Dreamweaver Auto Responder when a user Submits a form

Report · Dec 29, 2016

Hi,

I am trying to add an auto responder to one of my existing forms I made in Dreamweaver. If it has to be php, please give me detailed instructions on how to set up the form, and more importantly, how to set up a php file. Also, where does that php file go? Where on the server?

Thanks so much!

Greg

Report · Dec 29, 2016

A web form is made with HTML code. It consists of input tags surrounded by a pair of form tags. The form tag contains a property called action, which determines where the form will be processed.

PHP is the most common scripting language used to process forms, but there are other possibilities. The PHP code can be included in the same "page" as the form (usually at the very top), but can also be in a separate script (page).

A good introduction to processing forms with PHP is PHP SOLUTIONS by Powers.

Report · Dec 29, 2016

Could you give me an example of a form with a successful php script? I'm lost with this.

Report · Dec 29, 2016

I made a simple form like this:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

<html>

<head>

<title>PHP form to email sample form</title>

<style>

label,a

{

font-family : Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;

font-size : 12px;

}

</style>

</head>

<body>

<p>

<label for='name'>Enter Name: </label><br>

</p>

<p>

<label for='email'>Enter Email Address:</label><br>

</p>

<p>

<label for='message'>Enter Message:</label> <br>

</p>

</form>

// Code for validating the form

// Visit http://www.javascript-coder.com/html-form/javascript-form-validation.phtml

// for details

var frmvalidator = new Validator("myemailform");

frmvalidator.addValidation("name","req","Please provide your name");

frmvalidator.addValidation("email","req","Please provide your email");

frmvalidator.addValidation("email","email","Please enter a valid email address");

</script>

<p>

<a href='http://www.html-form-guide.com/email-form/php-form-to-email.html'

>PHP form to email article page</a>

</p>

</body>

</html>

It goes to a PHP file like this:

<?php

if(!isset($_POST['submit']))

{

//This page should not be accessed directly. Need to submit the form.

echo "error; you need to submit the form!";

}

$name = $_POST['name'];

$visitor_email = $_POST['email'];

$message = $_POST['message'];

//Validate first

if(empty($name)||empty($visitor_email))

{

echo "Name and email are mandatory!";

exit;

}

if(IsInjected($visitor_email))

{

echo "Bad email value!";

exit;

}

$email_from = 'tom@amazing-designs.com';//<== update the email address

$email_subject = "New Form submission";

$email_body = "You have received a new message from the user $name.\n".

"Here is the message:\n $message".

$to = "tom@amazing-designs.com";//<== update the email address

$headers = "From: $email_from \r\n";

$headers .= "Reply-To: $visitor_email \r\n";

//Send the email!

mail($to,$email_subject,$email_body,$headers);

//done. redirect to thank-you page.

header('Location: thank-you.html');

// Function to validate against any email injection attempts

function IsInjected($str)

{

$injections = array('(\n+)',

'(\r+)',

'(\t+)',

'(%0A+)',

'(%0D+)',

'(%08+)',

'(%09+)'

);

$inject = join('|', $injections);

$inject = "/$inject/i";

if(preg_match($inject,$str))

{

return true;

}

else

{

return false;

}

?>

Now, when I submit the form, I get a message saying "Thank You". I never get a responder in my email. What am I doing wrong?

In Response To webmaster698 · Dec 29, 2016

What am I doing wrong?

There are a few things about your script that are wrong,

PHP functions must appear before they are used (unlike javascript functions)
Your input validation is just. . .bad. See the two lines at the top of my script that validate the name and email. I use two completely different methods -- just to demonstrate that there are different methods.
Note how the value of "message" changes depending on the script flow.

Try the following script (update the values for your email address). This script will work.

<?php
if ($_POST){
$name = substr(strip_tags(html_entity_decode($_POST['name'])),0,50);
$email = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'email', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);
if ($name && $email){
$message = 'Welcome to my world!';
$email_from = 'youremail@domain.com';//<== update the email address
$email_subject = "New Form submission";
$email_body = "You have received a new message from the user $name.\n".

"Here is the message:\n $message".
$to = "youremail@domain.com";//<== update the email address

$headers = "From: $email_from \r\n";
$headers .= "Reply-To: $email \r\n";
if (mail($to,$email_subject,$email_body,$headers)){
$message="The message has been emailed.";
} else {
$message = "good email and name, but could not send.";
}} else {
$message = "Bad email, or bad name, or bad day!";
}
}
?>
<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>Form Example</title>
</head>

<body>
<?php echo $message; ?>
<form action='' method='post'>
<p>Email: <input name='email' type='email' required/></p>
<p>Name: <input name='name' type='text' required/></p>
<p><input name='submit' type='submit'/></p>
</form>
</body>
</html>

Report · Dec 29, 2016

OK, I kind of got it. Instead of the message "Welcome to my world", how do I get it so it displays the user's message?

And how do I get it so the user gets an email, saying something like, "We got it"?

<?php

if ($_POST){

$name = substr(strip_tags(html_entity_decode($_POST['name'])),0,50);

$email = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'email', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);

if ($name && $email){

$message = 'Welcome to my world!';

$email_from = 'webmaster@voipccg.com';//<== update the email address

$email_subject = "New Form submission";

$email_body = "You have received a new message from the user $name.\n".

