File Upload/No recipients problem

[Rella]

Hi,

First, thanks for an amazing script and the great support service!

I have successfully installed and used FormMail on one website already. Today I have been trying to install and use it on another site, and am running into problems with the File Upload feature (which I have never tried to use before until now).

Everything runs fine if I don't try to set it up to do file uploading.

If I try to do file uploading, and I edit the Form header with the multipart enctype, the form gives an error message. DEF ALERT sends the following message :

The following error occurred in FormMail [M18]:
no_recipients
**********
Error=The form has an internal error - no actions or recipients were specified. [M91]

If I remove the enctype from the Form header, everything runs perfectly and the email gets sent properly. Of course it fails to attach any file, but it will provide a line in the email giving the name of the file I tried to upload. If I don't remove it, the email completely fails to go through and I get that no_recipients line.

I found the chkupload.php file that was provided in a previous post and tried that out. It gives the following message : No files uploaded

I can't tell whether this is a problem with the form or my coding or maybe even the server's handling of file uploads. I hope someone here can help!

Thanks very much

[russellr]

Hi,

This suggests that the enctype you're providing is prevent *any* form fields from being sent to the server successfully. So, FormMail isn't seeing the "recipients" field.

I think of two possibilities (most likely one first):

1. you're not setting the "enctype" properly
2. your browser doesn't understand that encoding type
3. your web server software doesn't understand that encoding type

Please post your <FORM> tag when you set the enctype.

[Rella]

thanks for the quick response!

i think i got the enctype right, but here's the form header just in case :

<form method="post" action="cgi-bin/formmail.php" enctype="multipart/form-data" name="Request_Form" />

i normally use Opera but i tested it in IE as well and it gave the same error in both browsers.

so it could be something wrong on the server side.

i did however try uploading a file using the file upload interface in my server's webmin panel, and that worked fine - don't know if that's at all relevant though

edit : forgot to add, i was testing the upload with a PDF file, if that makes any difference. the server is redhat linux and i think the it's running php4.something.

[russellr]

Hi,

OK, everything you've said sounds good (linux, php4, and your enctype is good).

I'm wondering whether something is happening because formmail.php is in the cgi-bin directory.

However, next test is to take your form that works (without the file field) and:

1. Test it again to confirm it's OK.
2. Just add the enctype="multipart/form-data" to its <FORM> tag and test it again.

This *should* make no difference and the form should continue to work. If not, then we're on the right track.

[Rella]

a hah!!

#1 worked fine - i removed the enctype, left the upload field in the form but did not use it. the email went through perfectly with no errors.

#2 failed - i added the enctype, again left the upload field in the form but did not try to use it. i received the same old error message in my Opera browser :

An error occurred while processing the form ([M23]).

Our staff have been alerted to the error ([M24]).
We apologize for any inconvenience this error may have caused. [M26]

Your form submission was processed by (6.02), available from www.tectite.com. [M27]

And def alert sent me the same old error message :

The following error occurred in FormMail [M18]:
no_recipients
**********
Error=The form has an internal error - no actions or recipients were specified. [M91]

I also did a variation of #2, with enctype in and upload field removed from the form altogether. this, too, resulted in the same errors as for #2.

Does this mean it's a server problem?

[Rella]

i also just tried putting formmail in the same main directory as the form itself, ie. not in cgi-bin. no difference, same errors

update : i also just tried running phpinfo... and noticed that one of the lines said :

file_uploads no value no value

would this be a bad thing?

[russellr]

Hi,

Fascinating.

Yes, all this points to a server issue.

It suggests that the web server software (probably apache) has been configured to not access this encoding type.

Unless there's something funny going on with the PHP configuration - can't think what, though.

i did however try uploading a file using the file upload interface in my server's webmin panel, and that worked fine

The server might have a different Apache config for webmin, and also webmin I think is written in Perl.

So, that probably doesn't tell us much.

I'll post a test script that you can use to show the problem to the hosting provider.

[Rella]

i hate to admit this but i admin this server long story but let's just say i was conscripted in an emergency and got thrown in the deep end without much preparation - or knowledge!

and yes, we are running apache.

thank you for all your help - i will try to do some research into the apache and php settings and keep my fingers crossed

[Rella]

it worked! it worked!!!!

i hope you haven't gone to the trouble of writing a test script for me yet

i went into php.ini and changed filee_uploads to ON. it didn't seem to make any difference until it occurred to me to restart apache

and now uploads work and everything is perfect!!!!!!!

thank you so much for your help and time, Russell, your script rocks!!! (even if my admin skills don't...)

[russellr]

Hi,

it worked! it worked!!!!

Great!

i went into php.ini and changed file_uploads to ON

I should have remembered that setting (along with the 12 billion other settings ).

i hope you haven't gone to the trouble of writing a test script for me yet

Here's the script for future reference: http://www.tectite.com/vbforums/showthread.php?t=637

Huge amount of work (well 20 minutes).

thank you so much for your help and time

You're welcome. Please link to us!