B&T's Tool Box
B&T's Tips & Scripts is a collection of Tips & Scripts to help you build a better website. The Tips & Scripts are targeted towards the native Apache PHP MySQL environment. Check back frequently as there will be additions and modifications. Please check our terms of use.
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Using .htaccess 
- .htaccess Basics Mar 9, 2006
- Domain & subdomain pointing May 12, 2005
- Automatic subdomains Jun 17, 2007
- Undefined subdomains Jul 20, 2008
- Prevent direct access to a pointer or subdomain directory Aug 15, 2006
- Forcing or eliminating the WWW. Feb 9, 2005
- Fixing the trailing slash problem May 11, 2005
- Friendly URLs Mar 21, 2007
- Rewrites and https Dec 18, 2007
- Blocking traffic to your website Jan 2, 2005
- Anti-leech May 25, 2005
- Fancy default index page Jan 25, 2005
Using .htaccess/.htpasswd Password Protection 
- Setting up password protection Feb 9, 2005
- Encrypt your password for .htpasswd Dec 21, 2007
- Auto Password Change and Email Notification Dec 21, 2007
php5 - Auto generate .htpasswd file Dec 18, 2007 php5
- Passing user authentication information to PHP Jun 13, 2004
Coding Tips 
- HTML "One Liners" Nov 13, 2005
- PHP "One Liners" Apr 5, 2007
- JavaScript "One Liners" Aug 25, 2007
- CSS examples Sep 9, 2006
- SQL coding examples Aug 29, 2006
- AJAX example Sep 24, 2006
Uploads and Downloads 
- File Upload Script Dec 20, 2007 php5
- Custom Download Page Dec 14, 2007 php5
- Tracking and Securing Downloads Dec 20, 2007 php5
Mail 
- Form Mail Aug 19, 2007
- Obfuscate your email address Nov 12, 2006
- Read and auto-process mail Nov 12, 2004
- Auto-responder Dec 18, 2007 php5
- Display your email message count Jul 30, 2004
- Setting up SPF Records Jan 4, 2007
- Specify a return-path for generated mail Jul 18, 2006
Working with Images 
- Watermark images Jul 14, 2007
- Resize images (create thumbnails) Jul 14, 2007
Frequently Requested Website Functionality 
- Visitor Counter Dec 14, 2007 php5
- 404 Error Page (with reporting and logging) Dec 20, 2007 php5
- CAPTCHA Aug 19, 2006
- Poll (voting) Dec 17, 2007 php5 see it on this page
- Weather Jul 27, 2008 php5
- FAQ Page May 23, 2005
- Random/weighted banners, quotes & more Feb 9, 2005
- Load a random image (simple) Jan 20, 2004
- Image (banner) rotation Oct 15, 2007
- Simple "members only" pages May 13, 2005
- Replace banned words Apr 5, 2007
- Get the most recent file date Jan 30, 2006
- Moving (bouncing) Image Nov 10, 2005
- Sticky default values for an input Oct 22, 2006
Using PHP 
- Creating a custom php.ini file Dec 18, 2007 php5
- Copying the php.ini file Dec 18, 2007 php5
- Deleteing php.ini files Dec 18, 2007 php5
- Clean up your PHP scripts Nov 11, 2005
- Regular Expression Rules Mar 22, 2006
Website Managment 
- Tips for keeping your website secure Jan 24, 2006
- Using Cron Sep 13, 2005
- Website Monitoring Dec 19, 2007
- Automated Site Backups Dec 19, 2007
- Automated MySQL Backups Dec 19, 2007
- Server-to-server file transfer December 16, 2006
- MySQL Error Notification Dec 20, 2007
- Find File and Directory Sizes Dec 14, 2007 php5
- Deleting session files Aug 9, 2006
- FTP made easy Mar 1, 2006
- Search and Replace Dec 14, 2007 php5
Other Tips 
- URL Validation Feb 8, 2008
- Stop direct links to web pages Jan 22, 2004
- Ensure your page is not opened in a frame May 5, 2005
- Masking your URL in the Address Bar Jul 20, 2004
- Ban or allow IP Addresses (without using .htaccess) Jan 19, 20008
- Using Cookies Sep 24, 2006
- View your website in different resolutions Jan 2, 2005
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Form Mail
Here is a simple Form Mail script. It can be used on your website for people sending you messages, rather than using an email link. The script provides a form with name, email address, and message. It validates the email address format. It also provides some protection against mail bombing by only allowing 3 messages to be sent from a single browser session. You can easily modify the script to fit the theme of your site, or change the form.You can download this script as a .txt file. Remember to rename the file as a .php file.
