FrontPage Error with E-Mail Forms

[Johann]

Hello,

I run http://www.cancun-discounts.com, and I recently implemented a
FrontPage form on our site for our newsletter (see it in the upper right of
our page). When a user enters an e-mail address, and hits submit, instead of
the confirmation page, a user is shown an error page stating:

FrontPage Error
User: please report details to this site's webmaster.
Webmaster: please see the server's system log for more details.

I still receive the e-mail. In fact, I receive it twice each time they hit
submit! The user just doesn't know that it's working. Instead of directing
to a confirmation page located at
http://www.cancun-discounts.com/confirm.htm, the user is redirected to
http://www.cancun-discounts.com/_vti_bin/shtml.exe/index.htm, where the error
page exists.

I've set my permissions to allow anonymous users, my web host says that
everything is installed correctly, I've reinstalled the extensions, I've
recalculated the hyperlinks. I've even reinstalled the forms. The weird
thing is that I am getting the e-mail (twice). My host and I are out of
ideas.

I am running FrontPage Server extensions Version 5.0.2.2634 on an
Apache/1.3.33 Unix server. I am running FrontPage XP.

I sure appreciate anybody's help on this!!

 

[sheetrum]

Well....,

I don't know if it makes a difference, but on the forms I have published, I
have only used "confirm.htm" instead of the complete URL. This keeps a copy
of confirm.htm in the same web as the originating page.

As for the 2 emails, I'm at a loss. Maybe you could try changing the
"Reply-to line:" to "EMail" instead of having "Cancun Discounts Newsletter"
for both the Subject line and Reply-to line. If you change the "Reply-to
line:" to "EMail", make sure you check the "Form field name" for that field.

 

[Johann]

I also have just "confirm.htm" written in (the relative URL not the
absolute), I was just printing the whole thing for clarity of the question.

I'll try the EMail thing, but since it's only what's in the subject line,
and not an actual command, I don't know what that will solve. At least maybe
I can see if it is both the reply to and subject that are being sent to me or
only the same one twice.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Stefan B Rusynko]

Form names can not have spaces in them
You have Cancun Discounts Newsletter
- change it to Cancun_Discounts_Newsletter
And the Reply to field is not valid
You have
b-email-label-fields="TRUE" b-email-replyto-from-field="FALSE" s-email-replyto="Cancun Discounts Newsletter"
Should be
b-email-label-fields="TRUE" b-email-replyto-from-field="FALSE" s-email-replyto="EMail"

 

[Johann]

Stefan,

I appreciate the help. I changed those things, but it still doesn't work.
I give up. Everything I try to do that used FP extensions is a pain in the
butt. I wanted to use it for forms and the usage statistics, but neither of
these work. Plus, publishing with FP instead of FTP is being frustrating
too. I'm just going to remove the FP extensions from my server and use other
methods. These issues have been a problem with FP as long as I can remember,
and there are so many other methods out there that actually work, there's
just no point fighting it any more.

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

I have been building FP based web sites since 1998 and all have been hosted on servers that support
the FP extensions, and they all work well, the biggest issue is how the server is setup and
configured to support the extensions.

Many Unix/Linux host today really have no clue about the FP extensions, as they are made available
to users by the host's control panel vendor. When there is a problem with the extensions these host
have to wait for the control panel vendor to provide a fix or an update.

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================

 

[Johann]

I just uninstalled the server extensions, and replaced my form with the
FormMail CGI, and Presto! In about two and a half minutes, my form works
perfectly. That was a lot easier than the days I've spent researching online
forums and the dozen or so e-mails I've traded with my webhost about this.
Same thing with usage statistics. Finally gave up after days, installed
Extreme Tracker and Presto! Problem solved within minutes. I bet the
..htaccess problem I'm having will be cleared up too.

I get what you're saying, Thomas. I too think that my webhost had a setting
wrong and wasn't getting it. They administer Apache on Unix, and don't
really know enough to help. I think this is a common problem, but is easily
solved by ditching the extensions and doing things another way.