HTML Enquiry Form - Sending formatted email.

[TheEnigma]

Can anyone help me please?

I took some code off of a web site to use when someone uses the HTML enquiry form I have on my web site. When someone enters all the information in the fields on the form and presses the submit button, an e-mail is sent with the information from the form.

The first problem is that the information was still going through a portion of the site that I took the code from, and was coming up with their thank you page. It was also showing up with their e-mail address when it arrived in my inbox.

The second problem is that now it isn't even working at all.

The code I took from their web site was:

<title>New Enquiry</title>
<meta http-equiv=&quot;Content-Type&quot; content=&quot;text/html; charset=iso-8859-1&quot;></head>
<form method=&quot;POST&quot; action=&quot;

http://www.essex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/do.replyform.pl&quot;>

<input type=&quot;hidden&quot; name=&quot;form-type&quot; value=&quot;Web Site Enquiry &quot;><input
type=&quot;hidden&quot; name=&quot;recipient&quot; value=&quot;email@email.com.au&quot;>

Can anyone please tell me how I can use my own thank you form, and how it will reflect either the persons e-mail address that is sending it from the site, or if that is too complicated at least a generic address?

 

[Wullie]

Hi mate,

Firstly, what you are doing is wrong, you are blatently addmiting to stealing someone elses work and using it unmodified.

Secondly, the reason that the form is proccessing with their details is because you are using their script to process the data, which is also very wrong.

You need to get your own server side script and install it on your server, or if someone else is hosting you, then you need to find out what method they supply for mailing form submissions.

Hope this helps Wullie

sales@freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.searchit-now.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[TheEnigma]

Thank you Wullie.

There were no copyright dislaimers on the site so I didn't think I was doing anything wrong. When it comes to working with code I am very much a novice.

So I really have no idea what you mean by server side script.

I have found since I posted that message, that the server we use has a smiliar address to the one above.

http://www.users.bigpond.com/cgi-bin/formemail.pl

I gather that essex part above must be their server.

 

[Wullie]

Hi mate,

Copyright info -

http://www.essex.ac.uk/info/disclaimer.htm

As a general rule, if something does not clearly state that it is not copyright, then assume that it is.

By server side, I mean a script that is runs from the server, not the browser. A server side script is parsed before it is sent to the browser, where as a client side script is parsed by the browser.

Hope this helps Wullie

sales@freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.searchit-now.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[Epimetheus]

If you want to do formatted email from your page, take a look at this site...

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...ml/_denali_newmail_object_cdonts_library_.asp

It will take you through the use of the newMail VB object and how to set it up! )

 

[cian]

Hi,

Concerning copyrights, once something is in a tangible form, such as on a web page, then it is automatically copyrighted by the auther. It DOES NOT HAVE to state a
copyright, it is still copyrighted even without the notice.
You should never take anothers code without asking, and using their script is definitly wrong!


The link you posted

http://www.users.bigpond.com/cgi-bin/formemail.pl

the file &quot;formemail.pl&quot; is a script which is on the web server. This takes the information from your form, and send it in an email to a specified address.


É
::

http://www.endamcg.com

::

http://www.endamcg.com/finland-gaa

 

[TheEnigma]

Thank you Epimetheus for your help. I really appreciate it. This gave me the solution I required.

 

[onpnt]

After reading your post Enigma it looks like you were completely oblivious to copyright issues and such to taking code from other sites as you did.
( excluding the comment on there was no disclaimer,,you need to look for those sometimes )

I can't see if you knew what you were doing how you could post it asking for help in this manner. cian, wullie and Epimetheus were very kind in explaining everything which I give a for that. most would not be.
bottom line is the web is NOT open source.
you can't view everyones source code and snatch it for your own. there are plenty of open source code sites out there for you to use.
w3schools.com
devguru.com
and on, and on

there is really no reason to take form other sites.
unless permission is given
I hope this gets you going in the right direction from here on out. A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing.

http://www.onpntwebdesigns.com

admin@onpntwebdesigns.com

 

[TheEnigma]

It amazes me how quick people are to get stuck into others on here. Obviously if I had thought I was doing something wrong I would not have so blatantly admitted what I was doing!

