FRONTPAGE 2000 CUSTOM CONFIRMATION PAGES

ME: The problem is that the field names are the only values that are being returned.

MS: This behavior is by design. Before FrontPage 2000 was released, it was determined that custom confirmation pages used in conjunction with ASP pages was a Security risk. Essentially, it was possible to access database information through the Confirmation page itself. At that time, Microsoft made the decision to remove the functionality from the program in effort to protect our users from possible information leaks. To use the built in functionality of FrontPage, you will have to use a standard confirmation page.

ME: Also after searching and reading the "*.txt and *.wri files in my Office program directory I was able to find anything on FrontPage or this topic. Also there was nothing in the MSKB stating this.

MS: The reason the functionality is included is because you can still use the feature with html pages. If you send the results to a text file or an email address, you can set a custom confirmation page. The functionality of assigning a custom confirmation page to an asp page did exist in FrontPage 98. I understand your concern on the matter, but the security implications were too serious to ignore.

That being said, I decided to look a little deeper into the subject. I consulted with several others on the issue, and it was brought to my attention that the issue has been resolved. Microsoft has corrected the security issue in the newest Service Release for Office 2000. Service Release 1.1, or SR 1.1, has corrected certain issues with the FrontPage Client, but more specifically updated the FrontPage Server Extensions to accommodate the security issue. To find out how to get SR 1.1, please go to http://support.microsoft.com. This will take you to the Microsoft Knowledge Base's Advanced Search Page.

The search includes 3 criteria.  The criteria you need to search on is this:
1) All Microsoft products;
2) By specific article ID;
3) Q245025. This will bring up the article entitled How to Obtain and Install MS Office 2000 SR-1/1a. Follow the instructions for installing SR-1.a. Then you will need to install the Service Release for the FrontPage Server Extensions. You can obtain this download by going to this link.

This will bring you directly to the Download Page for the FrontPage Server Extensions SR-1.1. You will most likely need to download the first available one which is called fpse2k_x86_ENG.exe.

IMPORTANT: This fix will only work if your Web Presence Provider Does the procedure as well. You will need to contact them and ask them if they have installed the SR-1a and SR-1.1 downloads. If they have not, functionality will work on the local machine, but will not work when published to the internet.

ME: Hey, great follow up information thank you for your persistence in getting a detailed response for me! You guys are good!

Your comment as follows has triggered some curiosity as to how this could be done. Could you please assist? "The reason the functionality is included is because you can still use the feature with html pages. If you send the results to a text file or an email address, you can set a custom confirmation page."

Also is there a way (html code, java script, MSKB article, etc.) to have the custom confirmation page trigger an email notification to me? The reason is then I would know when a form page entry was made in the Access mdb without having to download and open it. If the form page could trigger an email notification as well as a custom confirmation page that would of course work for me as well.

MS: The security issue was with ASP pages. Knowledgeable users were able to backtrack through the ASP of the confirmation page and view information on the server. This was not the case with standard HTML pages. When sending form information directly to an email address or a text file, you don't have to save the page as an ASP page. You can save it as a standard HTML page.

Your second question would not be possible through the built in functionality of FrontPage. To do what you are looking to do would require a custom ASP page to be written to accommodate the Email request. FrontPage Support does not support writing or debugging code written by sources other than the FrontPage program itself. You would have to have a Solution Provider accommodate that request. Solution Providers are external consultants that do custom applications. You can reach a Solution Provider in your area by calling 1-800-765-7768.

ME: "This was not the case with standard HTML pages. When sending form information directly to an email address or a text file, you don't have to save the page as an ASP page. You can save it as a standard HTML page."

I've tried saving my confirmation page as htm instead of asp, but that didn't work either. In fact, it was originally created as a html and then I renamed it as a html thinking that the extension name was the problem. I'm interpreting your statement above to mean that if I use an html extension I would need the SR1 update?

MS: Here are the four possibilities your can have with using confirmation pages with "Send to e-mail" and "Send to database:

1) Send to Email 1. If you send form information to an e-mail address and use the built in confirmation page, you will receive a Confirmation Page that includes all of the information that the customer entered. Regurgitated back to them if you will.

