Answers in this category:
Basic Information
How do I set up Scripts
Setting up a form on your Website using Dreamweaver
How do I debug Scripts?
cgi-bin is empty, where are the scripts you set up for me?
What scripts are available already?
How do I configure Faq-O-Matic on your web servers
How do I set up a MySql database in my web area?
I've just uploaded a file, but I get a blank page in my browser
Scripts that can be hacked

You can update your website using FTP. When you log in with FTP, your username will be ex.gr. mydomain.com, and you will find an empty file "This_is_mydomain.com", and at least 2 subdirectories "www" and "cgi-bin" If you have webmail service you will also have subdirectories "webmail" and "webmail.data"

If instead you see the file "Anonymous_FTP_area" you have not logged in using your username and password, you should log out and start again.

The top file in your website must be called "index" --- specifically the preferred files are:

index.shtml
index.html
index.php
index.htm

in that order. Files ending in ".shtml" are special, and allow you to pull in other files using "server-side includes"

Your www directory is /Sites/com/mydomain/www/ when it is accessed through the web, but /www when accessed through FTP

 * www      -- this is where your website lives
 * cgi-bin  == This is where to put your scripts

Answer by Monica Horten

This tells you how to create a form for subscribers to fill in and request information from you on your website. It is written for OA5.com customers - and contains information which is specific to the OA5.com web servers.

1. In Dreamweaver, set the view to "Code and Design".
2. Insert a new form in the position on the page where you want it.
3. Give the form a name. Click in the form outline ( you need "hidden detail" turned on to see this, and the outline will be red dotted line). At the bottom of the screen, in the Properties box, you will see a field for "Form name" - change "form1" to whatever you want eg 'inforequest'
4. You need to tell the server how to process your form. The processing is done by your CGI Formmail script. In most cases, you will want it to email the data to you. Thus, in the 'Action' box, type the URL for your CGI bin. Do check with OA5 what this should be if you are not sure, but the standard format for OS5.com is http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/formmail
5. Next, make a selection in the "Method" "target" and Enctype" boxes. If you want the server to send you an email with the subscriber's details, then select as follows: Target = Blank and Enctype = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"; Method = POST;
6. THEN go to 'View Code' and immediately after a line that looks like this:
   <form action="http://www.your domain.com/cgi-bin/formmail" method="post" enctype="application/x-www-form-urlencoded" name="yourformname" target="_blank" id="yourformname" >
   insert the following line:
   <input name="recipient" type="hidden" value="your.email@yourdomain.com">
7. If you want people to fill in name, address, etc, create "text fields" for each one. Type some meaningful text next to each field. This will tell the user what you want them to enter. And then go to 'textfield' in the Properties box, and type in a name for your field. This will remind you of what each text box is collecting, when you receive the emailed details. For example, if you want people to name their organisation, create a text field labelled 'Organisation, and give it the name 'Organisation' in the Properties box. You will see a line like this in the code:
   <input type="text" name="organisation">
8. To get drop-down boxes or buttons, just select the appropriate one from the menu, and enter the selections as 'values'.
9. When you have finished designing the form fields, you need a submit button. Select 'Button' from the menu, and Dreamweaver should do this for you. You can alter the text on the button, if it does not automatically say 'Submit'.
10. Test the form by setting up a preview page and filling in the form yourself. If you receive an email, the form has worked. If you don't receive an email, you should check the code in your form.

This is a very basic form. It will email you with the information that the subscriber has filled in. If you want to do more fancy things, like a thank-you page or mandated fields, we have found the following sites to be of assistance.

• http://www.wiu.edu/web/forminstr.shtml
• http://web.uvic.ca/akeller/pw401/ht_forms.html
• http://web.mit.edu/wwwdev/cgiemail
• http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_14565
• http://www.bethel.edu/its/documents/forms/forms-dw.html

cgi-wrap looks at the directory name to see how it should run the program see How do I set up Scripts, and then otherwise ignores it. Cgiwrap builds a search path, starting with your cgi-bin directory, and going on to some that OA5 have defined which have common scripts for everyone.

Next it checks each directory in the path to see if the script is there. When it is not found in your own cgi-bin directory, it finds it in OA5's system wide script directory.

If you don't like OA5's script, you can put one of the same name in your own cgi-bin directory and that will be found first.

NB Please don't put in your own version of formmail -- there are *lots* of buggy versions out there, which can be exploited to send spam, and we really do not want them on the server.

This is a version of the original formmail script. The variables are the ones you would expect, but you can only send mail to addresses in your own domain, so it is only useful for feedback, taking orders and so on. It only confirms to the user on the web, rather than sending them mail.

These restrictions are a side-effect from fixing many of the known exploits that hackers have developed to abuse the standard formmail script. Do not install the standfard formmail.pl in your cgi-bin directory

Webdesigners NB

If you want to be sure of the sender's mail address you would be better to use a mailto: METHOD= on your FORM

These scripts are designed to get some somple contact information to make sure you can properly reply to enquiries. The scripts record the contact information in a log that we can print off for you. They do not record the enquirey.

These scripts take 3 optional parameters to make them fit in with your colour scheme

background

default #00404f, The background colour

text

default #ffffff. The text colour

link

default #00ffff. The colour for hyperlinks

+ 3Gb total space
+ 50 mailboxes
+ 20,000 mailbox capacity on your mailing lists

If it's still an empty page/image, have a look with your FTP program. The file probably has zero size. This would mean that your website has been over quota for some days, and you either have to delete some files to create some space, or phone to arrange a bigger hosting package.

You can overrun your quota for a couple of days by about 20 megabytes to help upload a new site, but then if you stay over the limit, the restriction cuts in.

The biggest space-hogs are full-sized photos. Consider only loading "web freindly" versions, reduced to the size you actually want to display. This will also make your website faster.

Increaded capacity hosting is available in 3 sizes

+ Silver service: 1Gb space, and 20 mailboxes

+ Gold Service: 3Gb space, and 50 mailboxes

Top of the list is formmail.pl

Then there are systems based on certain versions of xmlrpc.php

Finally a new contender is contactus.php. Its header is

#-----------------------------------------------------------
#-----
#----- Forms To Go v2.0.4 by Bebosoft
#-----
#----- http://www.bebosoft.com/
#-----
#-----------------------------------------------------------

Any of these scripts will be taken down, and may be cause to take down your whole website