The set-up strikes me as somewhat complex, so I am hoping that someone can point us in the right direction.
Here is how it would ideally work:
[1] The visitor would first select the name and email address of the representative from a long list on an HTML form, perhaps through a radio button for example or a check box next to each name (let's say there are 110 names: 55 counties with 2 reps each);
They click "Next" >>
[2] A new HTML form page would come up. This time the person would indicate which support letter is to be sent to that rep by clicking a check box next to the one they want -- again, let's say there are 3 possible choices ("Increase school nutrition programs" ; "No school consolidation" ; and "Fund more computer labs");
They click "Next" >>
[3] The form is now returned to the visitor's screen with the above filled in. The data from #1 would go into a form mail "To:" field; the data from #2 would make up the body of the message.
[Ideally each of the three example "letters" in #2 is referenced as a text file on the server. For example: message1.txt ; message2.txt ; message3.txt (via server side includes?). This would allow the organization to easily edit those 3 documents when they want to change the content in the letters for the issues that they are supporting at any given time.]
[4] As a last step, our concerned citizen enters their name in the "From" field and adds their own contact info (town & email for example), and hits Send.
[5] A copy goes to their specific legislator and the person's contact info is saved for the non-profit's own database, in a log file.
Does something like this exist? or can it be created?
Thanks for any help...
Somethings like this exist all over the place. I doubt if you could re-use any existing scripts (as in "free scripts"), as it really has to be customized to your specific use.
>> or can it be created?
Yes it can. It's a combination of HTML and scripting, and most scripting languages (Perl, PHP, ASP...) will be able to do it. It's too big a task to explain or do for you in a series of posts here, but it's certainly possible.
You have a pretty good process description, try a post in the "Commercial Exchange" forum (http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum29/), perhaps someone could do it for you - i wouldn't know about price, especially as you are a non-profit organization, but it's not a small job.
/claus
I laid out what they are looking for, but I cannot speak for this group (I am helping them but am not an employee). However I'd be happy to advocate for anyone who thinks that they can write this script in Perl, so if you or anyone else has an estimate, please send it to me directly at:
<snip>
The only things I would add to my previous description is that it have the proper security modules to help eliminate spamming; and while the administrator may need access to the backend via a password, the visitors should be able to use the feature *without* any need for a username/password.
Also, keep in mind that we or they can actually add all the legislator names/emails to the html page -- we just need the script architecture in place.
[edited by: jatar_k at 9:21 pm (utc) on Sep. 19, 2003]
[edit reason] no emails thanks [/edit]