"Here is the message:\n $message".

$to = "webmaster@voipccg.com";//<== update the email address

$headers = "From: $email_from \r\n";

$headers .= "Reply-To: $email \r\n";

if (mail($to,$email_subject,$email_body,$headers)){

$message="The message has been emailed.";

} else {

$message = "good email and name, but could not send.";

}} else {

$message = "Bad email, or bad name, or bad day!";

}

?>

<!doctype html>

<html>

<head>

<title>Form Example</title>

</head>

<body>

<?php echo $message; ?>

<p>Email: <input name='email' type='email' required/></p>

</form>

</body>

</html>

Report · Dec 29, 2016

In fact, I just want the user to receive an email saying their info has been submitted. And I want the person on the receiving end of the email, to get the email. So really, I just want a confirmation email to go to the user when they hit "Submit".

In Response To webmaster698 · Dec 29, 2016

How do I get it so it displays the user's message?

You can use the textarea field you used in your original, like this:

<p>

<label for='message'>Enter Message:</label> <br>

<textarea name="message"></textarea>

</p>

Then at the top of my code example, add the sanitization for it like this:

$message= substr(strip_tags(html_entity_decode($_POST['message'])),0,300);

And delete theis line in my code:

$message = 'Welcome to my world!';

So really, I just want a confirmation email to go to the user when they hit "Submit".

Then replace the code as follows. New code in red

if (mail($to,$email_subject,$email_body,$headers)){

mail($email,$email_subject,"Your email has been received.",$headers);
$message="The message has been emailed.";

Report · Dec 29, 2016

Here is a copy of my form I want to use:

</p>

<tr>

<td height="21" colspan="2" background="images/tile_back.gif" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><strong class="style6">Service Request Form </strong></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td height="21" colspan="2" background="images/tile_sub.gif" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><span class="style4">Please fill in all fields with a * </span></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<br />

</strong></p></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td height="48" bgcolor="#66FFFF"><span class="style6"><strong>Company *</strong></span></td>

<br />

</strong></p></td>

</tr>

<tr>

</tr>

<tr>

<td bgcolor="#66FFFF" class="style6"><strong>Phone *</strong></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td bgcolor="#66FFFF" class="style6"><strong>What is your measured internet speed? <br />

<span class="style35"> <<a href="http://www.speedtest.net">http://www.speedtest.net</a>></span></strong></td>

</label></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td bgcolor="#66FFFF"><span class="style6"><strong>Message * </strong></span></td>

<br />

</strong></p></td>

</tr>

<tr>

</strong>

</span>

<label>

</strong></div>

</label></td>

</strong>

</span>

<label>

</strong></div>

</label></td>

</tr>

</table>

</form>

How do I make it so that when a user fills out this form and hits "Submit", a confirmation email goes to their email inbox? Meanwhile I want the actual form data to go to my inbox, in this case webmaster@voipccg.com.

In Response To webmaster698 · Dec 29, 2016

I wrote a tutorial in 3 parts for creating a responsive contact form with Bootstrap and PHP code below.

Alt-Web Design & Publishing: Responsive Contact Form with Bootstrap 3.2 and PHP (Part 1)

NOTE: Your server must support PHP scripts and more specifically the PHP Mail() function. If unsure, contact your hosting provider to confirm. Otherwise, it won't work and you'll need to find another kind of script.

Nancy

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator

Report · Dec 29, 2016

ok, this is working out very nicely. Here is my code so far:

<?php

if ($_POST){

$name = substr(strip_tags(html_entity_decode($_POST['name'])),0,50);

$email = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'email', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);

if ($name && $email){

$email_from = 'webmaster@voipccg.com';//<== update the email address

$email_subject = "New Form submission";

$email_body = "You have received a new message from the user $name.\n".

"Here is the message:\n $message".

$to = "webmaster@voipccg.com";//<== update the email address

$headers = "From: $email_from \r\n";

$headers .= "Reply-To: $email \r\n";

if (mail($to,$email_subject,$email_body,$headers)){

mail($email,$email_subject,"Your email has been received.",$headers);

$message="The message has been emailed.";

} else {

$message = "good email and name, but could not send.";

}} else {

$message = "Bad email, or bad name, or bad day!";

}

?>

<!doctype html>

<html>

<head>

<title>Form Example</title>

</head>

<body>

<?php echo $message; ?>

<p>Email: <input name='email' type='email' required/></p>

</form>

</body>

</html>

Currently, if I do this, the user fills this out with their email address. The other guy gets an email from webmaster@voipccg.com. I want that person, on the receiving end to receive that new form submission, but the from address has to be the whatever email address the user submits when they do the form. So when the tech or agent receives the email, they can just hit "Reply" to the email.

In Response To webmaster698 · Dec 29, 2016

Don't leave yourself open to header injection. That's like saying to bots," Hey look I'm vulnerable, use my site as a spam relay!"

The email you receive is coming from YOUR server. It's not coming from the user's email account.

