FP Techniques >
Working with Forms
in FrontPage
Here are some ways to
go above and beyond the standard FrontPage form.
Forms
and Email
Lots of people come to this site searching for a way to
make their FrontPage
forms send email. The secret
is that FrontPage server extensions must be configured
to use a specific mail server. Quality hosting
services like
OutFront or Applied Innovations already
have this configuration done for you. If your host doesn't have this capability ready to go then you might want to consider switching hosts. If you must stay with your
existing host then you can refer the server administrator here.
Customizing the Subject Line of Your Form Email Message.
You can have each of your forms send an email with a specific subject line. Right click inside form > form properties > options > email results >
subject line.
Getting the Right Reply-To Address
Also of note, you can set the reply to line in this dialog to allow you to hit the reply button and send an email to an address inputted into the form. Just put put the name of the form
field that will have the email address into the reply-to box.
Sending Form Output to Multiple Email Addresses
FP doesn't allow you to enter more than one email address per form in the form
properties dialog, but there is a way to send your form output to as many email addresses as you like.
Create a separate copy of the form for each recipient. The only difference in the
forms should be the email address to send to. Set the confirmation page of the first form to be
the second form. Set the confirmation page of the second form to be the third, and so on.
The user clicks the submit button once and goes directly to the ultimate confirmation page. The user
does not see the other forms but all of them are submitted.
Getting
More Info than Meets the Eye
It's easy to find out important information about the
users submitting your form without asking them.
Here's a list of the kinds of info you can get your
form to transmit with a few mouse clicks in FP.
- Time the form was
submitted
- Date the form was
submitted
- The type of browser
used by the person submitting the form
- The remote computer
name of the person submitting the form
- The User ID of the
person submitting the form
To configure your form
to transmit this kind of information, right click
inside the form. Choose "Form
Properties." Click on the
"Options" button. Click the "Saved
Fields" tab. Then check the items of
interest under "additional information to
save."
Formatting
the Output
To change the way the output of a form looks, right click inside the form. Choose "Form Properties." Click the "Options" button. Click on either the "File
Results" or the "E-mail Results" tab depending on whether or not your form sends mail. Select a formatting style from the format drop down select box.