2) Send to Email 2. If you send form information to an email address and use a custom Confirmation Page, You will not be able to have the information entered by the customer returned. You will only be able to direct to the Custom page that you create as a standard HTML page. The custom HTML page in this case will NOT be able to display the customer input.

3) Send to database 1. If you send the form information to a database and use the built in confirmation page, you will receive a Confirmation Page that includes all of the information that the customer entered.

4) Send to database 2.If you send the form information to a database and use a custom confirmation page, you will not be able to display the customer information regurgitated back on the Custom Confirmation Page. You will only be able to have information that you pre-script to the page. There is no way to pass a value to a custom confirmation page for data to be drawn from using the built in functionality of FrontPage.

The only way to do what I think you are trying to do, Is through Custom ASP scripting. You want the information sent to database and to have the confirmation page return the values that the customer entered. This is simply not possible using the Custom Confirmation Page feature with in the program. You would have to either hand write the ASP or have a Solution Provider create the ASP pages. Please correct me if I am mistaken here.

ME: "You would have to either hand write the ASP or have a Solution Provider create the ASP pages."

I'll assume I have a 3rd choice as you pointed out in a previous response, which is to install the Office 2000 SR1?

Hopefully here's my last question. If I use the confirmation form that is automatically generated by FrontPage, and therefore not my custom one, how do I control the order that the fields appear in? This is one of the reasons why I originally was trying to create a custom confirmation page, as the order the fields are returned in does not match the order that they are laid out in on the Form page.

MS: "I'll assume I have a 3rd choice as you pointed out in a previous response, which is to install the Office 2000 SR1?"

Actually no. The only benefit from installing SR1 is allowing you to use a custom confirmation page that has static text. This will not allow you to customize the information being returned.

"how do I control the order that the fields appear in? This is one of the reasons why I originally was trying to create a custom confirmation page, as the order the fields are returned in does not match the order that they are laid out in on the Form page."

You can alter the order in which the information is returned by using this method:
1) Right click in the form field and select Form Properties.
2) In the Form Properties dialog, select the OPTIONS button.
3) Select the SAVED FIELDS tab from the top of the Options for Saving the Results of a Form dialog box.
4) You will notice that all of the saved fields are listed in the white box. This is where you change the order. I recommend that you write down all of the fields you see, exactly as you see them. You will then have to manually change the order in which they appear. This should replace the order in which they are listed in on the Confirmation Page that is built in to FrontPage.

ME: The Form Properties dialog, OPTIONS button, Saved Fields are in an order unique to themselves. That is they don't match the order of the Form or that of the auto generated confirmation page. For instance, the first field (and the first one in tab order) on the Form page is "contact_name". The first field in the auto generated confirmation page is "title". However, the first field in the Saved Fields dialog is "address1".

MS: Does your Form have Comment Fields (scrolling text boxes) on it?

ME: Yes, my Form page has one scrolling Comments field.

MS: Jay is not in today, but I am following up in his absence.

From what I understand, you do not like the order of the confirmation page fields. Is this correct?

I wanted to verify some other information, you are submitting the form to a database, correct?

Please look at the following Knowledge Base article and see if it helps:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q263/5/10.asp

ME: Thank you for the KB article and I will use it when I get around to working on my custom confirmation page.

For now I'm simply trying to use the automatically generated FrontPage 2000 confirmation page. I've attached the page for you to look over the standard code. The page works, but the fields are out of order. One would think the logical thing for FP to do is to use the Tab order of the fields on the Form page and present them in that order on the automatically generated/created confirmation page.

MS: There are some instances that change the order of how things appear on the Confirmation Page. Scrolling Text fields will always show up on the bottom. I also believe that the order represents the order in which they were originally saved on the form page. You can specifically change the TAB order, but FrontPage will not dynamically change the order to match the Tab order. If you feel strongly enough about the issue, please feel free to make your opinion known to our development team by going to www.microsoft.com/mswish. This way our Development Team can determine if your suggestion should be included in future releases of the product.

MS: It appears at this point that I have answered your original question. I am marking your case as inactive, however should you need further assistance on this issue, simply create a supplement and the case will become active and we will be back in touch. For support with any new cases, please create a new case and someone will promptly be in touch.