Mailto Help

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Mailto Help

Mailto Help

To provide a link to a simple form to allow browsers to send feedback, simply link to your mailto ID. For example:

<a href="/mailto/helpdesk">Helpdesk Feedback</a>

If the page you are linking from is not on https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/, you'll need to provide an absolute URL:

<a href="http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/mailto/helpdesk">Helpdesk Feedback</a>

What Next?

The simple form shows a generic 'thankyou' page after the user has submitted feedback. To provide your own page in place of this, add ?NEXT_URL=url to the link. For example:

<a href="/mailto/helpdesk?NEXT_URL=/iss/">Helpdesk Feedback</a>

You can also use this technique to specify a default subject line on the simple form.

Advanced use

You can also use the Feedback system as a form handler.
Notice that the ID, NEXT_URL and subject have been given as hidden fields, so that the user will not be shown them, and cannot (easily) change them.

For example, the following HTML:

<form action="/mailto/steveb" method=POST>
<input type=hidden name="subject" value="survey response">
<input type=hidden name="NEXT_URL" value="/mailto/help2">
<input type=hidden name="MSG_FIELDS" value="name,email,surveyq1,surveyq2,surveyq3">

<br>Your Name: <input name="name" size=40 value="">
<br>Your Email: <input name="email" size=40 value="">

<p>Q1. Do you like the mailto service?
<br><input type=radio name="surveyq1" value="yes">Yes
<br><input type=radio name="surveyq1" value="no">No

<p>Q2. Do you think you'll use it much?
<br><input type=radio name="surveyq2" value="yes">Yes
<br><input type=radio name="surveyq2" value="no">No
<br><input type=radio name="surveyq2" value="maybe">Maybe

<p>Q3. What will you use it for?
<br><input type=checkbox name="surveyq3[]" value="mailto"> Replacement for mailto: URLs
<br><input type=checkbox name="surveyq3[]" value="forms"> Complex form handling
<br><input type=checkbox name="surveyq3[]" value="other"> Other stuff

<input type=submit value="OK""><br>
</form>

Produces a form like this:

Things to notice:

Fields like 'subject' and 'NEXT_URL' can be configured within the form as "hidden" fields. This hides them from view, and prevents the user from easily modifying them.
other input types, such as radio buttons and checkboxes, can be used.
When using an input type that supports multiple simultaneous values (like a checkbox), the name used to hold the result must be specified as an array ("thing[]" instead of "thing"), otherwise only one value will be returned.