Forms Tutorial Part 1 Q & A

[rayvern]

Re: BlueVoda Forms Tutorial Part 1

I really do appreciate the help. I have followed the instructions to a tee and still when I click on the submit button it goes to a page cannot be displayed. I did have my personal email entered in and it would go to my email page but didn't send it. I also wonder how long it takes for everything to publish because when I make changes they sometimes don't change but later I see some changes but not all. Sorry I am such a novice but I am proud of the way the site is developing. Did't know I could do this. Is there anyway for you to look at my site and tell me where I am failing to understand. I have a page called contact us and have navigation buttons. When I click on home it will sometime go to the home page and sometmes it won't. My site link is http://www.banklinkusa.net and I would be glad to give my login info for the help.Thank you

[navaldesign]

Re: BlueVoda Forms Tutorial Part 1

Your links back to home work ok both from the form and the thankyou page. However, you have put the php script in the form page, whilst it is not needed there. Being it php, i can-t see if you have also put it in the acrion.php page, as you should have. Use my form to send me your loggin info so i can have a look.

[terrys]

Re: BlueVoda Forms Tutorial Part 1

I’ve been working on this problem for about 12 hours and can’t get it solved. My submit button does nothing…
The site is http://www.digitalcraftsmanweb.com
I have a form at http://www.digitalcraftsmanweb.com/digital/cost_request.html . In the Form Properties box:
Form Name: Request Form
Action: process123.php
Method: Post
Encoding type: multipart/form-data
Then I developed my "go to" page with downloads for my clients. The page is saved as Download. The Page Properties box has
Title: process123
File ext: php
In the html for this page, I put the following Inside the Body Tag:
<?php
$name=$HTTP_POST_VARS[Practice];
$mailto="terry@digitalcraftsmanweb.com";
$mailsubj="Request for a Cost Analysis";
$mailhead="From: $name";
reset($HTTP_POST_VARS);
$mailbody="Values submitted from web site form:\n";
while (list($key,$val)=each($HTTP_POST_VARS))
{
if($key!="submit")
{
$mailbody.="$key:$val\n";
}
}
mail($mailto,$mailsubj,$mailbody,$mailhead);
?>
The only change between this script and the one shown in the forum after the first tutorial is $name=$HTTP_POST_VARS[Practice]; instead of $email=$HTTP_POST_VARS[email];
Practice is thetag for the field indicating who is requesting the analysis.
Looking at the files through BlueVoda FTP, I have a cost_request.html and a download.php. Can anyone tell me what I’ve done wrong?

[Andy128]

Re: BlueVoda Forms Tutorial Part 1

It appears that you have placed elements out side the form itself. Click on the form to get form properties and change the background color to grey for the moment. You will see that the submit button as well as other elements are not on the form itself. This you must change first. Delete the elements not on the form and then extend the form down. Now put the elements back on the form. When all done- change the background color back to white. Save and publish.


As to the "go to" page. Please explain this.

In order for your form to be processed- it needs a php page called process123.php with the necessary php script to grab all the data and send it to you via e-mail and then re-direct the user to another page.

Perhaps take a look at one of my php mailto tutorials here:
http://netisopen.com/computer/web/webpagestuff.html

Maybe that will make things a little clearer.

Andy

[terrys]

Re: BlueVoda Forms Tutorial Part 1

Thanks, Andy!
It's late and I've got a full day teaching tomorrow, but I'llgive this a try as soon as I get home. ... By the by, I did follow the PHP Mailto Form instructions, but then reverted to the simpler script under Important Notes following Tutorial 1. I'll do a comparison of the 2 procedures after I fix the "not on the form" problems and then repost.

Terry

[navaldesign]

Re: BlueVoda Forms Tutorial Part 1

Yes, but your main problems are script independent.
Problem #1: As Andy said, some of the form elements are outside the form area, so they are ignored. Most important, the Submit button is ouside the form area.
Problem #2. You have set the form action in "process123.php" so when you submit, the server will look for the "process123.php" file to process your form info. But there is no such page because you have saved it as "download" and ofcourse it has been published as "download.php". The name "process123" in the Title of Page Properties is just the page Title, for SE and for appearing in IE's address bar, but it is not what your form is looking for. Please open the "download" page in BV, save it as "process123" and publish it. OR, change the form action in "download.php"

There are some differences between Andy's script and the simple one posted in the above tutorial. Andy's script has some security features in it, and it also performs a field validation. But, as all similar scripts, Andy's script will perform these actions if the fields are named properly, if the fields are named differently, or if you have more fields to validate, or if you need a different type of validation, the script has to be customized accordingly

[terrys]

Re: BlueVoda Forms Tutorial Part 1

I really appreciate the help...
I re-created the cost-request.html so all elements lie within the form grid. On the cost-request properties, the action is error.php. Then I created an error page and gave it the extension php, pasted the script into the custom HTML box, saved & published.