- - Start Script Here - -
<?php
// modify the three lines below
$htmlMail = "no"; // "yes" to send html mail - otherwise sends text mail
$emailAddress = "mail@domain.com"; // your email address
$thankyouPage = ""; // leave empty to return to the form after a message has been sent - put in a url (or relative page) to go to a Thank You page
// modify the three lines above
session_start();
if (isset($_POST['send']) AND isset($_SESSION['mail_count'])) {
if (!preg_match("(^[-\w\.]+@([-a-z0-9]+\.)+[a-z]{2,4}$)i", $_POST['email'])) $alert = "You have entered an invalid email address.";
if ($_SESSION['mail_count'] >= "3") $alert = "Only 3 messages can be sent per session.";
if (empty($alert)) {
$_SESSION['mail_count']++;
if (!get_magic_quotes_gpc()) foreach ($_POST as $key=>$value) $_POST[$key] = addslashes($_POST[$key]);
foreach ($_POST as $key=>$value) $_POST[$key] = wordwrap($_POST[$key],65);
if ($htmlMail == "yes") {
$headers = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n";
$headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\r\n";
$message = "<table border='1'>";
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) if (!preg_match("(^send)", $key)) $message .="<tr><td><b>$key</b></td><td>$value</td></tr>";
$message .= "</table>";
} else {
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) if (!preg_match("(^send)", $key)) $message .= $key . "->\n " . $value . "\n\n";
}
$subject = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . " Message";
$headers .= "From: <" . $_POST['email'] . ">\r\n";
mail($emailAddress,$subject,$message,$headers);
if (!empty($thankyouPage)) {
header('location: ' . $thankyouPage);
die();
}
unset($_POST);
$alert = "Your message has been sent.";
}
}
if (!isset($_SESSION['mail_count'])) $_SESSION['mail_count'] = 0;
?>
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<form method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME']; ?>">
<div style="text-align: center; height: 450px; width: 500px; margin-top: 50; border: solid 1px black;">
<br>
Send me a message<br><br>
your name<br><input type="text" style="width: 330px;" name="name" value="<?php echo $_POST['name']; ?>" maxlength="50"><br><br>
your email address<br><input type="text" style="width: 330px;" name="email" value="<?php echo $_POST['email']; ?>" maxlength="50"><br><br>
your message<br><textarea name="content" style="width: 330px; height: 100px;" rows="6" cols="80"><?php echo $_POST['content']; ?></textarea>
<br><br>
<input type="submit" name="send" value="submit">
</div>
</form>
<?php if (isset($alert)) echo "<script type='text/javascript'>alert('$alert');</script>"; ?>
</body></html>
- - End Script Here - -
This script also has built-in bot protection. The mail bomb protection feature in this script uses a session variable which is set when the actual form is presented. Form processing will not happen (an email will not be sent) unless the form has been presented first (and the session variable set). Bots will initiate a new session on every access when trying to submit a form, so an email will not be sent. For further protection against bots (and to slow down users), consider incorporating CAPTCHA (which you can also find on this site).
In summary, the only thing you need to do is update the values in the first three lines if the script. The first line specifies either html or text email format. The next is your email address. The last one is the location of a "Thank You" page if you wish to use one.
If you want to add or change the form, just make the html changes following the method used for the current variables. The php script will put all $_POST variables in the email (except "send" which is the button). The only requirement is that there must be an input element named "email" (since that value is validated and used as the from address in the email).
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