Using the mailto
Script
Options
EarthLink's mailto
script has many more features in addition to the ones you are
already familiar with. We will cover these features on this page
in a FAQ format.
Can I change the return email address from mailto_cgi@cgibuilder.com
to something else?
Can I change the default subject of the
data that is emailed to me?
Is it possible to have data from my form
sent to multiple email adddresses?
How can I make my fields required?
What other error-checking
directives are available with the mailto script?
What order are the fields emailed in?
Can I have multiple
error-checking directives for a single field?
Can I specify more than one
field per CHECK directive?
Can I change the return email address from mailto_cgi@cgibuilder.com
to something else?
Yes, this can
be accomplished by using the FROMADDRESS
hidden field.
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="FROMADDRESS"
VALUE="user@domain.com">
where user@domain.com
is the email address you want to use.
You may also
wish to use the FROMADDRESS field as a
non-HIDDEN type so that users of your form can enter in their
email address and that would show up on the message that you
will receive. Here's an example
Email
Address:
<INPUT TYPE="TEXT"
NAME="FROMADDRESS" SIZE="20">
Can I change the default subject of the
data that is emailed to me?
Yes, you can
change the subject by using the SUBJECT hidden
field.
Example:
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="SUBJECT"
VALUE="Data From Form">
Replace
"Data From Form" with the subject you want to use.
You may also wish to unhide the SUBJECT
field and allow your users to enter the subject if you want.
Is it possible to have data from my form sent to
multiple email adddresses?
Yes, you can
send data from your form to multiple email addresses by
entering in multiple email addresses as the value of the
hidden field RECIPIENT separated by commas.
Example:
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="RECIPIENT"
VALUE="user1@domain.com,user2@domain.com,user3@domain.com">
where user1@domain.com,
user2@domain.com and user3@domain.com are the
addresses where you want data to be sent to.
How can I make my fields required?
Fields can be
made required by using the NOTBLANK
error-checking directive.
Example:
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:NOTBLANK:Field_Name">
replacing Field_Name
with the name of the field you want to be filled out before a
user can submit a form. To use the above mentioned
error-checking directive with multiple fields, you can
separate the field names with commas.
Example:
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:NOTBLANK:First_Name,Last_Name,Email_Address">
where First_Name,
Last_Name and Email_Address
are the names of the fields.
What other error-checking
directives are available with the mailto script?
Here is a list
of other error-checking directives and an explanation of each
one of them.
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:EMAIL:Email_Address">
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:PHONE:Phone_Number">
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:ZIP:ZIP_code">
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:NONUM:Name">
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:NOLETTER:Age_Range">
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:NUMONLY:Favorite_Number">
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN"
NAME="CHECK:LETTERONLY:State">
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:SELECT:Product"
Value="Select a Product">
Explanation:
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:EMAIL:Email_Address">
checks the
value entered for the field name Email_Address and
makes sure that it is in proper email address format. If it
is not, then the script will notify the user.
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:PHONE:Phone_Number">
verifies that
the value entered for the field Phone_Number is a
valid US telephone number format. This is the format that the
script will check for
[3 digit
area code] [3 digit prefix] [4 digit number] Ext.
[optional 2-6 digit extension]
Sample:
999 999 9999 Ext. 211 or (999) 999-9999 Ext. 211
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:ZIP:ZIP_Code">
verifies that
the value entered for the field ZIP_Code is a valid
US zip code. The script currently understands the simple 5
digit zip code plus the simple + 4 digit zip codes (Example:
99999-9999).
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:NOLETTER:Age">
verifies that
the value entered for the field Age does not contain
any letters. All other characters are allowed.
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:NUMONLY:Favorite_Number">
verifies that
the value entered for the field Favorite_Number
contains numbers only.
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:LETTERONLY:State">
verifies that
the value entered for the field State contains only
letters.
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:SELECT:Product"
Value="Select a Product">
verifies that
the value selected for the field Product is not the
same as what you specify in the Value. For the above line, if
a user leaves the value of the field Product as
"Select a Product", the script will notify
the user to select a different value.
What order are the fields emailed in?
When you
receive data from your forms, the fields are in the exact
same order as they appear in the form. If you wish to change
the order of the fields coming from the form, then you may
prepend numbers like 0-Field_Name1, 1-Field_Name2,
3-Field_Name3... on the field
names and add this email-formatting directive on your form
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="ALPHA_SORT"
VALUE="">
Can I have multiple
error-checking directives for a single field?
Yes. We'll
illustrate this with an example. Let's make a field called Email
required and have the script verify that it is in the proper
email address format.
Email
Address:
<INPUT TYPE="TEXT"
NAME="Email" SIZE="20">
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN"
NAME="CHECK:NOTBLANK:Email">
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN"
NAME="CHECK:EMAIL:Email">
Can I specify more than one field per CHECK
directive?
Yes you can,
except for the SELECT directive. Here's an example that makes
the fields First_Name, Last_Name and Email_Address
required.
<INPUT
TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="CHECK:NOTBLANK:First_Name,Last_Name,Email_Address">
Other Related Pages
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Script Basics
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