Help with form script needed

[Sid]

Hello - I've been with pipex for donkey's years now and used to use my 'free' web space to host our bed & breakfast site. After a break of 2 years or so I decided to revive it but when I tried using the script for form submissions today I couldn't get it to work.

I'm using:

<form action="http://scripts.dsl.pipex.net/process?" method="post">

<input type="hidden" name="recipient" value="assi73@dsl.pipex.com" />

<input type="hidden" name="formsent" value="http://www.assi73.dsl.pipex.com/" />

I'm a bit rusty on this so I could easily have made an error, but when I try to send I get 'waiting for scripts.dsl.pipex.net' in my browser (Firefox) then I get a blank page.

The page with the form on is here: http://www.assi73.dsl.pipex.com/contact.html

Does anyone know if this script is still supported or what I might be doing wrong?

Many thanks

Sid

[Deylan]

Hi Sid,

I'm no good with web stuff specifically but regarding your question whether it is supported, I would be inclined to say no, and it could well be broken. I am not sure there is anyone left on this site who even uses pipex webspace let alone in contact with anyone at pipex HQ.

Probably not what you want to hear but you may be best buying some web hosting and a domain name, shouldn't cost you anymore than around £17 a year.

[nadger]

My thoughts, as well, Deylan. I doubt anyone here is still with Pipex, let alone using the web space.

I'm seeing MC tomorrow so will ask him to look at Sid's post and see if he can give any advice.

[14years]

Hi Sid

I've done a bit of checking around and I'm afraid I'm not optimistic about the chances for success.

Doing the usual checks (connecting to port 80, ping, traceroute, etc) I can't get scripts.dsl.pipex.net to respond. It may just have gone offline but I strongly suspect that it's not there any more.

The IP address that the hostname resolves to is on the original PIPEX infrastructure network and I have the feeling that every other machine that used to be there (mailservers, RADIUS, DNS, etc) have all been obsoleted by the move of customers to Tiscali.

Checking the addresses of still-active machines that used to be on that subnet (eg Netmail) show they have all been moved to Tiscali IP addresses. I haven't looked yet but I strongly suspect that the routing to that block has been removed and whoever decommissioned the server racks forgot about the scripts machine (or didn't think it important enough to do anything about).

I've got a call out to the man that used to manage that machine; he no longer works for PIPEX but he may be able to confirm my checks one way or the other, at least.

To fix the problem a number of options spring to mind:

If you know a friendly PIPEX Dial user (or have an account yourself) the scripts on DialSpace (the equivalent service for PIPEX Dial users) still work (I use them myself) so you could host your reply form page there.

A quick bodge to get your script working for now would be to change the form submission method to mailto: This is not the best idea for several reasons, but it would work for most people who visit your site with almost no modifications. To find out more about how to do it (and why it's not a good idea) visit http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol3/form_no4.htm

That page also links to http://www.response-o-matic.com/ who will provide a script to process form submissions like the DSLSpace server, though you will probably need to rework your form using their wizard. The service is free for a single form, but I've not used it so can't comment further. There are probably other similar services around.

Finally, for the ultimate in flexibility and expandability Deylan had the best answer; renting your own Web space will give you the freedom to do whatever you might want to do in the future, but moving your Web site will, of course, be more complex than just changing how/where your form is currently hosted/processed.

Hope that all helps. If I find out anything else about scripts.dsl.pipex.net I'll post further.

Mark

[nadger]

Thanks for looking Mark - I've emailed OP to draw attention to your post.

[Sid]

Thanks all for your replies. I think you are right about the scripts no longer being supported by Pipex - I've had a reply from Pipex customer service to that effect now.
I've used the mailto: option as suggested for now but may well end up renting my own web space.

Thank you all once again for your help.

Sid

[nadger]

Don't know the current situation with people this site is hosted with but it used to be £9.99 per annum.

No doubt others can make suggestions as to where you could get cheap hosting.