Free tell-a-friend script - version 2.1

Script updated to version 2.1 September 19 2006

The popularity of our original free tell-a-friend script has been amazing! People enjoy it's simplicity and lightweight code; thanks to everyone for your feedback. 

Since releasing the original script, I have had many requests for extra features; particularly for a function that sends the URL of the page of where the tell a friend link was clicked. So, after a lengthy delay, I'm pleased to present the Taming the Beast Tell A Friend Script Version 2.0. I really must devise a shorter and catchier title one day :) 

Why use a tell a friend script?

Even in our high tech society where megabuck marketing tools abound, word of mouth is still one of the most powerful forms of marketing. People have a tendency to react positively to recommendations from their friends and colleagues - it's as simple as that. A single recommendation can snowball - Tom tells Jack, Jack tells Jill and John, they each tell two people, etc. 

By using a recommendation form on your site, a single visitor can literally generate thousands more!

The beauty of word of mouth marketing via a tell a friend script is that the investment is next to nil - just a little of your time to implement the feature.

There are many recommendation/tell a friend scripts around and I'm by no means saying that this one is the best; it's just simpler than most, yet still very effective.

Need a More Powerful  Tell A Friend application? * Highly customizable, create forms in seconds * No complex scripting, spam prevention * Tracks and monitors usage * Easy to use admin panel * Pre-define message * Or allow users to enter their own * Free trial, support and much more!.. Try Tell A Friend King free today!

Free recommendation script features

• Lightweight script

• Basic form validation rules

• Easy to configure, there's only two parts - the PHP script itself and the form

• Allows a visitor to send a recommendation to 3 friends

• Personalized subject line

• Notifies you when someone has submitted the recommendation form

• Sends the URL of the current page in the recommendation email

• Sends URL of the page recommended in a notification to you

Try it out - recommend this page

If you don't need the extra features of automatic referring page URL insertion or personalization of subject lines, you may like to try our simpler, original tell a friend script. It's also a better choice where you want the form to appear directly in current HTML pages as the input form itself in this version requires PHP for the advanced referrer page feature.

Tell a friend script requirements

What you will need to ascertain first before going any further is whether your hosting plan supports PHP. If you're not sure, ask your web host to save yourself the frustration of guessing - only to find out that your plan doesn't support it.

If you are a FrontPage user, please remember to copy the code below to a text editor such as Notepad first and then copy and paste it from there into the FrontPage HTML source window. This will prevent FrontPage from trashing the code.

Part 1 - the tell a friend processing script

Copy and paste the code below (from <?PHP to ?>) into Notepad and then save as "tellafriend.php". The only items you really need to change are the "$emailto" information, which is in bold. 

It's also advisable to edit the body text of the email (where indicated below)  sent out to recipients with further details about your site and to alter the subject line in the email the recipients will receive to suit your needs.

--- do not copy this line, start from next line

<?php


// This following statement must not be changed.
// Copyright (c) Michael Bloch and Taming The Beast.  
// Tell-A-Friend script V 2.1 Updated September 19 2006
// Taming the Beast.net - http://www.tamingthebeast.net
// Free Web Marketing and Ecommerce Resources and Tools
// By using this script you agree to indemnify Taming the Beast
// from from any liability that might arise from its use. 
// The preceding statement must not be changed. 

if(count($_POST)) {
# This part strips out nasty code that a malicious
# person may try to inject into the form

foreach(array('fmail1','fmail2','fmail3','email','name') as $key) $_POST[$key] = strip_tags($_POST[$key]);
if(!is_secure($_POST)) { die("Hackers begone");}

# This part submits a notification to you when 
# the form is submitted

// Email address for copies to be sent to - change to suit
$emailto = "you@yoursite.com"; 

// Notification email subject text for copies
$esubject = "Recommendation form submission"; 

// Email body text for notifications
$emailtext = "
$_POST[name] has used your recommendation form using an email address of $_POST[email]

The people the recommendation has been submitted to are:

$_POST[fmail1]
$_POST[fmail2]
$_POST[fmail3]

The page recommended:

$_POST[refurl]

";

# This function sends the email to you

@mail("$emailto", $esubject, $emailtext, "From: $_POST[email]");

# This part is the function for sending to recipients

// Page to display after successful submission
// Change the thankyou.htm to suit

$thankyoupage = "thankyou.htm"; 

// Subject line for the recommendation - change to suit

$tsubject = "A web page recommendation from $_POST[name]";

// Change the text below for the email 
// Be careful not to change anyt "$_POST[value]" bits

$ttext = "
Hi,

$_POST[name], whose email address is $_POST[email] thought you may be interested in this web page. 

