Both Unix and Windows servers are supported. The survey created by WISCO Survey is an HTML web form. Your web host must allow the use of HTML forms on your web site. A mailing program located on the web server, and usually provided by the web host, converts the survey responses on the HTML form to an email message. That email message is read by the survey program, putting the responses in the database.

Unix based servers can use either formmail or sendmail to process and email the information entered on your survey forms. Windows servers can use CDONTS or CDOSYS to process and email the survey form responses.

Selecting different servers and mail programs enables different edit boxes. The information in these edit boxes, for example your email address, is automatically inserted in the HTML survey code, and any required perl, cgi, or asp scripts.

Formmail, Sendmail, CDONTS, and CDOSYS are mail programs that process the web-based HTML survey responses, and send the formatted emails to your address. Server settings tend to be server-specific. Since WISCO Computing does not have access to your server, we can not provide technical support with regard to setting up formmail, sendmail, ASP scripts, perl cgi scripts, CDONTS, and CDOSYS on your server. Your web server administrator (host) should be able to tell you the location of your mailing program on your web server, and provide the specific help you need.

The following web pages can provide you with additional information about Web Hosting:

• Web Hosting Tutorial: /articles/host-tutorial.htm
• How CGI Scripts Work: /articles/cgi-script.htm
• Web Survey Publishing: /articles/publishing.htm

FormMail is one of the most-used generic perl scripts on the web. It is designed to send data entered into a web form page to an email address. The user enters information and submits the form. The script processes the entered information, and emails the formatted output to a hidden email address. (Hidden means the user can not see or alter the information.) WISCO Survey can then extract the returned information from the body of the email and import the information directly into the database for analysis and charting.

FormMail is often provided by your web host. However if your host requires you to add formmail, we recommend nms FormMail It is available at http://nms-cgi.sourceforge.net/ . It can be downloaded and used free of charge by your survey.

The web page created by WISCO Survey Power needs to include the location of the FormMail.pl file on your web server. FormMail.pl processes the information the user enters on your web page. Enter the location of the FormMail.pl file on your web server. Sometimes the file is placed in a subfolder of your domain. Sometimes the file is renamed. Check with your web server administrator for the exact location and filename. Typical examples are: "http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/formmail.pl" and "/cgi-bin/survey.pl"

Sendmail can also be used to send data entered into a web form page to an email address. The user enters information and submits the form. WISCO Survey includes a perl CGI script to process and format the entered information, and emails the formatted output to a hidden email address. (Hidden means the user can not see or alter the information.) Every survey you post on the web needs a different perl CGI script. A common location of perl is /usr/local/bin/perl The typical location of sendmail is /usr/lib/sendmail -t -n -oi

CDOSYS is a powerful mailing component that is included on Windows 2000, 2003, and 2008 servers. Microsoft no longer includes CDONTS on its server operating system. Prior to CDONTS, other mailing programs like JMail, Blat, and Modified FormMail were were used as mailing components on WIndows servers. WISCO Survey Power no longer supports these obsolete mailing programs.

After the user completes the survey and presses the submit button, this page is displayed. If a thank you page is not displayed, the user sees the raw file of responses that is being submitted. For example "http://www.yourdomain.com/thanks.htm" The thank you page can be a generic page created by WISCO Survey Power or one that you create. Thank you pages are usually placed in the same directory as the survey on your web server.

Windows-based servers require the domain or IP Address. This setting is ignored by Unix-based web servers.