Question on mailto:

**Magoo5289** · Apr 21, 2002, 16:02

Is there a way to get mailto: to accept a value on the webpage it is being submitted from? for example, i have a dropdown list of names with email addresses as their values. Can i use the value of that email address selected to as the mailto: address?

**Tiggy** · Apr 21, 2002, 16:21

Sounds like something that is very possible with JavaScript, unfortunately I'm not able to tell you how since it is not my language of choice. I'm sure someone else reading this will be able to help with the specifics... about all I can tell you is that it will involve a document.write and a selectedIndex of sorts...

**Andrew-J2000** · Apr 22, 2002, 00:48

PHP Code:




method A. (without emails in array)



<script>

        function getSelectedValue(selectObject)

        {

            return selectObject.options[selectObject.selectedIndex].value

        }



        function openIT(opt)

        {



            document.location.href = opt;

        }

</script>



    <form name="form1">



        <select name="opts" style="font: 8pt verdana;">

    

          <option value="mailto:1@hotmail.com">1@hotmail.com</option>

          <option value="mailto:2@hotmail.com">2@hotmail.com</option>

          <option value="mailto:3@hotmail.com">3@hotmail.com</option>

          <option value="mailto:4@hotmail.com">4@hotmail.com</option>

          <option value="mailto:5@hotmail.com">5@hotmail.com</option>

        </select>

        

        <input type="button" value="open" name="open" id="open" onclick="openIT(getSelectedValue(this.form.opts))">



    </form>

method 2 (with array)

PHP Code:




<script>

        var people = new Array();

        people[0]  = '1@hotmail.com';

        people[1]  = '2@hotmail.com';

        people[2]  = '3@hotmail.com';

        people[3]  = '4@hotmail.com';

        people[4]  = '5@hotmail.com';



        function getSelectedValue(selectObject)

        {

            return selectObject.options[selectObject.selectedIndex].value

        }



        function openIT(opt)

        {



            document.location.href = opt;

        }

</script>



    <form name="form1">



        <select name="opts" style="font: 8pt verdana;">

          <script>

            for (a=0;a<=people.length;a++)

            {

                document.write ('<option value="mailto:' + people[a] + '">' + people[a] + '</option>')

            }

          </script>

        </select>

        

        <input type="button" value="open" name="open" id="open" onclick="openIT(getSelectedValue(this.form.opts))">



    </form>

**Magoo5289** · Apr 24, 2002, 09:17

Is there any way to incoprprate this with a submit button on a different form? form1 has users enter data, below that is form2 with processed data which populates a textarea. i have it configured to send to an email address specified in a drop down list, but now I want to send that populated textarea to the email and have it sent automatically.

**Andrew-J2000** · Apr 24, 2002, 09:28

I would give you a demo but the exact thing your asking for is here

http://members.aol.com/grassblad/

**Magoo5289** · Apr 24, 2002, 11:01

Which one of the opics is this listed under? I am also cocnerned about the security implications of having everything run client side. Is there a way to encrypt this email so that it cannot fall into the wrong hands and be understandable?

**Andrew-J2000** · Apr 24, 2002, 11:27

http://members.aol.com/grassblad/html/selCascade1.html

well the only way to influence the way the emails sent is by making your own email as this method simply uses the clients default email system, ie outlook express or hotmail.com in mycase.

if you want to create a dynamic method use php/asp or any server side language.

however this http://www.webmasterbase.com/article/679 php method will allow you to sort your own email system. Or http://www.webmasterbase.com/article/596 use this asp method

**Magoo5289** · Apr 24, 2002, 12:27

Ok I've gotten failt far with it so far. right now I'm kind of stuck though. If I have the form set with the action to mail it to my email address, the form is sent over with all of the data from the form. However if it's set up to send out in the manner coded above, no data is enclosed in the body of the email. Is there a way to incorporate that into the function as otherwise it just sends an empty email? Sorry I know VB but have had absolutely no exposure to java.

