Ubuntu Manpage: CGI::Application::Mailform - A simple HTML form to email system

Provided by: libcgi-application-perl_4.50-2_all

NAME

       CGI::Application::Mailform - A simple HTML form to email system

SYNOPSIS

         ## In "mailform.cgi" --
         use CGI::Application::Mailform;

         # Create a new Mailform instance...
         my $mf = CGI::Application::Mailform->new();

         # Configure your mailform
         $mf->param('MAIL_FROM'   => 'webmaster@your.domain');
         $mf->param('MAIL_TO'     => 'form_recipient@your.domain');
         $mf->param('HTMLFORM_REDIRECT_URL' => '/uri/or/url/to/mailform.html');
         $mf->param('SUCCESS_REDIRECT_URL'  => '/uri/or/url/to/thankyou.html');
         $mf->param('FORM_FIELDS' => [qw/name address comments etc/]);

         # Optional variables
         $mf->param('SMTP_HOST'   => 'mail.your.domain');
         $mf->param('SUBJECT'     => 'New form submission');
         $mf->param('ENV_FIELDS'  => [qw/REMOTE_ADDR HTTP_USER_AGENT/]);

         # Now run...
         $mf->run();
         exit(0);

         ## In "mailform.html" --
         <form action="mailform.cgi">
         <input type="hidden" name="rm" value="submitform">
         <!-- Your HTML form input fields here -->
         <input type="submit" name="submit">
         </form>

         ## In "thankyou.html" --
         <html><body>
           <h1>Thanks for your submission!  It has been sent.</h1>
         </body></html>

DESCRIPTION

CGI::Application::Mailform is a reusable and customizable mailform for the web. It is
intentionally simple, and provides very few facilities. What it does do is provide an
easy-to-use, secure system for taking the contents of a HTML form submission and sending
it, via email, to a specified recipient.

This module was created as an example of how to use CGI::Application, a framework for
creating reusable web-based applications. In addition to providing a simple example of
CGI::Application's usage, CGI::Application::Mailform is also a fully functional
application, capable of running in a production environment.

Just as is the case with any web-application built upon CGI::Application,
CGI::Application::Mailform will run on any web server and operating system which supports
the Common Gateway Interface (CGI). It will run equally well on Apache as it runs on IIS
or the iPlanet server. It will run perfectly well on UNIX, Linux, Solaris or Windows NT.
It will take full advantage of the advanced capabilities of MOD_PERL. It will probably
even run under FastCGI (although the author has not personally tested it in that
environment).

USAGE
Once CGI::Application::Mailform has been installed, you must complete the following steps
to create a custom mailform on your website:

1. Create 'mailform.html'
2. Create 'thankyou.html'
3. Create 'mailform.cgi'

Examples of these files are provided in the directory "Examples" which can be found in the
installation tar file for CGI::Application.

Create 'mailform.html'
The file 'mailform.html' is simply an HTML file which contains your web form. This is the
form whose contents will be sent, via CGI::Application::Mailform, to the specified
recipient's email address.

This file need only contain the basic HTML form. There are two requirements for this
form. First, the "action" attribute of the <form> element must refer to the CGI instance
script ('mailform.cgi') you are about to create. Second, the form must set a "hidden"
form field with the name "rm" and the value "submitform". This hidden parameter is what
tells the CGI::Application::Mailform application to send the email message, as opposed to
send the user to the HTML form.

For example:

Your 'mailform.html' may also contain JavaScript to provide form validation. The
CGI::Application::Mailform does not (currently) have any internal form validation
capabilities. As described earlier, this is a very simple system. If it is necessary to
enforce any fields as "required", it is recommended that JavaScript be used.

NOTE: It is not necessary that your HTML file be called 'mailform.html'. You may name
this file anything you like. The only naming limitation is that the name of this file
should be correctly referenced in your 'mailform.cgi', in the variable
'HTMLFORM_REDIRECT_URL'.

Create 'thankyou.html'
The next file you need to create is your 'thankyou.html' file. This file is the simplest
of all. This is the file to which users will be redirected once they have successfully
submitted their form data. The purpose of this screen is to inform and assure the user
that their form data submission has been successfully received and processed.

For example:

<html>
<head>
<title>Thank you!</title>
</head>
<body>
<p><h1>Thanks for your submission!</h1></p>
<p>We have received your form, and
we will get back to you shortly.</p>
</body>
</html>

NOTE: It is not necessary that your HTML file be called 'thankyou.html'. You may name
this file anything you like. The only naming limitation is that the name of this file
should be correctly referenced in your 'mailform.cgi', in the variable
'SUCCESS_REDIRECT_URL'.

Create 'mailform.cgi'
The file 'mailform.cgi' is where all the functionality of CGI::Application::Mailform is
configured. This file is referred to as a "CGI instance script" because it creates an
"instance" of your form. A single website may have as many instance scripts as needed.
All of these instance scripts may use CGI::Application::Mailform. They may each use a
different form (with different fields, etc.) if desired. The ability to create multiple
instances of a single application, each with a different configuration is one of the
benefits of building web-based applications using the CGI::Application framework.

Your instance script, 'mailform.cgi', must be created in such a way that it is treated by
your web server as an executable CGI application (as opposed to a document). Generally
(on UNIX), this entails setting the "execute bit" on the file and configuring your web
server to treat files ending ".cgi" as CGI applications. Please refer to your particular
web server's manual for configuration details.

Your instance script 'mailform.cgi' must start with the following:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use CGI::Application::Mailform;
my $mf = CGI::Application::Mailform->new();

These lines invoke the Perl interpreter, include the CGI::Application::Mailform module,
and instantiate a Mailform object, respectively. (The author assumes your Perl binary is
located at "/usr/bin/perl". If it is not, change the first line to refer to the correct
location of your Perl binary.)

