The Docs - elformo.com

Using elFormo is simple. You create forms in HTML like you always have, now you just POST them to elFormo, and we send the user back to a predefined URL.

Creating a new form on elFormo

To create a new form on elFormo, you simply login and user our simple interface to create a new form. Elformo new form

Each form has the following options:

Name (required) — The name of the form. You will use this to find the form in your list of forms on elFormo.
Origin URL (required) — The originating URL for the form. We use this URL to verify the the form is coming from where it is supposed to, minimizing the number of erroneous submissions. You may need to update this URL when you move from testing to production environments.
Thank you URL (optional) — The redirect URL after a valid form submission. elFormo will redirect your user to this URL after we finish processing the form. If no URL is given, we will redirect to the originating domain.
Notification email (optional) — The email address new form submissions will be sent to. If none is given, we will use the email address of the user account for the owner of the form. Emails will only be sent if the Email each submission? option is selected.
Email each submission? (optional) — This option determines if each form submission is emailed to the email address associated with the form (see above).

Once a form has been created, it is ready to receive submissions from your website.

Creating a new form on your website

elFormo allows you to create your own HTML, CSS, Javascript, etc, allowing you to maintain complete control of the look and feel of your web property. All you have to do is POST a submission to the URL provided by elFormo from the Origin URL you provided and we’ll do the rest. Sample form show

The example form above shows the form settings, and the Instructions section outlines the submission URL for the form.

Restricted Fields

elFormo will ignore the following fields in a form. Please do not include them in your submissions.

id
controller
action
submit

Submitting a form

Submitting a form is the easiest part in elFormo.

Your user fills out the form.
The form is submitted to the assigned URL and is from the Origin URL associated with the form.
The user is redirected to the Thank you URL associated with the form.*
elFormo stores the submission information and optionally emails you with the form submission information.

* The FreeFormo plan shows the user a branded elFormo page prior to redirecting to the final destination.

Viewing and downloading submissions

Simply login to your elFormo account to view the submissions to your form. Each submission is listed, and clicking on any submission will show the submission details.

You can also download all your submissions as a comma seperated values .csv file. This can be opened using most major spreadsheet programs including Microsoft Excel, Apple Numbers, and Google Docs.

Finishing Moves

The following are options that you can add to your forms to help elFormo deliver the results you are looking for. If you have any special requests, please do not hesitate to contact us, we’d love to hear from you.

Reply-To

elFormo will automatically set the Reply-To to a form field named email, if one exists. If you wish to override this behavior, you can create a hidden form field with the id elformo_reply_to that contains the email address you would like to set. You can use this to override the current behavior, or to set custom form field values via javascript.

Honeypot / SPAM prevention

The only thing worse than spammers is those annoying CAPTCHAs no one can read. To help cut down on the number of spammy or automated submissions your form gets, elFomro recommends using a honeypot.

This is a form field that is hidden via CSS so your users cannot see it, but automated scripts will detect the form field and fill it out. Create an input field named elformo_honeypot and the submission will be skipped if a bot fills it out. We will not send an email, record the submission, or count the submission against your account if this field contains any data.

Example of a form with a honeypot:

  <head>
    <title>Example Form</title>
    <style type="text/css">
      #elformo_honeypot {
        display: none;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Contact Us</h1>
    <form action="https://www.elformo.com/forms/abcdefgh-ijkl-mnop-qrst-uvwxyz" method="post">
      <input id="elformo_honeypot" name="elformo_honeypot" />
      <input id="email" name="email" type="email" />
      <textarea id="comment" name="comment"></textarea>
      <input id="submit" name="submit" type="Submit" />
    </form>
  </body>

Coming Soon

elFormo has a few secrets up his sleeve. Check back here as more special features become available.

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