csFormbuilder Installation Instructions

csFormbuilder Installation Instructions

Included in the zip file is a setup-EXAMPLE.cgi file for your convenience, however, the auto installation portion of the script should configure and save the setup.cgi file for you automatically.

Provided below are 2 sets of installation instructions. The first set of instructions is for installing the script outside of your cgi-bin directory. Many servers allow you to run scripts from any directory and this makes it easier because the script will be contained in a single directory. If you can only run scripts in your cgi-bin directory, some files/directories will need to reside in the cgi-bin directory and some directories will need to reside outside your cgi-bin directory. Follow the appropriate instructions below depending on your server's capabilities.

Quick and Easy Installation Instructions:

NOTE: If you are installing the script in your cgi-bin directory.. see the cgi-bin instructions below.

1. Unzip the file on your computer.

2. Upload the cgi-script directory and its entire contents to a directory on your server. This should be the same place where your index.htm file resides. You should end up with the following directory structure:
cgi-script
cgi-script/csFormbuilder
cgi-script/csFormbuilder/data
cgi-script/csFormbuilder/forms
cgi-script/csFormbuilder/forms/calendar
cgi-script/csFormbuilder/forms/images
cgi-script/csFormbuilder/icons
cgi-script/csFormbuilder/images
cgi-script/csFormbuilder/templates
cgi-script/csFormbuilder/uploads

3. CHMOD csFormbuilder.cgi, vimage.cgi, and vsimage.cgi to 755 if you are on a unix/linux based webserver.

4. Open up the csFormbuilder.cgi file from your web browser. For example, open up your web browser and in the location field type: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-script/csFormbuilder/csFormbuilder.cgi .You should get the auto setup screen. Verify the variables. If you are on a windows server, you should change the path to sendmail to a valid SMTP server IP address or domain name that the script can use to send out the emails. Change the username and password and hit save. The script should now be configured and you will get the login screen to enter your username and password. If you get an error message saying it can't save the setup.cgi file.. see PERMISSIONS section below.

5. Once configured, you can enter the management of csFormbuilder at any time by going to the URL: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-script/csFormbuilder/csFormbuilder.cgi?command=login.

CGI-BIN installation instructions.

1. Unzip the file on your computer

2. On your server, create a directory in your cgi-bin directory called csFormbuilder. Upload all the files in the csFormbuilder directory from the the zip file to this directory. Also, upload the data subdirectory. You should end up with:
cgi-bin/csFormbuilder
cgi-bin/csFormbuilder/data
cgi-bin/csFormbuilder/templates
cgi-bin/csFormbuilder/uploads

3. On your server, create a directory outside your cgi-bin directory called cgi-script. Inside that directory, create another directory called csFormbuilder. Upload the following directories:
cgi-script/csFormbuilder/forms
cgi-script/csFormbuilder/forms/calendar
cgi-script/csFormbuilder/forms/images
cgi-script/csFormbuilder/icons
cgi-script/csFormbuilder/images

4. CHMOD csFormbuilder.cgi, vimage.cgi, and vsimage.cgi to 755 if you are on a unix/linux based webserver.

5. Open up the csFormbuilder.cgi file from your web browser. For example, open up your web browser and in the location field type: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/csFormbuilder/csFormbuilder.cgi .You should get the auto setup screen. Verify the information. You may need to change the $htmlurl and $htmlpath variables to point to the cgi-script/csFormbuilder directory. If you are on a windows server, you should change the path to sendmail to a valid SMTP server IP address or domain name that the script can use to send out the emails. Change the username and password and hit save. The script should now be configured and you will get the login screen to enter your username and password. If you get an error message saying it can't save the setup.cgi file.. see PERMISSIONS section below.

6. Once configured, you can enter the management of csFormbuilder at any time by going to the URL: http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/csFormbuilder/csFormbuilder.cgi?command=login.

PERMISSIONS

If your webserver doesn't have write access to your files by default you will get an error message when you try to save the setup.cgi file. If you are on a windows based webserver, you will need to contact your hosting service to configure your directories so the webserver has write access to them. If you are on a unix based server, including FreeBSD or Linux, you will need to chmod the csFormbuilder directory to 777. You will also need to chmod the data subdirectory and the forms subdirectory to 777. If you installed the script in your cgi-bin directory you will have 2 csFormbuilder directories.. one inside your cgi-bin directory and one outside your cgi-bin directory. Only the directory where csFormbuilder.cgi is located needs to be chmodded to 777. The forms subdirectory should be in the directory outside your cgi-bin directory.

Troubleshooting

Forms aren't saving (can't create forms).
This usually means there is either a problem with the paths in the setup.cgi or a permissions issue. Verify the $htmlpath and $htmlurl variables are correct in the setup.cgi file. After verifying that, chmod the forms subdirectory to 777. Newly created forms should be saved in the forms subdirectory.

Images Don't Appear
This is the classic case where the entire script has been installed, including the images, in the cgi-bin directory. On unix based servers, the cgi-bin directory is usually configured to disallow the viewing of normal files like html files or images. In most cases, it is required to split the directories up between cgi files and non-cgi files. If this is the case, install the script using the above cgi-bin installation instructions.

Can't locate setup.cgi or t_setup.htm
This usually happens when the current directory isn't in the server's search path. To fix the problem, open csFormbuilder.cgi and edit the variable:
$basepath = './';
to be the full path to the directory where csFormbuilder is installed. On windows servers, don't forget to convert the normal backslash \ to a forward slash / in the path. For example:
$basepath = 'd:/inetpub/wwwroot/cgi-script/csFormbuilder';

You will also need to do the same thing with the vimage.cgi and vsimage.cgi files.

Image Verification custom field doesn't work.
The image verification function of the script uses the perl GD module to dynamically create the images. You will need that perl module installed on your server for this feature to work.

Please refer to the instructions.htm page for detailed usage instructions.

For tech support or questions, please email contact@cgiscript.net