Creating an HTML enquiry form

[Rocket Rab]

Dear Techies,

Having seriously frazzled my nerves until 2 am last night, unsuccessfully trying to email myself an HTML enquiry form I want to set up on my website, I'm hoping you can help....

Here's the problem:
I have created a form (not worried about the content right now), but I can't get the SEND function working.

I think this is mainly because I use AOL

I wanted to use a simple HTML "mailto:xxxx.com" instruction, for example, but this merely brings up an empty Email window instead of sending the form data.

So I believe you have to use a CGI form handler?
My own Web host didn't seem to have any info on the right script to use, so I opted for a free Internet form handler service (free-cgi.com).

To cut a long story short: it works, I think, but anyone filling out the form is led by an extra 'Now check your form page' - (with a few ads...) - and I am worried that users may not notice/hit the second Submit button...

Could anyone test the link, please:
http://www.iledereholidayhomes.com/contact.html ?

And if anyone has any great ideas for getting my form to work like any other form (just one Submit), or with simple mailto: instruction, I'm all ears (and they're biggies....)

Really looking forward to hearing from you..

Rab

[Big Sis..]

Hi Rabbitt,

I have sent an enquiry,
but I think youre right it is confusing,
and i wouldnt have neccessarily seen the second button,

I would have thought it had been sent already.

How some Techy Folks will be able to help.

Take Carexx

[Big Sis..]

Hi Rabbitt ,

Im glad you got the enquiry I do see the problem you have.

You know how I am about Tech stuff. But if your looking for an enquiry that even the simplest of people can understand Im your man!!

But did you consider changing the 1st button to Next or Continue..[instead of Submit.]

then the enquirer wont think that the enquiry has been sent..and look for the second button.

Submit might make them think that was it.

This might help at least in the meantime until the clever cloggs can help.

Take carexx

[greenfrog]

I just tried and it worked just fine! I didn't get a second "check your form" or anything page.
perhaps you've tweaked something in the past few mins?

ps - the 7 children was just to make you smile (or shriek...) if the form wasn't working!!

[greenfrog]

This is bizarre - when I clicked on the link in your first posting, it worked just fine ( you have a "send" button on it).

Then, just now, I went to your site and tried but got what you were talking about....
(the send button is gone and you have "continue")

Perhaps if you can revert to / use the send button as set up in \contact2 it would work?

[Rocket Rab]

Hi there, Greenfrog, good to see you hopping by.

Slight (big) hitch - it looks hunky-dory, but unfortunately I'm not getting any form data at my end so there's something major wrong somewhere! You clicked on the link above, didn't you?

If you try via Contact on the website, www.iledereholidayhomesATcom/contact.html you should be redirected via the extra (unwanted!) page....[EDIT: Sorry, had two different links there....they are now one and the same..and you will get that pesky page...]

Luckily, though, a kindly LMH techie (he knows who he is, don't you, e-Rich?) has taken pity on me and has promised to unravel the code (and he's on holiday, too, how kind is THAT?!)

A big thanks to all other testers - LV, GG - and special mention to Ros who came up with the simple, but brilliant, idea of renaming the initial SEND button to CONTINUE (making things less confusing..

RR (still working on it...)

[vrooje]

RR,

Who is your web host? Do you know if they allow you to use PHP? If that's the case, I can adapt my own inquiry form handler and send you a copy of it, and then you'll have your own and won't have to worry about ads or intermediate pages.

If they only allow CGI or perl, I have a mailform script from the old days too, which I could also e-mail.

Though I know e-richard is certainly capable of this too! How sweet of him to help while he's on vacation.

[Rocket Rab]

Hi Vrooje,

I'm with UK Web Solutions Direct and, yes, I believe they do allow php. So your solution sounds deliciously simple - can you do that, please? The problem then, I think, is that my attempt at a php file is sadly threadbare...that is where I'm hoping Richard will come in (when he has hauled himself out of the swimming pool, of course )

Rab (living - um, not much - and learning - a lot )

[Rocket Rab]

Prog report: not a man to be beaten by a bit of coding, e-Richard is about to come up with the goods...more tomorrow! (And thanks all! Phew, all this excitement has me whacked!)

RR

[vrooje]

Ah, I've just sent you my code!

Looks like e-Richard and I are competing!

[Rocket Rab]

Prog report......cont'd.....and indeedy, our woman 'over there' has come up with the goods as well!! Thanks to you lightning techies, I have code and enquiry forms flying everywhere So to e-Rich sipping G+T in the Algarve, and Vrooje slaving away in some office (???), a mega thank you and see ya all tomorrow

RR

[e-richard]

Ah, I've just sent you my code!

Looks like e-Richard and I are competing!

Wellllll, if truth be told, the code that I sorted for RR was actually hacked from some code that Brooke originally wrote and I have re-hacked many times since!

Its been a real learning curve for me, and I did want to thank Brooke for so kindly sharing with us in the past and thus allowing her pupils to become her competitors

[Rocket Rab]

Its been a real learning curve for me...

Tell me about it!

But we (=you!) have cracked it...yay! For those who are curious, it goes something like this:

- set up your enquiry form and direct it to a .php file: this kind of thing:
<FORM METHOD=POST ACTION="thankyou.php">

Then make your .php file (I came unstuck long before this, btw ).
The php file contains all sorts of magic coding to retrieve your form data and send them to your email.

It would have been an impossible task on my own. Like climbing Mont Blanc in flip-flops, or fitting fifty changeovers into one Saturday... So I'd like to say a paltry but very big thank you to one and all for so generously sharing your time, skills and code with me - e-Richard and Brooke in particular

[greenfrog]

Glad to hear you're hopping happy again.

(the explanation was all gobbledygook to me but good to know it's on the forum now should I ever have a similar problem!)

ribbit!

[vrooje]

I must say, Richard, I really like the way you've formatted the output of the form data! Tabling it so that it's justified makes it look very professional. I've just been echoing back the actual content of the form message, but I think I'm going to steal that little tidbit from you. It looks great!

Now, RR, if you're up for it, we could try some javascript form validation, so that if someone forgets to enter their e-mail address/phone number, we can catch them before they submit the form and send you a useless e-mail...