**Andrew-J2000** · Apr 25, 2002, 13:01

post your form or give a link or what you have so far. And vbscript will only work in microsft internet explorer, so try to stick to java

**Magoo5289** · Apr 26, 2002, 09:00

I hate to do this to you but i don't have anywhere to to ftp this up to at the moment. Corporate has to approve of the site before any part of it can go online. but anyway here is the code as it stands. I've commented out the field checking logic so you should be able to run it much quicker. Also do you know how to get rid of the conversion of < and > into &;gt &;lt or whatever it is when you cut and paste code betweeen programs? Thanks for all your help by the way

**Andrew-J2000** · Apr 26, 2002, 09:15

wheres the code?

and use notepad to do that

**Magoo5289** · Apr 26, 2002, 09:36

I'm convinced the problem is that there is a lack of an action command in the form description. but here is the code as i have it, minus working code that would only take up space and slow you down.

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE></TITLE>
</HEAD>
<script>


</script>
<form name="quickForm">
<pre>
Were you referred to the website by an agent? <SELECT id=Select1 name=opts> <OPTION value=mailto:jrb5289@rit.edu selected>No</OPTION> <OPTION value=mailto:jamesber50@adelphia.net>James Bertram</OPTION> <OPTION value=mailto:sdfsdf@hotmail.com>Todd Taylor</OPTION> <OPTION value=mailto:asadsad@hotmail.com>Steve Jones</OPTION></SELECT>

</pre>
<pre> <INPUT id=Reset1 type=reset value=Reset name=Reset1> <input onclick="processForm (document)" type=button value="Process Data">
</pre>
</form>
<form id="Form1" name="processedForm" method="post" encType="text/plain">
<pre><TEXTAREA name=results rows=10 wrap=soft cols=60></TEXTAREA>

<input id=submit type=submit value=Submit name=Submit1 onclick= return(openIT(getSelectedValue(document.quickForm.opts)))>

</pre>
</form>
</HTML>

**Andrew-J2000** · Apr 26, 2002, 21:10

I think this is what you meant

PHP Code:




<html>

  <head>

    <title>Comments</title>

<style type="text/css">

<!-- 

body {

    background : sn#FFFAFA;

    text-align : center;

}

input {

    background : Black;

    border-bottom : none;

    border-left : none;

    border-right : none;

    border-top : none;

    font : oblique;

    font : "Times New Roman", Times, serif;

    font-size : 10px;

    text-align : center;

    text-transform : capitalize;

    vertical-align : middle;

    color : #FFFAFA;

} 

select {

    background : Black;

    border-bottom : none;

    border-left : none;

    border-right : none;

    border-top : none;

    font : oblique;

    font : "Times New Roman", Times, serif;

    font-size : 10px;

    text-align : center;

    text-transform : capitalize;

    vertical-align : middle;

    color : #FFFAFA;

}

span {

    font : italic normal lighter 12px Times New Roman;

}

-->

</style>



<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">

<!--



var emails = new Array; //stores persons email

var names  = new Array; //stores persons name of each email - each number matches ie. emails[0],names[0] ie 





/*---------------------------------------------Modify-Here---------------------------------------------*/



var form_name                 = 'form1';

var form_option                = 'mail_option';



var destination_url            = 'jkdk';

var sending_method            = 'get';

var sending_enctype            = 'text';

var sending_target            = '_self';



emails[0] = 'jrb5289@rit.edu';        // no

emails[1] = 'jamesber50@adelphia.net';    //James Bertram

emails[2] = 'sdfsdf@hotmail.com';    //Todd Taylor

emails[3] = 'asadsad@hotmail.com';    //Steve Jones



 names[0] = 'no';

 names[1] = 'James Bertram';

 names[2] = 'Todd Taylor';

 names[3] = 'Steve Jones';



/*---------------------------------------------End-of-Modify---------------------------------------------*/



/* was going to be a two dimmensional array

var arURL  = new Array;



for (a=0; a<arURL.length; i++) {

    emails[i]    = new Array();

    emails[i][0] = prefix + arURL[i];

    emails[i][1] = arTXT[i];

}

*/



var nl = '\r\n'; //new line

var result = ''+nl+nl;





         function process() //checks the form

        {

        

         x = eval('document.' + form_name + '.' + form_option + '.options[document.'  + form_name + '.' + form_option + '.selectedIndex].innerHTML;');

         

         if (document.form1.result.value=='')

         {

          result = 'please fill the textbox out for ' + x + nl;

          alert(result);//"You have not processed the data yet!"