Wullie gave me the link to go to where it had a copyright disclaimer on the site, but this is a different site again to where I took the code from. Obviously someone else had taken the code from that site, to which I took the code from theirs.

Perhaps in all your worlds where you work with all these types of things all day long this is all obvious to you. It isn't to everyone however. I have been told in the past from some IT people that the web is there to use and take advantage of, and that everyone can learn and grow from other peoples work.

Instead of being so judgmental, look at the obvious. Quite clearly I would not have posted this on the

http://www if

I thought I was doing anything wrong. That should be quite obvious!!

And how hard is it to post a question? Not at all! How would using a web page require me to have intimate knowledge on how to write code? It doesn't.

Quite obviously 2 people have had their say on what I have done wrong. I don't need someone else who has too much time on their hands to also lecture me.

 

[cian]

TheEnigma, i don't think onpnt was trying to lecture you, he was trying to enlighten you as to how things work on the internet.

You were told &quot;web is there to use and take advantage of, and that everyone can learn and grow from other peoples work.&quot; Yes, this is right, and viewing source code is one of the most common ways of learning, everybody does it, but taking this code is not.

And it's not so much a question of just taking code but in the example you gave in your original question you were using a form script from another site. That's like tapping into someone elses cable to get movie channels. Ok a bad analogy but do you see what I mean? You weren't just taking code, you were using his server to power your enquiry form.

A library is also a place which you take advantage of and learn from others work, try to take a book without asking, though, and see what happens! LOL

Another thing, in the &quot;lectures&quot; you got in this thread you have learned something! We are all here to learn and to teach, not to harass you or put you down. We are just trying to help you learn. copyrighting is an important issue so hopefully you have learned something here.


É
::

http://www.endamcg.com

::

http://www.endamcg.com/finland-gaa

 

[TheEnigma]

Thank you Cian. That is the first thing that really makes clear sense in all of the comments made above regarding what I was doing wrong!

Yes you are right and I did learn a few things out of this which was good! I do appreciate that. It is rather frustrating however to have person after person tell me the same thing and treating me like an idiot. I just simply lack understanding in these areas which I am trying to rectify.

While I know how to create web pages using dreamweaver (not hard when you use a program) when it comes to all the rest I am really struggling to understand. So it helps when I get an easy to understand analogy like you have given me above, in a non judging harassing kind of way.

So thank you for that.

 

[cian]

Hi,

It was nobodies intention to make you feel like an idiot, we all just think we can answer better than the posting before us! I apologise if this is how we made you feel.

Don't pressure yourself to learn. It takes time! Best thing is to select a subject, do a net search and download a few guides which you can flick through in your spare time.

And don't be afraid to ask more questions here, hopefully we'll respond better next time!
Most of us here won't mind you mailing us individually if you have questions.


::

http://www.endamcg.com

::

http://www.endamcg.com/finland-gaa

 

[Wullie]

TheEnigma

Taking something off a site to learn from is fine, taking something off a site and changing it a lot to meet your requirements is fine.(In certain circumstances). BUT, and this is a big but, taking something off a site to use unmodified as you did is simply wrong.

Regarding the disclaimer, if you went into a shop and there were no &quot;thiefs will be prosecuted&quot; signs, would it be ok to steal from there? Same applies to the web.

I think you should be grateful that it was only us that got &quot;stuck into&quot; you, and not a lawyer contacting you because you were in fact breaking the law.

Last but not least, I started my post with &quot;Hi mate&quot; and finished with &quot;Hope this helps&quot;, which should portray to you that I was offering guidance and not &quot;having a go&quot; at you as you kindly put it. Wullie

sales@freshlookdesign.co.uk

http://www.freshlookdesign.com

http://www.searchit-now.co.uk

The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails. - John Maxwell

 

[onpnt]

TheEnigma

I apologize if I came off the way you mentioned it sounded like I was. I had no intentions of that in any way.
A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming is not worth knowing.

http://www.onpntwebdesigns.com

admin@onpntwebdesigns.com