php image verification with form mail?

phpupil

As you will see in reading my message, I'm very new at working with php and thus am unsure what I can and cannot do.

Question: Is there any way to simply "insert" a php image verification script into an existing html contact page? (that page is used to call a typical form_mail cgi script).

In other words, the form should not send until a person types into a field the randomly generated letters.

I'm working with an existing html contact form with the usual FORM ACTION = "/cgi-bin/Form_eMail.pl" METHOD = "POST" at the top.

Down at the submit button I'd like to place the image verification php script to stop spam robots. That script includes this line:

form method="POST" action="'.$PHP_SELF.'?'.SID.'"

So there are 2 form actions -- 1 for the cgi, 1 for the php.

The "image verification" does work fine as a standalone php form (without the html or cgi), however if I simply copy the current form_mail html coding and place it within the php page, the form will send properly whether or not the image verification letters are inserted.

I hope this is making sense -- if anyone has any thoughts, the feedback is appreciated. If it would be helpful to see the page address, let me know...

drew010

well, it isnt possible to have two form actions, so you will have to figure a way to put the two scripts together, or use php to pipe the request to the cgi script if the code is typed correct.

phpupil

Thanks drew for taking the time to reply.

Being new at all this, I'd like to ask what I'm sure is a real basic question -- can a php script be referenced externally from within an html page? (for example, the same way an external javascript can be referenced in the <head>). If so, what is the format?

I spent a fair amount of time this afternoon trying to find that answer using google, but had no success....

drew010

not directly in an html page, but you can use [man]include[/man] to bring one php page into another. i suppose you could use php and javascript together to do a sort of <script src="http://www.site.com/script.php"> and use document.write to output any data to the browser.

phpupil

Thanks again drew -- that accounts for my inability to find any explanation of "referencing external php script" at many of the php tutorial sites.:bemused: Your feedback will end my search and save my time!