Comments Forms

• comments.html - A sample comments form that users fill out and send.
• response.html - A sample response form that users see.
• mgate.forms - A master forms file that you maintain.

This help file explains how to modify and use those files. The steps publishers must follow to implement the comments form on their Web pages are below.

Note: If you will be creating many forms, take a look at this mgate.forms file with multiple entries.

• In your Web publishing directory, create a subdirectory called forms
• Copy the files listed above to your forms subdirectory. Print the files, if necessary to understand them.

2. EDIT COMMENTS.HTML

This is the forms file that users will fill out, and then submit by clicking a Send button. You can change the layout and even add new fields, but you should use the fields that are currently in the form named subject, from, and body.

• Open comments.html with your favorite editor.
• Edit the POST ACTION= line, which looks like this:
  
  

  	http://host/cgi-bin/mgate/path/to/forms/mgate.forms?comments
  where
  	host is the host the gateway runs on, i.e.:
  		www.utexas.edu uts.cc.utexas.edu ccwf.cc.utexas.edu studentorgs.utexas.edu
  	/cgi-bin/mgate/ is a constant that you must use.
  	path/to/forms is the path to your forms directory. This will be very similar to your url.
  		/students/sa/forms /depts/admissions/forms ~mendez/forms
  	/mgate.forms is the name of your master forms file, which should be mgate.forms if you follow the instructions in this file.
  	?comments is the name of your comments form file, which should be comments if you follow the instructions in this file. Do include the ?

3. EDIT RESPONSE.HTML

This file is automatically displayed when a user successfully completes and submits the form in comments.html.

• Open response.html with your favorite editor.
• Change the mail ID to your mail ID and complete the signature section at the end of the file.

4. EDIT MGATE.FORMS

• You must change the four form lines near the bottom of the file. You will:
  
  
  1. change the e-mail address where you want the form data to be sent,
  2. specify which form fields are required,
  3. specify which fields should be sent in the body of the e-mail message, and
  4. specify the URL of the response file, which the user will receive after submitting a form.
  
  Places where you must make changes are marked with ^^^^^^^ symbols and the file contains notes to help you make the changes correctly.

5. TEST AND INSTALL YOUR FORM

• Fill out the form and send yourself a test message or two. You know that it works when you get the proper response file and when you get the form data via e-mail.
• After the form works, add a regular HREF to comments.html on the appropriate pages.