Fortunately, Smart.Net's WebMaster has created a guestbook that not only has features not found in any other webpage guestbooks (including commercial guestbooks), but is also incredibly easy to use. No knowledge of HTML or PERL is required to use it!

web.guestbook

This is an installation script designed to make the guestbook available as soon as possible.

There are quite a few changes that have been made or are being made to the new release of the guestbook. Some of the more attractive features are:

New entries inserted at the top of the file

The older guestbook simply added the entries at the end of the file. This version adds the newest entry at the top of the file.

Completely configurable messages

Almost everything about the guestbook is configurable - what to display before & after the comments, how to display the comments,

One configuration file

A single configuration file stores all of your settings - no more passing data through the HTML form!

User-defined language rating (Coming Soon)

Some language may be inappropriate for certain visitors -- an update is being made to determine what words can and cannot be used in the guestbook.

HTML Tags (Coming Soon)

An update is being made to limit the use of HTML tags in the guestbook.

Mailback Feature (Coming Soon)

An update is being made to allow the use of a "mailback" - after a user signs the guestbook, an e-mail will be sent to them (optionally) thanking them or telling them about other sites they might want to visit.

More "professional" name

The older guestbook was named gb-generic.cgi. This version is named guestbook.cgi.

Add variables "on the fly"

The guestbook now supports adding variables on the fly.

Configuration Options

OUTPUT: <FULL PATH>

The full path to the "signatures" file. This file is, by default, named "guestbook.html". If your username was "kevinr", the full path (again, by default) would be "/home/kevinr/www/gbook/guestbook.html".

SENDTO: <Your E-Mail Address>

Your e-mail address. If you would rather have guestbook entries e-mailed to you, leave out the "OUTPUT=" setting and enter a value for this setting. If neither SENDTO or OUTPUT are defined, the guestbook will not work. If both are defined, you will receive an e-mail after a user enters something in your guestbook.

GOTOURL: <FULL URL>

This is where the users will be sent after signing the guestbook. It should be a FULLY QUALIFIED URL. For instance, if your username was "kevinr" and your guestbook file was in "/home/kevinr/www/gbook/guestbook.html", this could be set to "http://www.smart.net/~kevinr/gbook/guestbook.html" to send users to the signatures page after signing your guestbook.

COMMENTHEADER: <What to put before the user's comments>

This line of text will be placed prior to each user's comments in the guestbook. This variable accepts !xxxx codes.

COMMENTFOOTER: <What to put after the user's comments>

This line of text will be placed after each user's comments in the guestbook. This variable accepts !xxxx codes.

COMMENTS: <How to display the comments>

This option tells the guestbook how to display the comments. For instance, if you wanted the text to appear EXACTLY the way it did when the user typed it, you could enter "<PRE>!COMMENTS<PRE>". The !COMMENTS variable MUST be present!

HTMLHEAD: <Coming Soon!>

Coming Soon!

MAILBACK: <Coming Soon!>

This feature will allow you to send a pre-written e-mail back to users who sign the guestbook.

WRAPPING: <Coming Soon!>

Coming soon!

RATING: <Coming Soon!>

This option will determine what language is allowed in the guestbook. It vaguely resembles the movie-rating system. Without getting too graphic, here is a run-down of the to-be-added options:

• G = No obscene language at all.
• PG = Minor obscene words.
• R = Teenagers (15+) should be able to view this.
• NC-17 = Teenagers (18+) should be able to view this.
• X = Guestbook is meant for adult purposes only. Children should not be looking at this.

BREAKER: <How to split a "signature block">

This option determines how a user's signature should end. I recommend putting a <HR> tag here -- that will display a horizontal line between each user's comments.

ALLOWHTML: <Coming Soon!>

This setting will allow you to limit the use of HTML tags in your guestbook.

VARIABLES: <Variable Names>

This is a list of all your non-standard variables you want to include. For instance, if you wanted to record a person's age in addition to the other items on the guestbook, you could enter VARIABLES: age. Please read the section on adding variables.

