Not That You Can’t…

I’ve been a long time, FrontPage user. One of the things FrontPage does fairly well is create form handlers (and the form designer) itself. Although it’s very easy to use, it does have some limitations such as: You can only have form data sent to one e-mail address (without drastic countermeasures), there’s not built in facility to send a confirmation message to the form filler, you can’t FTP the form to the server, it must be http:// published or it’ll fail, etc.

In most cases it’s perfectly fine to use and is wicked fast. IMHO you should always use a custom form confirmation page since the default confirmation is so butt-ugly, plus it’s so easy to make one that there’s no reason not to.

In some instances the FrontPage form handler either isn’t available in the environment you’re working in, or it’s not appropriate to use because of the requirements or publishing method.

While you can always hand code your own form handler in PHP, ASP, or whatever server side scripting flavor you want, it’s not always fast or easy. Fast and easy are two things that always help maximize your profit potential.

Enter Cluxa! This is just a tiny little script, and cheap to boot ($15.00). You just upload it to your Web site (upload it on your own domain, no need to put it in the client’s site). Make your form with FrontPage’s form designer, or whatever HTML editor you like.

Create the “form handler” in Cluxa’s online interface and use it’s ID# (plus the URL on your server) as the “form action” and VOILA! You’ve got high end functionality on a form such as multiple email recipients, custom confirmation email you can send to the form submitter’s email. You can add attachments capability to both the form being submitted (the user sends you an attached file) or you can attach a file to the confirmation email. The list of features is really great. It’s so damn easy to use you’ll fall off your chair.

I rigged one up today and it was a total piece of cake. The next thing I’m going to look into with it is this: I can add an email address like  fax at example.com and let outlook’s rules wizard fax the from information to the site owner. This’ll be great for some non-computer using clients I’ve got.

I’m totally in love with this script. It’s very nicely done, although the docs are a little cumbersome, and it comes with a free trial. I encourage anyone who needs to do fancy form functionality quickly to take a good look at it.

See Cluxa’s site for more information.

Chris Leeds, MVP, WPD
Chris Leeds is a longtime digital photographer and Web enthusiast.

Chris has recently developed and released a software product that allows Webmasters to create Web sites that can be edited by their clients with just a browser.

Chris also maintains and operates Northeast Digital Photo.

Chris has additionally had “Tips and Tricks” and numerous articles published, on Microsoft’s site and other locations, regarding various facets of FrontPage and recently served as a technical reviewer for the O’Reilly Press “FrontPage 2003 the Missing Manual.”

[tags]frontpage,forms,form handlers,email forms,chris leeds,cluxa[/tags]