submitting an enquiry form

[dbh_21]

i am a newbie and this is my first site. i have designed an enquiry form for my website but dont know how to make it functional (ie send the form to email after the client has filled it in)...

take a look at http://www.nickfordyoung.com/doitwithxs/enquiries.htm

thankyou in advance

[sypher]

Depending on wether you have a Windows or a Linux host you can use either PHP or ASP.

[dbh_21]

i think i have a windows host. what is the easiest way to have the enquiry form emailed to me? the original enquiry http://www.doitwithxs.com/enquiries.php uses php. does it have to use php? if so, for what reason? i thought i could do a simple html form which posts the reulsts to an email address, I just dont know how yet!

if i must use php, could you give me a quick (and basic) description of how to set it up and what i must do to make it work. thanks, much appreciated

[sypher]

Look in the php forum theres lots of threads on PHP's mail function.

Sending email

[minute44]

It is possible to do this without the use of PHP but it is wicked unreliable and depends on the user having an email client (Outlook, Oulook Express, Thunderbird etc) installed on their PC. I've used it and it blows.

The PHP method works server side and takes the contents of the form and puts it into a format determined by you using form entries to fill in blanks. for example you could get it to say:

Dear Webmaster,

_____________ has applied for the position of __________. They have left a contact telephone number of ____________ and their resume can be found at ___________________.

This is a much more sofisticated and user friendly way of doing email forms, it also means your email address isn't viewable to the public and spammers.

Like Sypher said, look in the PHP forum there will be loads of solutions in there.

Dan.

[dbh_21]

sounds good to me! does this mean i have to do the whole site in php? or just the one enquiry page?

[sypher]

Just the one page.

[dbh_21]

so, i recreate the page in php format? can i copy paste the html into the php page from the current one. if so, then what? what do i put in for 'action'
...?

[sypher]

just open it up on notepad, save as
nameofpage.php

Make sure to put .php at the end of the name.

It depends if your using a seperate page for php to handle your mail or if your using your current one. Post the code your gonna be using.

[dbh_21]

sorry, im totally lost. i have opened a new php document in dreamweaver and pasted in the code form the old enquiries page so it looks the same. Is this ok? If so, whats next?

[sypher]

Now you need to add the php.

it works like this:
By pressing submit on your form the data of each field will be passed between pages, meaning the php page which received the form data can then use that data to do whatever it wants.

One of php's functions is called the mail() function.

Ill post the php code you need and explain what each part does in the post you made at the php forum.

[ukgeoff]

Hi Folks,

This person has also posted in the php forum where, I hope, I've set him on the right track.