Needing NS 4 help . . .

[Rockrz]

I'm the proud owner of a CGI form set up that works (my first...yippeee), But as usual there's always a kink in good things. My form isn't working in NS 4 (I always test in NS 4, since there's still a few folks using that old browser, plus if it works there it should work in anything)

The problem is that when I attempt to sumit the form in NS, it goes to http://www.austinsings.com/scripts/formmail.pl (that's what actually shows in the address bar), instead of my thank you page, and I never get the message.

I'm wanting to know if my problem is in my HTML form, or if it's in the form mail script (I got that from http://nms-cgi.sourceforge.net/ )

Here's the URL of my form page:
http://www.austinsings.com/emaillist.html

Here's my form script
<FORM ACTION="http://www.austinsings.com/scripts/formmail.pl" METHOD="post">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="recipient" >
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="redirect" VALUE="http://www.austinsings.com/thankyou_emailsignup.html">
<TABLE border="0" width="70%">
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT FACE="arial,helvetica" COLOR="#ffff00" SIZE="2">

<B>Your Name</B>
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" VALUE="From_Name">
</FONT></TD>
<TD><FONT FACE="arial,helvetica" COLOR="#ffff00" SIZE="2">
<INPUT SIZE="32" name="Sent by">

</FONT></TD></TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER"><FONT FACE="arial,helvetica" COLOR="#ffff00" SIZE="2">
<B>Your E-mail Address</B>
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" VALUE="From_Email">
</FONT></TD>
<TD><FONT FACE="arial,helvetica" COLOR="#ffff00" SIZE="2">
<INPUT SIZE="32" name="email" >

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" VALUE="From_Email">
</FONT></TD></TR>
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="subject" VALUE="E-mail List - Signup">
</TABLE>
<INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="Sign Up Now!" style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold; BACKGROUND: yellow; COLOR: red; FONT-VARIANT: normal"></FORM></form>

[ihelpyou]

hmmm. It looks fine. Maybe try this:

<input type="hidden" name="redirecturl" value="http://www.austinsings.com/thankyou_emailsignup.html">

[Rockrz]

Hi Doug,

Do you think doing this will help me recieve the message from my form? Right now, mu biggest concern is that I'm not getting anything from the form when the form is used through NS 4.

Also, I was doing some reading over on Perl.com and Dave Cross' article, "Finding CGI Scripts", says you can set the form action to "post", or "get".

My script is currently set to post. Think I should try to set it to get, and see what happens?

[ihelpyou]

You have to give it something so you get the form sent to you like this:

<input type="hidden" name="recipient" value="anything@whateverYourEmailis.com">

[Rockrz]

So this is something I should ad just to accomodate NS 4? (because it works great "as is" in IE)

I'll ad these two lines, and see what happens.
Thanks for the tip . . . .

[crifer]

Im not a perl programmer or know how the perl script look like but why is there so many hidden fields? Only two visible input fields and the variable name don't make so much sence to me, but as i said, im not a perl programmer. Post the perl script code and ill try figure out what it can be. If someone don't do it before me :)

[Rockrz]

Hi crifer

To be honest, I took the HTML form from a free service I was using and I'm attempting to re-work it to work for me.

At the time I got into this CGI formmail thing, I also had to get into the HTML form.

Ya'll be patient with me . . . I'm still learning. (don't look for my web development book anytime soon . . . LOL . . .)

[Rockrz]

I just remembered . . . this script is supposed to be set up where I don't have to put me e-mail address in the code of my page. I don't want to do that, because of e-mail harvesting software.

Basically the idea is that if I offer this formmail deal to a customer (someday) I want to be able to tell them that it's a set up that should allow them to recieve messages from their website, without them worring about being spammed.

The e-mail address is placed inside the formmail.pl file, which is on the server.

This thing should work as is. It works in IE, just fine. There's got to be some little quirk that NS4 has that is preventing this from working right. I'm pretty sure it's going to work in NS6, and Mozilla. (although, I need to get someone to test it for me)

I may have to put a note on my form page saying that NS4 users will have to upgrade, and then I'll have to come back to this later .. . .

I've got to go talk to a guy about a site re-design for $500.

[crifer]

It shouldn't be necessary to write and say ns4 users must upgrade, it sound very weird since the perl script parse the code and re-direct the browser so the problem would be in the script.... But again, it's very hard to tell since i don't know much perl and haven't seen the script :)

$500 is alot of money, how many pages are your site?

[Rockrz]

Hey crifer

I meant I was the one that's going to be doing the job for $500. It's a long story, but this guy I'm doing this redesign for owes me $200 from a deal a couple of years ago that I never got my money back.

It's just an advertising site, nothing fancy. I normally charge $300 for something like this, but with this guy I went up a little to recoup my money. He went for it, and it looks like I'm going to be getting the hosting too! (I get another $30 a month for that)

Anyway, back to the CGI form problem . . . I put the script up on a webpage if you'd like to look at it. Here's the URL: http://km.home.texas.net/cgi_project.html

Hopefully I can get this figured out soon . . . .