         }

         else

         {

          send()

         }

        }

         function send() //sends the form

        {

         y = document.form1;

        



         y.action    = destination_url; //url to post to

         y.method    = sending_method;  //post or get

         y.enctype   = sending_enctype; //encoding

         y.target    = sending_target;  //_self,_parent,_top,_blank

        

        }



//--> 

</script>

  </head>

  <body>



    <form id="form1" name="processedForm">



                <span>Were you referred to the website by an agent?</span>

                <select id="mail_option" name="mail_option" onchange="defaultStatus = this.options[this.selectedIndex].value + ' = ' + this.options[this.selectedIndex].innerHTML">

                <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">

                <!--

                    document.write ('<option value=\"mailto:' + emails[0] + '\">' + names[0] + '</option>');

                    

                    for (i=1,k=emails.length;i<k;i++) //writes each email address and name in the options box

                    {

                        document.write ('<option value=\"mailto:' + emails[i] + '\">' + names[i] + '</option>');

                    }

                / -->

                </script>

            </selected><br>

 

                <textarea name="result" rows="10" wrap="soft" cols="60"></textarea><br>



                  <input id="Reset1" type="reset" value="Reset" name="Reset1"> 

                  <input id="submit" type="button" value="Submit" name="Submit" onclick="process()">

           <q></q> 

    </form>



<script>defaultStatus = document.form1.mail_option.options[document.form1.mail_option.selectedIndex].value + ' =  ' + document.form1.mail_option.options[document.form1.mail_option.selectedIndex].innerHTML;?/*statusbar*/</script>

        

  </body>

</html>

This ones for Maelstrom hopefully easy t read with a few comments in it

ps i did get a bit lazy

var form_name = 'form1';
var form_option = 'mail_option';

so you may have to change a few from1 and mail_options

theres most likely a better way to do this rather than using eval

**Magoo5289** · Apr 28, 2002, 12:01

That looks great and thank for putting in the style sheet, but the form still does not get put in an email. I can't even get a mail to send, but the status bar shows. i did a lot of playing around with it, but could not get the form to post.

**Magoo5289** · Apr 28, 2002, 12:23

I got it working. thanks for all the help!!!!

Now I just have to find out a way to get it encrypted. the full version will have the client's social security number in there and I'm concerned over that.

**Andrew-J2000** · Apr 28, 2002, 12:44

Lol i forgott to put the submit function in lol, hehe i do all that and i miss the whole point of making it in the first place lol

PHP Code:


<html>

  <head>

    <title>Comments</title>

<style type="text/css">

<!-- 

body {

    background : sn#FFFAFA;

    text-align : center;

}

input {

    background : Black;

    border-bottom : none;

    border-left : none;

    border-right : none;

    border-top : none;

    font : oblique;

    font : "Times New Roman", Times, serif;

    font-size : 10px;

    text-align : center;

    text-transform : capitalize;

    vertical-align : middle;

    color : #FFFAFA;

} 

select {

    background : Black;

    border-bottom : none;

    border-left : none;

    border-right : none;

    border-top : none;

    font : oblique;

    font : "Times New Roman", Times, serif;

    font-size : 10px;

    text-align : center;

    text-transform : capitalize;

    vertical-align : middle;

    color : #FFFAFA;

}

span {

    font : italic normal lighter 12px Times New Roman;

}

-->

</style>



<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">

<!--



var emails = new Array; //stores persons email

var names  = new Array; //stores persons name of each email - each number matches ie. emails[0],names[0] ie 