Nancy

Nancy O'Shea— Product User, Community Expert & Moderator

Report · Dec 29, 2016

so what do I edit this line with to grab the user's email, and not just mine:

$email_from = 'webmaster@voipccg.com';//<== update the email address

In Response To webmaster698 · Dec 29, 2016

$email_from = $email;//<== update the email address

Report · Dec 29, 2016

One more thing:

This is the message I receive on the tech or agent side:

You have received a new message from the user Gregory.

Here is the message:

webmaster@voipccg.com

How do I get rid of it saying "webmaster@voipccg.com".

In Response To webmaster698 · Dec 29, 2016

Replace the period with a semicolon, like this:

"Here is the message:\n $message";

In Response To Rob Hecker2 · Dec 29, 2016

I'll mention that I NEVER use the PHP mail function. It's a good way to get your emails delivered to the spam folder.

I use the swiftmailer class. David Powers has a good tutorial about it on lynda.com.

Report · Dec 29, 2016

Thanks! It works great. Tomorrow, I'll continue adding form fields to this. If I run into trouble, I'll post to this forum again.

Report · Dec 29, 2016

I was also wondering if I can put a capcha on my form. Some way to keep the go s way. Do you know of anything?

In Response To webmaster698 · Dec 29, 2016

I am using reCAPTCHA: Easy on Humans, Hard on Bots

Wappler, the only real Dreamweaver alternative.

In Response To BenPleysier · Dec 29, 2016

I personally really really hate recapchas. Very often it takes me more than one try to get it right, which is a buzz kill.

I have found that using a honeypot works well, and doesn't punish the form submitter.

Don't put style=display:none in the input tag of your honey pot. Put it in a class the honeypot uses. Make the honeypot seem like a normal question.

If a honey pot doesn't turn out to be enough, then validating user input can be an additional way to filter out spam. For instance, often the spam tries to put email addresses in any field, so you can reject form submissions that have email addresses as responses to questions like: do you like ice cream?

In Response To Rob Hecker2 · Dec 30, 2016

I agree, sometimes captcha's can be a pain, but I would like to learn about honeypot.

So here's my form:

<?php

if ($_POST){

$name = substr(strip_tags(html_entity_decode($_POST['name'])),0,50);

$email = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'email', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);

if ($name && $email){

$email_from = $email;//<== update the email address

$email_subject = "New Form submission";

$email_body = "You have received a new message from the user $name.\n".

"Here is the message:\n $message";

$to = "webmaster@voipccg.com";//<== update the email address

$headers = "From: $email_from \r\n";

$headers .= "Reply-To: $email \r\n";

if (mail($to,$email_subject,$email_body,$headers)){

mail($email,$email_subject,"Your email has been received.",$headers);

$message="The message has been emailed.";

} else {

$message = "good email and name, but could not send.";

}} else {

$message = "Bad email, or bad name, or bad day!";

}

?>

<!doctype html>

<html>

<head>

<title>Form Example</title>

</head>

<body>

<?php echo $message; ?>

<p>Email: <input name='email' type='email' required/></p>

</form>

</body>

</html>

So you're saying honeypot is just a tag? Or do I need to set up for it to link to images in a folder on my server?

How would you do it?

In Response To webmaster698 · Dec 30, 2016

To create a honeypot:

1. Within your form, add the following:

<p><label class='automake'>What is the make of your automobile? <input type='text' name='auto' value='$auto'/></label></p>

2. n your CSS style sheet, add the following:

.automake, label.automake { display: none; }

3. Wrap your PHP processing code in the following

if (empty($_POST['auto'])){

// all your code here

} //closing brace

In Response To Rob Hecker2 · Dec 30, 2016

Thanks.

I was hoping, and sorry for taking up so much of your time. I seem to be having trouble adding form fields. I need a Subject, Name, Email, Phone number, Company, and a message field. Every time I add these, I get an error that the message cold not be sent:

<?php

if ($_POST){

$name = substr(strip_tags(html_entity_decode($_POST['name'])),0,50);

$email = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'email', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);

if ($name && $email){

$email_from = $email;//<== update the email address

$email_subject = "New Form submission";

$email_body = "You have received a new message from the user $name.\n".

"Here is the message:\n $message";

$to = "webmaster@voipccg.com";//<== update the email address

$headers = "From: $email_from \r\n";

$headers .= "Reply-To: $email \r\n";

if (mail($to,$email_subject,$email_body,$headers)){

mail($email,$email_subject,"Your email has been received.",$headers);

$message="The message has been emailed.";

} else {

$message = "good email and name, but could not send.";

}} else {

$message = "Bad email, or bad name, or bad day!";

}

?>

<!doctype html>

<html>

<head>

<title>Form Example</title>

</head>

<body>

<?php echo $message; ?>

<p>Email: <input name='email' type='email' required/></p>

</form>

</body>

</html>

In Response To webmaster698 · Dec 30, 2016

And all of those things, of course, have to appear to the person receiving the email, or the agent. The user can still just get a message saying that we received your message.

Dreamweaver Auto Responder when a user Submits a form

1 Correct answer

You nearly had it - you need to construct the $email_body variable (see below)