Willmaster Feedback

User's Manual

The Willmaster Feedback form, the PHP code to process the form submission, and the post-submission "thank you" message are all in the same web page source code.

To work correctly, Willmaster Feedback must be a PHP web page (usually requires a file name ending with .php).

Overview

Here is an overview of the order to place the various parts of the Willmaster Feedback system in your web page.

Start of web page

Head area of web page source code

Optional above the form content

Willmaster Feedback PHP code

Feedback form

Post-submission "thank you" message

Optional below the form content

End of web page

The above bolded items are elements of Willmaster Feedback.

The WillmasterFeedback.php example file that came with the download contains all of the above various parts. The parts are marked in the source code of the example file.

The example file is a working form (except it won't send an email to you until you customize the PHP code with your email address).

Let's first talk about customizing the Willmaster Feedback PHP code. Then, talk about making the form. After that, I'll show you how to make a post-submission "thank you" message.

The PHP Code

Before proceeding, make a copy of WillmasterFeedback.php in case it's needed for starting over or for making another form. You may also download another copy from the Willmaster Feedback download page.

In the PHP code, you'll see a section with 9 places to customize. The customization section is near the top of the file, below the title/copyright information section.

The customization section is marked. Each customization is explained. Here is a list of the things that can be customized.

Where the email is sent to.
A Cc address, if applicable
A Bcc address, if applicable.
Where the email is sent from.
The subject for the email.
An place to specify the information order in the email.
The soonest the form may be submitted (for anti-spam).
The latest the form may be submitted (for anti-spam).
Whether or not to use JavaScript form protection.

When those customizations are completed, the PHP code is ready.

Important:

Upload the modified software to your server and type its URL into your browser. Use the form. (See the "Testing" section, further below.)

It's important to test it in order to uncover any errors in email addresses or otherwise before going live with your own form.

Testing after every set of changes can bypass a lot of frustration likely to build when an error is searched for that could be in any one of different places.

Your Own Form

Make a copy of your form and remove the <form...> and </form> tags at the top and bottom of the form.

Make a copy of the page customized and tested above. (The original can be used for other forms.)

Save the copy with a temporary file name, but with a .php file name extension.

In the temporary file, remove lines between the <form...> and </form> tags. (In version 1.0, that would be form line 240 to line 268. In later versions, the line numbers might change.)

Replace those lines with the code for your own form, the one with the <form...> and </form> tags removed.

Save the temporary file and upload it to the server.

Test the form. (See the "Testing" section, further below.)

When the form works as expected, the temporary page can be your own header, footer, navigation other visual design elements. Then test it again just to make sure nothing broke during the modification.

When everything works and you're ready to go live, save the temporary page as with the file name it is to have as a live web page. (The file name must have a .php extension; in other words, the file name must end with ".php", such as "contact.php")

Testing

Verify your form information emails arrive. (Sometimes, email is slow, depending on the resources of your server and the servers the email has to pass through. Generally, emails arrive within a few minutes. There have been instances, where it has required a few hours.)

If you have customized the $JavaScriptFormProtection variable in the PHP code to anything other than "off," verify the form will not give you the post-submission "thank you" message if you load the page with your browser's JavaScript turned off.

(When the post-submission "thank you" message is not displayed after the form is submitted, it means the software thought it was an automated submission by a robot.)

When you customized the PHP code, you specified a begin and end time within which the form may be submitted. Verify the form will not give you the post-submission "thank you" message if you submit the form before or after those specified times.

Other Notes

Technical support is available at the Willmaster.com Support for Our Free CGI and PHP Software forum.

Optional: We would appreciate a link back to our web site as a thank-you for this free software. Something like this would be appreciated, perhaps somewhere next to the form:

Willmaster.com is a PR 5 web site, safe to link to.

If you need more functionality:

File Uploads.
Multi-page forms.
Customized thank-you pages with calculations option.
Form information stored in MySQL table.

Consider Master Form PHP. It can be found at http://www.willmaster.com/software/formPHP/

(Master Form PHP has no PHP code customizations. All customizations are in it's control panel.)

Thank you for using Willmaster Feedback.