Using Contact Forms

The following describes how to accomplish the most common tasks with the Contact Form Plugin.

How to create a contact form

To create a contact form navigate to "Contact Forms" from the main "Manage" menu of Movable Type. From there click the link "Create Contact Form." A dialog/wizard will pop-up leading you through the process of creating a form. Here is a brief explanation of each of the fields you will be asked to fill out:

• Form Title - the name of the contact form.

• From - the email address from which all correspondence regarding an inquiry will be sent, mainly the autoresponse sent to visitors, and responses sent in reply to an inquiry from with the application.

• Reply To - the email address to which users will be directed to reply to. This will be transmitted as a "Reply-To" header in the email. This can be different from the from who the email is actually from. For example, the email may be from "Support", replies should be directed to "Jim."

• Notification List - a list of email addresses that should be notified whenever a new inquiry is received via a contact form.

• Status - allowable values are "open" and "closed." This is used to easily turn on and off a contact form. When a status is set to closed, a message can be displayed on any page that embeds the form to indicate its status using the <mt:IsContactFormOpen> tag.

• Require Authentication - If authentication is required, then visitors will not be able to submit inquires without first authenticating in some way.

• Auto-Reply Text - This is the text that will be sent in an email to any user who submits an inquiry via the form. It is a way to further personalize your correspondence with visitors.

• Confirmation Text - This is the text that will be displayed to your visitor on your web site immediately following their submitting an inquiry.

• Fields - This is the list of fields your contact form will have. You can add and remove fields to your heart's content. The "Subject" and "Body" fields are required and cannot be removed, as are the name and email fields for unauthenticated users.

Adding, Removing and Arranging Contact Form Fields

One can easily customize their contact form by adding, removing and even ordering the fields on the screen using a simple drag-and-drop interface. To edit a form's fields, edit the form and scroll to the bottom of the page. There you will see a list of the form's fields. On the left hand side of each field is a small drag handle which can be used to drag and drop the field up and down the list.

Click on the red minus icon to delete a field.

To add a field, click "Add Field" and a small form will become visible prompting your for the field's name or label, the type of field it is (text, textarea, radio button, pull-down menu, etc) and any additional options the field may support. When you are done defining the field's properties, click the "Add" button and your new field will be added to the list of fields associated with the form. You can then drag and drop the field to place it in the position you desire.

When you are finished, save the form and your fields will be updated, added or removed accordingly.

You may need to republish pages and templates that utilize the form in order for your changes to be reflected properly.

How to embed a contact form on your web site

There are two primary ways in which a form can be placed on a web site:

• Adding the Form's HTML directly to a page or entry

• Inserting the form via a template tag used within a template on your web site.

Adding a Form via HTML Directly

Some people may want to add a contact form directly to a page manually without having to worry about editing a template. To do do so, visit the "Manage Contact Forms" screen found via the "Manage" menu. A link can be found associated with each form listed there entitled "Show HTML." Click the link corresponding to the form you want to embed.

A dialog will then appear showing the contact form's HTML. Copy this HTML to your clipboard. Then edit the entry, page or template you want to add the contact form to and paste your clipboard's content into place.

Save and republish the page/entry/template and you are done.

One down-side of this approach is that any changes made to the form subsequent to pasting into the page will not be reflected. You will be required to repaste the form's content into each of the respective pages whenever the form is modified.

To avoid this inconvenience, consider inserting the form via a template tag discussed below.

Adding a Form via a Template Tag

The following template tag can be used to render a contact form on your website:

<$mt:ContactForm id="$id"$>

When a template is rendered, the tag above will be replaced with the complete HTML associated with contact form with the given ID. The HTML and structure of the form itself is derived from the Global or Local System Template conveniently entitled "Contact Form."

How to customize the HTML of a contact form

The best way and recommended way for that matter to customize your contact forms' HTML is via the System Template entitled "Contact Form." If you are using a theme that supports the contact form plugin explicitly then you will find a blog-level system template with this name to edit. Otherwise, you can find a global system template with this name.

The default contact form template illustrates the best way to structure the template. That is to say that the template consists of three primary components in this sequence:

• a header - which includes the form tag and hidden form elements that makes the form work.
• a loop that iterates over and displays each field according to its type
• a footer - which includes the form's buttons

The header and footer should hardly be messed with. What it is most essential in customizing the form's look and feel is the loop that is responsible for rendering a pull down menu, or a text box, or textarea, etc.

For more information, consult the template tag reference found later in this document.

How to track incoming inquiries

To monitor incoming inquiries, or contact form submission, navigate to the "Manage Inquiries" screen via the "Manage" menu in Movable Type's main navigation.

From there you can see all recent inquiries and their status (read, unread, etc). You can click on an inquiry to read it, and from there reply to directly to the inquiry, flag it, or delete it.

How to reply to an inquiry from within Movable Type

To reply to an inquiry, click on the inquiry's subject to read the inquiry in the bottom pane. In that pane you will find a "reply" button. Clicking it will open a small dialog into which you can type your response. When you are done, click the "Send" button and the person who submitted the inquiry will be sent your response via email.

How to flag an inquiry

To flag or unflag an inquiry, click on the inquiry's subject to view the inquiry in the bottom pane. In that pane you will find a "flag" or "unflag" button depending on the inquiry's current status. Clicking that button will then toggle the inquiry's flagged state.

How to export a list of inquiries in CSV format

Users may wish to export a list of all of the inquiries submitted via a contact form. This can be useful for people harvesting a list of email addresses of people who have opted in for a newsletter for example. To export a list of replies TODO