Once you have a Mailform object ($mf), you have to configure the Mailform for your
particular application. This is done by using the param() method to set a number of
variables. These variables are specified as follows.

REQUIRED VARIABLES

MAIL_FROM
$mf->param('MAIL_FROM' => 'webmaster@your.domain');

This variable specifies the email address from which the email created by this
mailform will appear to be sent. This can be any address you like. Typically, this
will be "webmaster@your.domain". Keep in mind, this is the address to which a bounce
or a reply will be sent if one is generated as a result of the mailform email. The
MAIL_FROM can also be useful for assisting the recipient of these email messages in
automatically filtering and organizing the submissions they receive.

This variable is required. If not specified, CGI::Application::Mailform will die()
with appropriate errors.

MAIL_TO
$mf->param('MAIL_TO' => 'form_recipient@your.domain');

This variable specifies the email address to which the email created by this mailform
should be sent. This should be the email address of the person to whom the form
contents should be emailed. This person will receive a reasonably formatted message
every time this mailform is submitted.

This variable is required. If not specified, CGI::Application::Mailform will die()
with appropriate errors.

HTMLFORM_REDIRECT_URL
$mf->param('HTMLFORM_REDIRECT_URL' => '/uri/or/url/to/mailform.html');

This variable specifies the URL (or URI) to which the web user should be redirected
before they have submitted the mailform. This should be the HTML form which the user
fills out, the contents of which will be emailed once they are submitted.

This variable is required. If not specified, CGI::Application::Mailform will die()
with appropriate errors.

SUCCESS_REDIRECT_URL
$mf->param('SUCCESS_REDIRECT_URL' => '/uri/or/url/to/thankyou.html');

This variable specifies the URL (or URI) to which the web user should be redirected
once they have submitted the mailform. Typically, this would be a "thank you" screen
which assures the user that their form submission has been received and processed.

This variable is required. If not specified, CGI::Application::Mailform will die()
with appropriate errors.

FORM_FIELDS
$mf->param('FORM_FIELDS' => [qw/name address comments etc/]);

This variable specifies the list of HTML form fields which will be processed and sent
via email to the specified recipient. Only the form fields specified in this list
will be put in the email message which is generated by this mailform and sent to the
specified recipient.

The value of this variable must be an array reference. This variable is required. If
not specified, CGI::Application::Mailform will die() with appropriate errors.

OPTIONAL VARIABLES

SMTP_HOST
$mf->param('SMTP_HOST' => 'mail.your.domain');

This variable specifies the Internet host name (or IP address) of the server which
provides Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) services. CGI::Application::Mailform
sends all mail via SMTP using Net::SMTP.

If SMTP_HOST is unspecified, Net::SMTP will use the default host which was specified
when Net::SMTP was installed. If CGI::Application::Mailform is unable to make an SMTP
connection, or successfully send mail via the SMTP host, it will die() with
appropriate errors.

SUBJECT
$mf->param('SUBJECT' => 'New form submission');

This variable specifies the subject line of the email message which is created by this
mailform. The subject is useful to the mailform recipient in easily recognizing (and
possibly filtering) form submissions.

This variable is optional. If not supplied, CGI::Application::Mailform will set the
subject to a reasonable default.

ENV_FIELDS
$mf->param('ENV_FIELDS' => [qw/REMOTE_ADDR HTTP_USER_AGENT/]);

This variable specifies the list of "environment" variables which will be processed
and sent via email to the specified recipient. Only the environment variables
specified in this list will be put in the email message which is generated by this
mailform and sent to the specified recipient.

Any environment variable which is present in the CGI environment may be included.
Typical variables might be:

AUTH_TYPE
CONTENT_LENGTH
CONTENT_TYPE
GATEWAY_INTERFACE
HTTP_ACCEPT
HTTP_USER_AGENT
PATH_INFO
PATH_TRANSLATED
QUERY_STRING
REMOTE_ADDR
REMOTE_HOST
REMOTE_IDENT
REMOTE_USER
REQUEST_METHOD
SCRIPT_NAME
SERVER_NAME
SERVER_PORT
SERVER_PROTOCOL
SERVER_SOFTWARE

See your web server documentation for a complete list and descriptions of the
available environment variables. The list of environment variables specified by the
CGI protocol can be found at the following URL:

http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/env.html

The value of this variable must be an array reference. This variable is optional. If
not specified, no environment variables will be included in the mailform email
message.

Finally, you must actually cause your Mailform to be executed by calling the run() method.
Your instance script 'mailform.cgi' should end with the following lines:

$mf->run();
exit(0);

These lines cause your configured Mailform ($mf) to be executed, and for the program to
cleanly exit, respectively.

NOTE: It is not necessary that your HTML file be called 'mailform.cgi'. You may name
this file anything you like. The only naming limitations are that this file should be
named so that your web server recognizes it as an executable CGI, and that your
'mailform.html' file specifies your instance script in the "action" attribute of the
<form> element.

All things considered, your CGI instance script will be a very small, simple file. Unlike
other reusable "mailform" scripts, the instance scripts are specifically intended to be
very easy to work with. Essentially, these instance scripts are "configuration files" for
your web-based application. The structure of instance scripts is a benefit of building
applications based on the CGI::Application framework.

AUTHOR

       Jesse Erlbaum <jesse@erlbaum.net>

LICENSE

       Copyright (c) 2001, 2002, Jesse Erlbaum <jesse@erlbaum.net>.

       This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same
       terms as Perl itself.

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

SEE ALSO

AUTHOR

LICENSE