further instructions.

Insert Submit and Clear Buttons:

At the bottom of your form, within the dotted form box, you will need to insert a Submit button, or your users will not be able to submit their data to you. You may also include a Clear button that clears all the answers from the fields, giving the user a fresh start to the form.
To add a button in Dreamweaver, place your cursor inside the form box at the end of the form and choose INSERT > FORM OBJECTS > BUTTON. In the Properties window, choose either "Submit form" or "Reset Form", depending on whether this is a submit button or a clear button. You can also change the LABEL that will appear on top of the button to something other than "submit" or "clear" if you wish. You can even specify a phrase such as "Send my answers."
The HTML equivalent is:
<INPUT TYPE="submit" NAME="Submit" VALUE="Submit Form">
<INPUT TYPE="reset" VALUE="Reset Form">
followed by the </form> tag.

Summary:

If you insert the typical amount of code explained below, you will have code like this at the start of your input fields:

<FORM action="http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/cgi-bin/formmail.cgi" method="POST">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="recipient" VALUE="your_name@ndsu.edu">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="subject" VALUE="The title of your email goes here">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="sort" VALUE="order:realname,email">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="required" VALUE="realname,email">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="missing_fields_redirect" VALUE="http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/directory/oops.htm">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="redirect" VALUE="http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/directory/thanks.htm">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="env_report" VALUE="REMOTE_ADDR,HTTP_USER_AGENT">

And code like this at the end of your input fields:

<INPUT TYPE="submit" NAME="Submit" VALUE="Submit Form">
<INPUT TYPE="reset" VALUE="Reset Form">
</FORM>

THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO IT!
If you need help getting this to work, email Nancy Lilleberg at nancy.lilleberg@ndsu.edu with your questions.