Re: Mailer programs [long again!]

More or less, the method has been named by Terri. Let me elaborate:

Part A: How to Start
--------------------
   You need a simple <form> with one text field and one submit
   button. You might have seen the code on a lot of sites -- "If
   you want to know when the site is updated, just type in your
   e-mail address and press 'submit'". The standard "mailto" or
   a CGI-powered one.

   But how do you make it so that people requesting information
   get only a particular information?

Part B: Getting it to work
--------------------------
   Method 1 : The easy way
      The best way is to add an auto-responder. If your hosting
      service allows free use of it, server-side auto-responders
      work the best. But you can also use a software-based auto-
      response solution (which is not recommended for heavy
      traffic sites).

      Server-Side Auto-Responder
         In the <form> you set up above, you put the <To:> to be a
         unique address for every different "pre-fab" info. Then, at
         your server-side, you configure an auto-responder that sends
         a particular "pre-fab" info packet if mail is sent to a
         particular e-mail address. Prob. solved.!
      Software-based Auto-Responder
         In some cases, you might have a "collect-all" mailbox
         provided to you. In some cases you might not. In the above
         case, your putting a different <To:> address will work as
         best as will putting a single address but a different
         <Subject:> line in the message.

         Then, you just configure your e-mail client to respond
         automatically with a particular pre-fab e-mail by checking
         up the subject using "filters/rules" (I know that Eudora &
         OE allow this type of filtering/ruling and responding)

   Method 2 : A wee harder
   -----------------------
      The other way is to use a CGI script if you have access to
      CGI-BIN. Make a search on the numerous CGI sites like
      Freecode [1], Free Scripts [2], CGI Resources [3], Extropia [4],
      WebScripts [5], Matt's Script Archive [6], FreeScripts Net [7],
      The CGI Collection [8], The CGI Directory [9], Get Free
      Scripts [10], CGI Guru [11] etc. and you'll come upon a lot
      of scripts that are just the right medicine

      #1 : Raw responder
         In this type of script, you have a typical "option" form
         and when you press the "submit" button, the info is parsed
         by a CGI script and it picks up text from various text files
         depending on the selected options and mails a consolidated
         e-mail to the request party.
      #2 : Emulator
         Somewhat like the above, here the script only sends one
         subject-wise mail at a time.

Well you got the idea... ;-)

---
 [1] http://www.freecode.com/
 [2] http://www.freescripts.com/
 [3] http://www.cgi-resources.com/
 [4] http://www.extropia.com/products.html
 [5] http://www.awsd.com/scripts/
 [6] http://www.worldwidemart.com/scripts/
 [7] http://www.free-scripts.net/
 [8] http://www.itm.com/cgicollection/
 [9] http://www.cgidir.com/
[10] http://www.getfreescripts.com/
[11] http://www.cgiguru.com/

[abhay]

----- Original Message -----
From: WebmasterCollege.com <webmaster(at)webmastercollege.com>
Sent: Monday, October 25, 1999 6:40 AM


> You could attach and autoresponse message to an email address,
> or use an HTML form powered by a perl script that will send an
> autoresponse message.
>
> Ask your web host--these services are usually provided free,
> or at least very cheap.
>
> Terri Thomas
>
> > How can I set it up on my site so that a visitor can have
> > some "pre-fab" information mailed to him or her?

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