CGI and Dreamweaver MX

[chinab]

I am just starting out with this webmastering thing and is inandated (however you spell this word) with the info on the CGI scripts and codes and all of the FormMail bases which tells you at length all of the words to use. But, what I'd like to know is step by step on how to use and activate a simple "text field" on my pages so that visitors can submit their email and that info can go to my email here.

I am using Dreamweaver MX and I see where I can set everything up in Dreamweaver with their recordset dialog boxes but I'm brain stuck on that as well when asked info about "Connection" thus this way not working. Any suggestions on how to set up a simple text field in Dreamweaver mx?

Thanks. China.

[Marble]

Text field:

<form name="someName" method="post" action="someAction.php" >
<input type="text" name="txtName" />
<input type="submit" name="btnSubmit" value="Submit" />
</form>

That is a simple input form with a submit button.

If you were to do it graphically or let dreamweaver write he code: insert --> form --> *choose which one*

But then you see the action part of the form tag? That can either be a file name which will process the form data, or it can be "self" if the script is written on the same page as the form html.

HTML can't do anything but markup, ie. display stuff like colors and tables. So you need some kind of server side language, like CGI (which is usually Perl), or PHP, or ASP to handle the data. So if you are making an email script you are going to make the form submit to some script that will gather the inputed data and then do something with it, in this case email it.

I am not sure exactly what script you are using or what you are trying to do so maybe explain some more?

[chinab]

Hi. What I have is a webpage and at the bottom I wanted a text field box with the submit button next to it so that visitors can submit their email address, and then i can go to my email account to retrieve their messages.

I was asked what kind of language was I using? Honestly, I am so very new to this and was not using any particular language. What I was doing, what I thought I was supposed to do was this: I clicked the 2nd button (text field) button in the Insert Forms area and then I typed in the code similar to what you (Marble) had just sent me, in the code area with a redirection action to a thankyou. page. But when i did this, the code only showed up on my actual page as if i typed it on the page. What would be the easiest way to perform this task? Especially for a beginner such as myself.

[chinab]

Just to add to my last reply, I see the coding, but just wanted to make sure ---- Do I actually type this code in the coding area? There's already some type of starting code in the Code Area the minute you click on the text field in the webpage. SHould I delete the beginning code thats already there and start all over (copy and paste) or should I just type in the actions and "some name" in that area that already began?

Also, I thought somewhere I was supposed to put cgi-bin/formMail.pl in the code.

[Marble]

.pl means its a Perl script. Which is a server-side language, which means the server handles it. What you should do is post the actual files you are using because it might be easier to show you from your files...