The submit button now calls the error page. But when I leave the Practice Name blank, the error page says "go back and fill it in". When I do that, it then tells me to fill in the address...which is already complete. So there must be a problem in the error-checking script, although I cannot find it.
??

Also, once all the data has been checked and the info is sent to me via email, how do I automatically call up the download.html page for the client? (site = http://www.digitalcraftsmanweb.com)

[Andy128]

Re: BlueVoda Forms Tutorial Part 1

if you can- copy the php script that you used and paste it in this tread and we will compare the script to the form. More than likely- if it is asking you to fill in a field that is already filled in- there are spelling differences between the field name and the script.

Andy

[terrys]

Re: BlueVoda Forms Tutorial Part 1

Here is the script I copied onto the error.php page:

<?php
$numberclaims=$HTTP_POST_VARS['claims'];
$name=$HTTP_POST_VARS['practice'];
$address=$HTTP_POST_VARS['address'];
$phone=$HTTP_POST_VARS['telehone'];
$contact=$HTTP_POST_VARS['contact'];
if(strlen($numberclaims)==0)
{
echo "Please use the Back button to return to the form and enter how many claims your office files each month. Thank you.";
exit;
}
if(strlen($numberclaims)>=
{
echo "There appear to be too many characters in the Number of Claims per Month. Please use the Back button to return to the form and shorten the entry. Thank you.";
exit;
}
if(strlen($name)==0)
{
echo "Please use the Back button to return to the form and enter the name of your practice. Thank you.";
exit;
}
if(strlen($name)>=100)
{
echo "There appear to be too many characters in the Name field. Please use the Back button to return to the form and shorten the entry. Thank you.";
exit;
}

if(strlen($address)==0)
{
echo "Please use the Back button to return to the form and enter the address of your practice. Thank you.";
exit;
}
if(strlen($address)>=175)
{
echo "You have placed too many characters in the Address field. Please use the Back button to return to the form and shorten the entry. Thank you.";
exit;
}

if(strlen($phone)==0)
{
echo "Please use the Back button to return to the form and enter a telephone number where we can contact you. Thanks!";
exit;
}
if(strlen($phone)>=20)
{
echo "There appear to be too many characters in the Telephone field. Please use the Back button to return to the form and shorten the entry. Thank you.";
exit;
}

if(strlen($contact)==0)
{
echo "Please use the Back button to return to the form and enter a primary contact whom we should call. Thank you.";
exit;
}

if(strlen($contact)>=75)
{
echo "There appear to be too many characters in the Contact field. Please use the Back button to return to the form and shorten the entry. Thank you.";
exit;
}


$name=$HTTP_POST_VARS[practice];
$mailto="terry@digitalcraftsmanweb.com";
$mailsubj="Request for a Cost Analysis";
$mailhead="From: $name";

reset($HTTP_POST_VARS);
$mailbody="Values submitted from web site form:\n";
while (list($key,$val)=each($HTTP_POST_VARS))
{
if($key!="submit")
{

$mailbody.="$key:$val\n";
}
}
mail($mailto,$mailsubj,$mailbody,$mailhead);
?>

Again, the site address is www.digitalcraftsmanweb.com

[terrys]

Re: BlueVoda Forms Tutorial Part 1

Don't know where the box came from when I pasted
if(strlen($numberclaims)>=8

Terry

[terrys]

Re: BlueVoda Forms Tutorial Part 1

I can't find a problem with the address script, but there is a mispelling of 'telephone' in the $phone=$HTTP_POST_VARS['telehone'];

I'll correct that once we determine what the basic problem is. Would like to insert at the same time whatever code is needed for the final redirect to the download.html page.

Terry

[Andy128]

Re: BlueVoda Forms Tutorial Part 1

I don't understand the re-direct to download.html?

What is download.html? I don't see that page on your site.

Give me a URL where you are needing the customer to go after they submit the form and a message is posted - Thank you - your info has been submitted and we will get back to you soon.

Andy

[terrys]

Re: BlueVoda Forms Tutorial Part 1

Andy -
The sole purpose of this site is to collect data from medical practitioners so I can prepare a cost analysis showing the benefit of electronic claims billing. As an enticement for them to provide me with the data, I am offering 5 free gifts.

The download page (www.digitalcraftsmanweb.com/digital/download.html) cannot be accessed until the data I need is harvested from the form. When the practitioner completes the form and clicks "Submit", I want them to be taken to the download page where they can download the free gifts.

Does that help?
Terry