!xxxx Variables

!DAY

This will be replaced with the current NUMERIC day of the month (usually 1-31).

!DAYSTRING

This will be replaced with the current day of the week (ie: Mon, Tues, Weds, etc)

!MONTH

This will be replaced with the current NUMERIC month of the year (1-12).

!MONTHSTRING

This will be replaced with the current month of the year (ie: January, February, March, April, etc)

!MONTHABBREV

This will be replaced with the current month of the year in abbreviated form (ie: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, etc)

!YEAR

This will be replaced with the current year (ie: 1996)

!NAME

This will be replaced with the user's name as entered in the HTML form

!EMAIL

This will be replaced with the user's e-mail address as entered in the HTML form

!HOMEPAGE

This will be replaced with the user's homepage as entered in the HTML form

!IP

This will be replaced with the user's IP address (ie: 206.27.242.4)

!HOST

This will be replaced with the user's hostname (ie: webmaster.smart.net)

!BROWSER

This will be replaced with the user's browser type (ie: "Mozilla/2.02 (X11; I; Linux 1.2.13 i586)")

!COMMENTS

This will be replaced with the user's comments. It can only be used in the COMMENTS=<Format Options> setting.

!LIKEDWHAT

What page(s)/part of your webpage the user enjoyed the most.

!xxxxxxxx

Replace "xxxxx" with a variable from your HTML form. Please read the section on creating your own variables.

HTML Form "Fields"

<INPUT NAME="config" TYPE="HIDDEN" VALUE="<Path to your configuration file>">

This is the path to your guestbook configuration file.

<INPUT NAME="name" TYPE="TEXT">

The user's name (REQUIRED)

<INPUT NAME="email" TYPE="TEXT">

The user's e-mail address (OPTIONAL)

<INPUT NAME="userurl" TYPE="TEXT">

The user's "homepage" (OPTIONAL)

<INPUT NAME="comments" TYPE="TEXTAREA">

The user's comments (REQUIRED).

<INPUT NAME="likedwhat" TYPE="TEXT">

What the user liked the most in your pages (OPTIONAL)

<INPUT NAME="xxxxx" TYPE="TEXT">

Any other variables you'd like to add into the form.

Adding Variables To Your Form

Now, in our configuration file, we'll include something to have this variable print in the signatures page:

COMMENTS: !NAME (!AGE years old) said: <PRE>!COMMENTS<PRE>

And, ofcourse, the VARIABLES statement:

VARIABLES: age

To have more than one variable, your configuration file should say:

VARIABLES: age, job, city, state, zipcode

The !xxxx codes that would correspond to these variables are !AGE, !JOB, !CITY, !STATE, and !ZIPCODE.

Sample Configuration File

Configuration File:

OUTPUT: /home/web/www/gbook/guestbook.html
GOTOURL: http://web.smart.net/~web/gbook/guestbook.html
COMMENTHEADER: <FONT COLOR="#FF00FF>!NAME surfed in from !HOST using !BROWSER to say:</FONT>
COMMENTFOOTER: E-mail <A HREF="mailto:!EMAIL">!NAME</A> or visit their <A HREF="!HOMEPAGE">web site</A>.
HTMLHEAD: NULL
MAILBACK: NULL
RATING: NULL
ALLOWHTML: NO
COMMENTS: <PRE>!COMMENTS</PRE><BR>
WRAPPING: NULL
BREAKER: <HR>

Welcome to version 2 of SmartNet's guestbook!

Please e-mail me if you have any problems!

If you have a personal PPP or SLIP account, your guestbook form will be
http://www.smart.net/~yourname/gbook/form2.html
and any signatures from other users will be
http://www.smart.net/~yourname/gbook/guestbook2.html

If you have a business PPP or SLIP account, your guestbook form will be
http://www2.smart.net/~yourname/gbook/form2.html
and any signatures from other users will be
http://www2.smart.net/~yourname/gbook/guestbook2.html

Technical Support: support@smart.net
Billing: billing@smart.net
Webmaster: webmaster@smart.net