Web form

[Halfmad]

Hi chaps,

I'm at home pondering work (as usual) and thinking that it'd be damn handy to have a little form on our intranet for staff to submit jobs to me. Essentially they put in thier name, classroom and problem, hit submit and the form e-mails me.

Anyone know what the requirements would be to have something like this working? I've using 2003 server with IIS6 I think at work. I'm guessing it'd probably have to be done with either CGI or PHP scripts.

Would I have to have an e-mail address for the form to use to send e-mails or has the cider started to kick in and I'm talking drivel (again). ?

[Ric_]

@Halfmad: Do a quick search for 'helpdesk' and you will turn up a few results.

There are a lot of ready made open source solutions out there. If you don't want to use LAMP (that's Linux) I think Liberum is your best bet.

I use One||Zero (One Or Zero) on a LAMP box that also runs Nagios, etc. It's quite a nice project to start with if you want to try Linux and have a spare machine knowcking about (it need not be anything special - PIII with 128MB should be more than enough).

[tosca925]

I wish i knew Linux.

[Ric_]

I wish i knew Linux.

trial and error... the key to al things If you break it, you start again and get some practice doing all the previous steps

It really isn't all that hard.

[webman]

+1 for Liberum. We've just got it set up how we want it and are running some more tests before replacing our in-house support form. One||Zero is 'too heavy' for our (l)users but your needs are different to ours. I think they both have online demos so just give them a go

[limbo]

You can absolutely do this with IIS6 on 2003 - I know this because I do.

I use vb asp scripts for everything web based I do - but it is just personal choice and I really should start moving towards asp.net, but that is another thread.

You do not need an email address or mailbox as such, but you do need an smtp server to use to send the emails to - which ever one you use for your standard email will do, including an lea based one.

I then use a mail component running on the server - there are hundreds of these and each has their own set of commands and sample scripts. I use persists asp email - but they are all basically the same. Find one and look at their website for sample scripts.

There may, however, be a better solution still - depending on what you are going to do when you get the email.

Rather than having the system email you, why not drop the information into a database table instead, then you will have a list of all the jobs built up like a to do list for you to follow.

This is how most of the systems you can download work.

[andy]

I use One||Zero (One Or Zero) on a LAMP box that also runs Nagios, etc. It's quite a nice project to start with if you want to try Linux and have a spare machine knowcking about (it need not be anything special - PIII with 128MB should be more than enough).

Is that spec for one||zero, or Nagios also Ric?

Cheers,



Andy

[Geoff]

Should run both at a reasonable pace.

[Halfmad]

Cheers guys, you're a wealth of knowledge as always!

I'll probably go with Limbo's suggestion, purely due to time restrictions although I will probably get linux up and running later in the year (if I'm still working here!) as my last linux box went BANG in January

[plexer]

I use an asp web form that submits itself via email to any email address.

If you want I'll post the code somewhere.

Ben

[limbo]

If you want a quick example PM me and I can probably knock something basic up for you.

[Halfmad]

Well Plexer sent me over a script that looks top notch but sadly it looks like either our e-mail server requires authentication or it simply doesn't accept requests of this type.

I added in the code required for authentication but it's being knocked back although I know the details are correct!

Would setting up a local SMTP server work and using this to send work?

I added this code into the script but it errors with "error '80040211' " and the line it indicates is the password (which I know is right and is unencrypted!)

myMail.Configuration.Fields.Item ("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpauthenticate") = 1 'basic (clear-text) authentication
myMail.Configuration.Fields.Item ("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusername") ="**************"
myMail.Configuration.Fields.Item ("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendpassword") ="******"

[Halfmad]

Ignore me :-D

talking out my bottom apparently!