Storing Data

There are three types of files that the Email Form PHP script can save to: comma, tab, and formatted. Saving to a file requires the name of a file. You’ll need to create that file before the web server can save data to it.

The easiest file format to write to is a comma or tab file that can then be imported into a desktop database such as FileMaker or Access, or into a spreadsheet such as Excel.

<? $formDatabaseType = "tab"; //or comma or formatted $formDatabaseFile = "/Users/account/Documents/dbfilename"; ?>

For comma and tab databases, you should specify a $formOrder to ensure that the data is always written in the same column order. The $formDatabaseFile must be owned by your account and writable by the web server (group www or other). If the $formDatabaseFile is empty, the mailer will write the column names to the file before writing the field data.

A timestamp and the IP address of the submitter will also be written for comma and tab-delimited files.

The default format is tab-delimited.

If you specify a formatted type, you’ll need to also set the $formBody as the custom body. It works the same as it does for custom e-mail messages.

You can create an empty file using the File Manager . You’ll need to switch to the “advanced” view. Make sure that you set “other” to have write access on the file after you create it! You should also never create such a file inside your Sites or public_html folder. Put it in your Documents folder or some other folder outside of your web site.