/*---------------------------------------------Modify-Here---------------------------------------------*/



var form_name                 = 'form1';

var form_option                = 'mail_option';



var destination_url            = '';

var sending_method            = 'get';

var sending_enctype            = 'text';

var sending_target            = '_self';



emails[0] = 'jrb5289@rit.edu';        // no

emails[1] = 'jamesber50@adelphia.net';    //James Bertram

emails[2] = 'sdfsdf@hotmail.com';    //Todd Taylor

emails[3] = 'asadsad@hotmail.com';    //Steve Jones



 names[0] = 'no';

 names[1] = 'James Bertram';

 names[2] = 'Todd Taylor';

 names[3] = 'Steve Jones';



/*---------------------------------------------End-of-Modify---------------------------------------------*/



/* was going to be a two dimmensional array

var arURL  = new Array;



for (a=0; a<arURL.length; i++) {

    emails[i]    = new Array();

    emails[i][0] = prefix + arURL[i];

    emails[i][1] = arTXT[i];

}

*/



var nl = '\r\n'; //new line

var result = ''+nl+nl;





         function process() //checks the form

        {

        

         x = eval('document.' + form_name + '.' + form_option + '.options[document.'  + form_name + '.' + form_option + '.selectedIndex].innerHTML;');

         

         if (document.form1.result.value=='')

         {

          result = 'please fill the textbox out for ' + x + nl;

          alert(result);//"You have not processed the data yet!"

         }

         else

         {

      sendIT();

         }

        }

         function sendIT() //sends the form

        {

         y = document.form1;

        



         y.action    = 'mailto://' + emails[document.form1.mail_option.selectedIndex];     //url to post to

         y.method    = sending_method;  //post or get

         y.enctype   = sending_enctype; //encoding

         y.target    = sending_target;  //_self,_parent,_top,_blank

     y.submit();

        

        }



//--> 

</script>

  </head>

  <body>



    <form id="form1" name="form1">



                <span>Were you referred to the website by an agent?</span>

                <p>

        <select id="mail_option" name="mail_option" onchange="defaultStatus = this.options[this.selectedIndex].value + ' = ' + this.options[this.selectedIndex].innerHTML">

        <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">

                <!--

                    document.write ('<option value=\"mailto:' + emails[0] + '\">' + names[0] + '</option>');

                    

                    for (i=1,k=emails.length;i<k;i++) //writes each email address and name in the options box

                    {

                        document.write ('<option value=\"mailto:' + emails[i] + '\">' + names[i] + '</option>');

                    }

                / -->

                </script>

            </selected></p>

 

                <textarea name="result" rows="10" wrap="soft" cols="60"></textarea><br>



                  <input id="Reset1" type="reset" value="Reset" name="Reset1"> 

                  <input id="sub" type="button" value="Submit"  name="Sub" onclick="process();">

    </form>



<script>defaultStatus = document.form1.mail_option.options[document.form1.mail_option.selectedIndex].value + ' =  ' + document.form1.mail_option.options[document.form1.mail_option.selectedIndex].innerHTML;?/*statusbar*/</script>

        

  </body>

</html>

**Andrew-J2000** · Apr 28, 2002, 12:57

this will stop people seeing your javascript as easily, as most people probably ont know what this is lol. encrypt it server side tho.

check out this as well http://docs.iplanet.com/docs/manuals...ow.htm#1201548

this will encode to ascii for you

http://d21c.com/sookietex/ASCII2HEX.html

**Magoo5289** · Apr 28, 2002, 14:38

Forgive me, I spoke incorrectly. I meant all i have to do is find a way to encrypt the email for it's transit over the net. I'm having all other functions handled client-side so encrpyting the server isn't a big concern, the submitted emails are what has me worried.
Thanks for all of your help on this! You've helped me out tremendously.

**Andrew-J2000** · Apr 28, 2002, 21:19

Converting your email addresses to ascii will help stop robots getting your email address and spamming you

**Magoo5289** · Apr 29, 2002, 07:26

I'm assuming my inability to get btoa to work is that I don't have any window methods declared. How would I implement one for my needs? Also, is there a reason why this won't work on netscape?

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