CGI Scripts

These two perl scripts are approved for use on web.mit.edu:

1. Translateform.pl

Translateform.pl is a perl script that will take an html form page and generate the text file necessary to work with cgiemail to deliver an email message when a user clicks submit on your form page. To use translateform, simply connect securely to athena, and enter the two following commands, editing the two file names in the second command appropriately:

add cwis
translateform foo.html bar.txt

Foo.html refers to your html file which contains the form and bar.txt is the filename you've designated for the text file that will list the fields from the form in the emails that get generated from the form. It is important to note that translateform currently does not prompt for recipient (that's you) email addresses, so these will need to be added by hand in the resulting text file before it can be used by cgiemail.

More information on this script can be found at http://web.mit.edu/is/web/reference/create/faq/translateform.html.

2. Process-comments.pl

Once you have collected the email reponses to your web page form, you may want to convert them into a text file which is properly formatted for easy import into a database like Filemaker Pro.

1. To use process-comments.pl you must first get a copy of the script. To do this, connect securely to athena, navigate to your desired directory, and enter the following command, on a single line, separated by spaces:

add cwis; cp /mit/cwis/process/process-comments.pl process-comments.pl

This will put a copy of the script in whatever directory you are currently located.

2. Next, Upload the Eudora folder where you have stored the email form reponses. Upload the messages as a text document to same directory where you have copied process-comments.

3. At the athena prompt, type:
process-comments.pl file.txt

Substitute for file.txt whatever you have named the uploaded file of email messages.

4. The script will generate a tab-delimited text file named process.out. Download process.out in ascii format to your local computer.

5. Import process.out into your database, mapping your fields appropriately.

For further information on process-comments.pl, see http://web.mit.edu/is/web/reference/create/faq/process-comments.html.