How to set up Dbmasters' Formmailer script in NetObjects' Fusion

This tutorial is provided absolutely free as a service to both the Formm@iler and Fusion communities.  For a very reasonable charge, I will gladly create a customized html form to fit your exact needs, and help you start to finish with the configuration. Just ask!   DBMasters' Formm@iler is a well-crafted php script used to process the information submitted via online forms to standard email format while competely concealing the addresses of the recipients.   This is the ultimate way to create a spam-proof form on your website!   The formmailer script and accompanying documents are available free of charge with a link to the DBMasters' Site, or for $20 (via paypal) you may use the site without the link.   1. Before you begin: 1) Make sure your web host allows php scripts! (Requires PHP 4.1 or higher)   2) Download the latest version of formmailer.zip here: http://www.dbmasters.net/index.php?id=4   3) Unzip the formmailer.zip file and save the contents somewhere you can easily remember   4) Read through the "Index.htm" page included in the "docs" section of the download for instructions   5) Did I mention you should read the "Index.htm" page? This will help you avoid common mistakes!   To make this script work, you will need two things: A form (see part 2 below) and the formmailer.php file (see part 3 below)      2. Create your form using one of these methods:      Option A: Use the Fusion form tools to build your form on a page of your website.       1) Draw a layout region on your page, and tick the "Form" check box on the properties palette NOTE: This will also work with a table or text box. 3) Go to view>toolbars>form tools to show the form tools palette 4) Create your form by dropping and resizing the form elements you want into the layout region   5) Name each field in the properties palette - do not use spaces! (one capitalized word like Name, Email or Phone is suggested, or use underscores i.e. Last_Name)    * NOTE: Keep a list of all of the exact form field names - you will need this for the formmailer file setup!   7) To see how it will look, preview your page - make changes to the form layout as needed to get it just right!   8) Remember to add a link to the dbmasters site ( http://www.dbmasters.net ) at the bottom of your form if you want to use the form under the free license. You may create a form without a link with an easy $20 via paypal     2) Important: also on the properties palette, click the "Settings" button    -- Action should be "formmailer.php", Method should be "post", and Encoding Type should be "multipart/form-data"    -- Add a hidden field named "config" (no quotes) with a value of "0"    -- Form name can be whatever you want. 6) Be sure to add a submit button - the button name and type must both be "Submit" 9) Once you have the form the way you want it,      publish your page and skip to Part 3 below        Option B: Modify the included sample form to create your own html form 1) Open the "form" or "form2" file from the download with wordpad / notepad / simpletext   2) Change the form variables to your liking - easy once you try it! (For help, contact me)   3) You can name the fields whatever you like, but don't use spaces! (one capitalized word like Name, Email, Phone, etc. is suggested, or use underscores i.e. Last_Name) Also, letter case counts so pay attention!   4) Be sure you have the hidden field "config" with a value of "0", like this:                        <input type="hidden" name="config" value="0" />   5) Be sure you have the submit button at the bottom of your form, like this:                          <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit" />   6) Insert your form in Fusion          * Highlight the entire text of your form in wordpad / notepad / simpletext          * Create a text box on your page          * Click once in the text box, and press Ctrl + T to bring up the "insert html" window          * Paste the form code into the "insert html" window and close it 7) To see how it will look, preview your page - make changes to the form code to get it just right!   8) 8) Remember to add a link to the dbmasters site ( http://www.dbmasters.net ) at the bottom of your form if you want to use the form under the free license. You may create a form without a link with an easy $20 via paypal       9) Once you have the form the way you want it, publish your page and go to Part 3 below      3. Configure your formmailer file:   1) Open the "formmailer.php" file with wordpad / notepad / simpletext   2) Refer to the "Index.htm" page included in the formmailer download to configure each line of your formmailer file (it is pretty straightforward, just go through it line by line from the top, and replace the sample info with your own). *If you get stuck, try the incredibly helpful free formmailer forum or contact me   3) Use an ftp program (such as cuteftp, ws_ftp or even i.e.) to upload the formmailer.php file into the same directory as the page that contains your form. (usually the "html" folder created by fusion)        *Note: you can put the file anywhere you like, as long as the action=" " tag points to the proper path. I find the above method to be the simplest.   4. Test your form:   1) Now that you have it set up, view your live, published page, and send yourself a message to test it out.          * Yes, you will have to publish the page for this to work   2) Once you see how it all works, including the auto-reply, success/error page, etc, try customizing the form and formmailer files to fit your project's style.  *This is one of the best things about formmailer - you can make it blend seamlessly with your website project with just a few minor changes!      5. Troubleshooting:   If the form results aren't getting through, try a different email address as the primary recipient.   Turn off domain validation (change the top line, "check_referrer", to "no" instead of "yes")   If you get the message "Error - No form data has been sent to the script"                                              ... did you add the hidden "config" field? (see 2. above)                                              ...do you have a button named submit, with input type=submit ?   If you get a "parse error", you have probably misplaced a ; or a " somewhere, usually on the line below the parse error line given.    For attachments, your form tag must include: enctype="multipart/form-data"   For any problems at all, make sure all your field names and validation in the script are spelled correctly, including capitalization.   If you get stuck, try the incredibly helpful free formmailer forum or contact me   ----- Misc Tips and Suggestions: -----   To avoid confusion between multiple website projects, I always save a copy of the formmailer.zip contents into each project's folder on my hard drive, and rename both the form and the formmailer.php files for each project. (If you do this, be sure to change the action=" " tag in the form, or the action name in Fusion, to reflect the new name!) You can use the same formmailer file for all the forms on your site. Just set the value of the hidden "config" field to a new number (1,2,etc) for each form that you use, and create a corresponding section with the correct variables in the formmailer file to match. You can also use the config field to choose from a list of recipients. Instead of a hidden field, create a dropdown called "config", and for each name or choice assign a value of 0,1,2 etc. - then set up the corresponding section of your formmailer file for that recipient. The autoresponder can be sent as html, so you can actually put a few formatted html lines into the "intro" wording for some neat results. Test my contact form to see what I mean (just put 'test' in the message).   The ability to create custom "success" and "error" pages is a very nice, professional-looking addition to any website project. I simply create two pages in fusion directly under the form page, called "formthanks" and "formerror", and then put the page names into the correct lines in the formmailer ("formthanks.html" and "formerror.html"). The possiblities here are endless.   There are many ways to alter the variables of your custom form - limitless options with just a little bit of html coding - experiment, customize and have fun with your form!   Browse through my portfolio to see some sites that use formmailer in a variety of ways.     Thanks to Dan Ball for a great script! Michael Evangelista Southern Utah Web Design