• To submit bug reports, comments, suggestions, and questions
• To ORDER FormSaver (Using a FormSaver form!)
* NOTE: Full documentation is not included with this archive.
Visit the FormSaver web page for the latest documentation.
For additional information or questions, feel free to contact me at <brad@pliner.com>
What is FormSaver?
FormSaver is a CGI application (Common Gateway Interface) which communicates with your web server. FormSaver allows you to easily implement HTML forms for user feedback. For example, you may wish to set up a form for ordering products, registering products, accepting user feedback, and so on. FormSaver takes all the information entered on the form and saves it into a tab-delimitted file. Next, if all goes well, a custom response file is loaded up and displayed to the user. The owner of the page can download this tab-delimitted file on a regular basis and import it into any database program. The user can do this on any platform, be it Mac, PC, or Unix, because all the data is stored in a plain text file. The output file is called filename.fs, assuming your html file is called filename.html. And it is saved in the same directory as the html file.
What's New in Version 1.5.2 ?
Two changes affecting those odd web browsers (AOL, etc) which require the "workaround" tag:
• Serious bug fixed. This would give error messages to users and would sometimes save responses into the wrong data files, if you use more than one form with FormSaver.
• FormSaver now allows these browsers to create new data files when necessary.
What's New in Version 1.5.1 ?
• All references to the FormSaver web page and E-mail address have been updated to the new domain name.
• Recompiled with the latest CodeWarrior updates
• Minor code improvements
What's New in Version 1.5 ?
• Compatible with WebStar SSL! (As of 1.4.2, which was not released publicly)
• Multiple-type fields are now supported! ("checkbox", "multiple", and multiply-defined fields)
• Numfields tag is now optional! Now it's even easier to set up your forms!
• Some bug fixes, minor enhancements, and better handling of low memory situtations
(See Version History for more information, or visit http://www.pliner.com/formsaver/version.html)
What are the system requirements?
FormSaver runs as an acgi (asynchronous CGI) under WebStar or MacHTTP, on the Macintosh.
PowerPC and 68K versions are available. For security reasons, NetPresenz is not recommended for use with FormSaver.
Why would I want to use FormSaver, as opposed to the alternatives?
FormSaver is not a script, its an actual program. This makes it much faster than scripting alternatives.
FormSaver does not require a database program to run on your web server. Other solutions, which communicate with database applications, are much slower because of this. Also, because a database program does not need to be running, ram requirements for FormSaver are minimal (About 300k)
Any user, with minimal HTML knowledge, can set up a form that uses FormSaver. This means your users don't need to do scripting, nor do they need to run custom software to handle their forms. Not only does this make life much easier for your users, it also greatly reduces security risks. Allowing users to run custom software or scripts on your server is a serious security risk!!!
Additional FormSaver Plus Features:
Custom response pages! This is what the user sees after submitting data. Just name a text file as "filename.fsr" if your web page is called "filename.html" and put it in the same folder as the web page. For complete documentation, see the FormSaver documentation pages.
FormSaver checks the domain name in the URL, for increased security. This way, people can't access FormSaver from web pages that are not actually on your server. So, for example, people can not copy your forms to their local computer, modify them, and submit them from their local machine. They must visit your server to access your forms.
Additional FormSaver ISP Features:
(Includes all of the FormSaver Plus features)
Able to restrict the ability to use FormSaver to specific web pages. This way, if you are an ISP you can stop clients from being able to use FormSaver. Therefore you can charge them for this service if you so choose. To do this, you must set a password in the FormSaver preferences dialog box. Next, you have to create a realm to a web page, using the same ID and password as you used in the FormSaver preferences. That page should contain a link to "/formsaver.acgi$ADMIN".
FormSaver ISP allows a virtually unlimited number of domain names, but they still must be registered with me.
LIMITATIONS
• Of course FormSaver doesn't do everything. If you have specific needs you wish to accomplish with FormSaver, please contact me for pricing. I can custom tailor a version of FormSaver for you.
• The path from the WebStar/MacHTTP directory to the web page using FormSaver may not contain an alias. MacHTTP has this same limit, anyway, so this does not affect MacHTTP users. WebStar users should keep this in mind. I'm working on a fix.
• Do not use FormSaver with NetPresenz. There is no way to protect your FormSaver data files from prying eyes using NetPresenz. Either use WebStar/MacHTTP, or kindly ask Peter Lewis to address this.
INSTALLATION
(See the web page for the latest version of the documentation.)
• Put FormSaver.acgi directly in the WebStar directory. You may not rename it.
• Configure WebStar/MacHTTP to disallow people from accessing your .fs files. Full documentation online.
• ISP Version: Put an ID and password in the FormSaver preferences dialog box. (Do not hit return).
LEGAL INFO
"FormSaver", it's logo, and it's icon are trademarks of Bradley S. Pliner.
