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PonyExpress Overview
When using PonyExpress you will include some additional information
about your form using "hidden" tags. These are actually <INPUT>
tags of TYPE="hidden", each with a unique NAME and, in most cases,
a VALUE. It is a good habit to add all your hidden tags immediately
after your opening FORM tag,
as this makes it easier to access these tags and troubleshoot problems
with your form. Here's an example segment:
<form method="post" action="/htbin/ponyexpress2">
If your form lives on people.bu.edu use "/cgi-bin/ponyexpress2"
in place of "/htbin/ponyexpress2" as shown above.
<input type="hidden" name="to" value="someone@bu.edu">
<input type="hidden" name="form_location" value="/somesite/comments/">
<input type="hidden" name="return" value="thankyou.html">
<input type="hidden" name="output" value="index.html">
<input type="hidden" name="required" value="lastname, firstname,
email, comments">
<input type="hidden" name="mail_to_admin" value="yes">
<input type="hidden" name="mail_to_visitor" value="yes">
<input type="hidden" name="timestamp" value="!date">
...
There is one variable which
is never hidden: the "email" (or "email_address") variable. This
variable is used when you send reply e-mails to visitors, and so
should be of type "text," to allow visitors to supply their own
addresses.
It is also important that the email
field be required. If a visitor to your site does not provide a
valid email address, then mail from the form will arrive from
PonyExpress@bu.edu instead of from the vistor's email address.
Without their e-mail address, you might have no way to contact
them.
The following table shows some of the tags used by PonyExpress
forms. Depending on what your form does, you may only need a few
of these in your form. Those that are required
are shown in black.
Special Tags
for PonyExpress Forms |
Tag NAME |
How To Use |
Sample Tag VALUE |
General |
to |
Replace with one or more e-mail addresses
in a comma-separated list. This is the address where admin e-mail
will be sent. |
someone@bu.edu
Note that non-BU addresses must be registered first with PonyExpress.
Use our standard question
form to request this if needed. |
form_location
(required if using template files or writing to database files)
|
Replace with the path to your output
files and/or templates, starting with your site directory name.
This can be a different directory than the one in which your
form resides. Opening and closing slashes are optional. |
yoursite/subdir/forms
or
/somesite/comments/ |
return |
Replace with the URL of a page to
display after a visitor completes the form. With guestbooks,
this could be the actual guestbook page. |
/mysite/subdir/thankyou.html
or
thankyou.html
Note that relative URLs are relative to your "form_location"
variable, not necessarily to the form itself. |
required |
List the fields you require the visitor
to fill out. |
firstname,
lastname, comments |
order |
List the order in which form fields
should be output in unformatted e-mails or database files. Fields
not listed here will be output alphabetically after any given
in this field. |
firstname,
lastname, email, comments |
timestamp |
Provide a format for timestamping
entries. See Date and Time Variables
below. |
!time, !date |
$ANYTHING |
Generically include HTTP environment
variables in the output. See Environment
Variables below. |
$REMOTE_HOST |
DEBUG |
Set this to "yes" to have all the form data output
right back to the browser. This is useful in troubleshooting
problems with your form. |
yes |
majordomo_subscribe |
Subscribe the email address entered into the
"email" text field to your BU majordomo mailing
list. |
my-bu-mailinglist-l |
majordomo_unsubscribe |
Unsubscribe the email address entered
into the "email" text field to your BU majordomo mailing
list. |
my-bu-mailinglist-l |
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