Member Avatar for thejonnotjohn

Ok, my house is having a function and we need to have people register online so we have all the information before the event. The form i created sends the form to my email address, BUT it routing it through their email address and making them use there default client like outlook or aol, which apparently no one uses to send emails and it is not working. I need a way to submit text fields like first name last name and radial button yes or no questions to my email address or have it saved somewhere so i can view it.

Please any help will be GREATLY APPRECIATED. This event is saturday and we need to fix this asap

thank you.

jon

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The form in the original post is acting as a client-side e-mail link (mailto) so the visitor’s local mail program is opened — which is unreliable on campus/public machines. and were correct to point out that a server-side solution or a hosted form is the right approach. Two practical, low-effort paths follow: a quick hosted form for immediate results, or a small server-side handler for control and storage.

If no hosting access is available, use a hosted form (Google Forms, Formspree, etc.) and export responses as a spreadsheet — fastest way to collect signups for an imminent event. If hosting with PHP/ASP is available, point the HTML form (method="post") to a server script that validates inputs, prevents header injection, and either sends mail via authenticated SMTP (recommended) or appends rows to a CSV/DB for later export. Prebuilt single-file handlers exist, but choose maintained code and configure a domain-based From address to avoid spam filters.

Example PHP send handler (minimal; adapt and secure for production):

<?php
if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] !== 'POST') exit;
function clean($s){ return preg_replace("/[\r\n]+/", " ", trim(strip_tags($s ?? ''))); }
$first = clean($_POST['first'] ?? ''); $last = clean($_POST['last'] ?? '');
$email = filter_var(trim($_POST['email'] ?? ''), FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) ?: '';
$attend = clean($_POST['attend'] ?? '');
if (!$first || !$last){ http_response_code(400); exit; }
$to = 'organiser@example.com';
$subject = "Registration: $first $last";
$body = "Name: $first $last\nEmail: $email\nAttending: $attend\n";
$headers = "From: no-reply@yourdomain.com\r\n" . ($email ? "Reply-To: $email\r\n" : '');
mail($to, $subject, $body, $headers);
fputcsv(fopen('registrations.csv','a'), [$first,$last,$email,$attend,date('c')]);
echo 'OK';
?>

Troubleshooting and cautions: check spam folders and host mail logs, verify the host supports PHP mail() (or use SMTP with PHPMailer), use a From address on the site domain and configure SPF/DKIM for deliverability, always validate/sanitize inputs and use HTTPS, and prefer storing submissions in a CSV/DB for reliability. ’s pointer to script repositories can help when looking for ready-made handlers, but pick maintained, secure options.

Recommended Answers

All 5 Replies

Member Avatar for katarey

Do you know any server side scripting like PHP or ASP ?

Member Avatar for thejonnotjohn

no i dont...do you know of any websites that have like templates or anything...my ass is getting chewed out right now becuase i cant make this work!

Member Avatar for MidiMagic

If you are on a university, the problem may be that the email and web functions are on different hosts. This is done to prevent spam.

Thus, the web connection the user has can't access the email host which is not connected. So the send mail function can't possibly work.

Member Avatar for rgtaylor

First of all, the mailto: URL will only work if the client machine is configured for e-mail... which on a campu they aren't because that is user specific to each machine...the server doesn't matter.... it is a client side issue...

Next, it can be done with Server Side scripting or programming but you need a server to use, or a hosting account with access to php, or JSP, etc... you can setup ANY mail client you want to use to send the message from the server, but it has to be setup to forward the mail messages... which means either a poorly setup mail server, spammers take advantage of those, or a valid account on a mail server...

You can use JSP or A servlet to do it... VERY easy... OR you can have a DB available to your hosting account and store the data there... then have a page to show you the data in a list...then you can view, print, etc. as you need...

Unfortunately, with html & JS only, expcet for server-side JS you can't do this....

Member Avatar for niceboy

try hotscripts.com, there are literally hundreds of php scripts for you to use.

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