[crifer]

Rockrz!

I looked at the code and found out pretty quickly that im not in to that language so i can say what's wrong. It was alot of code and didn't make much sence to me :(

You don't have PHP on your host? PHP is something I know and probobly could help you with. But for now i can't, but if there is something i can help you with. Just ask :)

[Rockrz]

Well, I found a company that says they'll sell me a CGI/Perl script for $225, and it will work in NS 2+, IE 3+, Opera 1+, and more.

They also claim it has all the latest Perl security built in, plus they have 24/7 e-mail support, phone support during their business hours. To top all that off, they said I would own the script and would be able to use it on as many sites, and as many times as I wanted.

They also do PHP. Which one is going to be the most secure?

[crifer]

I haven't got the slightest clue about that.

Are there any security experts in this forum? I would also really like to know that.

[Rockrz]

I got to thinking about it, and it would be worth the money to can the headache!

If their script works, and they'll answer a few tech questions, I think it would be a good investment in the long run & one that would save a lot of hassle.

I would think it's pretty secure, considering many big name sites use CGI including domain registering services such as Verisign, not to mention online banking.
There's got to be security standards that are not secret among these programmers.

I'll give about a month, and think on it. Right now, I'm leaning towards doing it . . . .

[crifer]

Originally posted by Rockrz

I would think it's pretty secure, considering many big name sites use CGI including domain registering services such as Verisign, not to mention online banking.

Yes, that's because CGI is the fastes way to parse and transfer text with. PHP is fast too and much easier to understand (according to me :) ). The advantages in CGI is probobly when it's alot to do. But PHP use SSI so the code is inside the file you deal with.

I can write you a script in PHP that write an e-mail adress in a file when submit through a form. Just ask :)

[Rockrz]

Hey crifer,

I appreciate the offer, and may talk to you about some upcoming projects, but I finally figured out what was going on with the formmail script so it will work in NS4
(I had to remover the hidden recipient field in the HTML form itself, because I'm using the recipient field in the script to place my e-mail address . . . so spammers can't see it . . . .)

I'm also wanting to get into PHP, but I had to first tackle at least being able to take a formmail script, configure it, and use it. It just helped my mind to be able to do that because most people webmaster at least learn a little CGI, before going on to something else (at least that's what I'm told . . .)

I'll be hanging around the board here pretty regular, so I'll be intouch . . .

And, thanks again for the offer!

[Rockrz]

Hey crifer,

I appreciate the offer, and may talk to you about some upcoming projects, but I finally figured out what was going on with the formmail script so it will work in NS4.(I had to remover the hidden recipient field in the HTML form, because I'm using the recipient field in the script to hide my e-mail address . . . so spammers can't see it . . . .)

I'm also wanting to get into PHP, but I had to first tackle at least being able to take a formmail script, configure it, and use it. It just helped my mind to be able to do that because most webmasters at least learn a little CGI, before going on to something else (at least that's what I'm told . . .)

I'll be hanging around the board here pretty regular, so I'll be intouch . . .

And, thanks again for the offer!

[crifer]

My pleasure, that's why I joined this forum. To learn, to help and to share. It's the best way to get some where in life :)

[ihelpyou]

that's why I joined this forum. To learn, to help and to share. It's the best way to get some where in life :)
Great quote Crifer! :thumb:

to learn, to help, and to share.

A good one!

[Rockrz]

You know, being that I don't know anyone on these help boards & we're all a long ways away from each other, the only way I can really pay back what I've learned is to help others.

Sometimes I feel kinda bad because I don't know all that much, and it's hard to help some of you guys I talk to on the board because you guys are so far ahead of me in terms of knowledge.

I'm very new at computers, let alone doing websites. I bought my first PC almost 3 years ago. Prior to that, I had virtually zero experience doing anything on computers. I knew what they looked like, that was about it.

I'm pretty blessed at the moment. I just got 2 gigs to put up sites for pay, and I've got a ton of stuff to learn to do it. (I'm excited, though)

One of the sites is for a middle aged couple that run a dating service, and they actually know less than me about PCs, and the Internet.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, the only way I know how to pay you guys that help me out, back, is to help people like the folks I just mentioned.

Monday, I'll be going over to help them set up their Outlook Express. I'll be printing a bunch of instructions before I go, because I barely know how myself.

I doubt many web design guys would do that. I have to help, because if it weren't for other helping me, I'd still be on hold with tech support trying to boot up my PC!

I for one, appreciate all the help I can get. Even if it's just a lead for a place to go look!

I'm looking to pass on what I learn . . . and I'm planning on learning a bunch! I really enjoy this stuff!

Thanks guys . . .

[ihelpyou]

Yep Rockrz, and you find yourself after awhile knowing some of the questions and able to answer them. That is usually what happens. For now, just keep on a askin and learnin. :)