$_POST[refurl]

$_POST[name] has used our Tell-a-Friend form to send you this note.

We look forward to your visit!

";

# This sends the note to the addresses submitted
@mail("$_POST[fmail1],$_POST[fmail2],$_POST[fmail3]", $tsubject, $ttext, "FROM: $_POST[email]");

# After submission, the thank you page
header("Location: $thankyoupage");
exit;

}

# Nothing further can be changed. Leave the below as is

function is_secure($ar) {
$reg = "/(Content-Type|Bcc|MIME-Version|Content-Transfer-Encoding)/i";
if(!is_array($ar)) { return preg_match($reg,$ar);}
$incoming = array_values_recursive($ar);
foreach($incoming as $k=>$v) if(preg_match($reg,$v)) return false;
return true;
}

function array_values_recursive($array) {
$arrayValues = array();
foreach ($array as $key=>$value) {
if (is_scalar($value) || is_resource($value)) {
$arrayValues[] = $value;
$arrayValues[] = $key;
}
elseif (is_array($value)) {
$arrayValues[] = $key;
$arrayValues = array_merge($arrayValues, array_values_recursive($value));
}
}
return $arrayValues;
}

?>

--- do not copy this line; finish copying at above line

Part 2 - The tell a friend form:

Copy and paste the code below and save it as recform.php. This is the submission form that your visitors will use to recommend your site. The file needs to be saved into the same folder as the tellafriend.php script. Customize the page to suit your site. 

<html>
<head>
<title>Recommendation form</title>
<script language="javascript">
<!--

function reset() {
document.tellafriend.name.value="";
document.tellafriend.email.value="";
document.tellafriend.fmail1.value="";
document.tellafriend.fmail2.value="";
document.tellafriend.fmail3.value="";
}

function validate() {


if (document.tellafriend.fmail1.value.length==0) {
alert("Oops! you'll need to enter a friend's email address");
return false;
}

if (document.tellafriend.email.value.length==0) {
alert("Oops! you forget to enter your email address");
return false;
}
if (document.tellafriend.name.value.length==0) {
alert("Oops! you forgot to enter your name");
return false;
}

document.tellafriend.submit()
return true;
}

//-->
</script>
</head>
<body onload="reset()" topmargin="0" leftmargin="0"> 
<p> 
<center>
</center>
<table width="450" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" align="center">
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="middle" align="center">&nbsp;
Complete the details below to send a link to the page:<br>
<? $refurl = $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']; ?>
<? print $refurl;?>
<form name="tellafriend" action="tellafriend.php" method="post" onsubmit="return checkfields()">&nbsp;
<div align="center">
<center>
<table border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0">
<tr>
<td> *your name:</td>
<td>
<input size="30" name="name" maxlength="45">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>*your email:</td>
<td>
<input size="30" name="email" maxlength="45">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">
<p align="center">Enter your friend's email addresses:</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>*email 1:</td>
<td>
<input size="30" name="fmail1" maxlength="50">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>email 2:</td>
<td>
<input size="30" name="fmail2" maxlength="50">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>email 3:</td>
<td>
<input size="30" name="fmail3" maxlength="50">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">
<p align="center">
The email that will be sent to will contain your name &amp; email address. <br>
<input onclick="validate();" type="button" value="click once to send">
<input type=hidden name=refurl value="<? print $refurl;?>"> 

</td>
</tr>
</table>
</center>
</div>
</form>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td valign="middle" align="center"> 
&nbsp;
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>


Once you have these two files ready to go, create a thankyou.htm page or specify another page to be used in part 1, upload the files to the same folder and you're done! When you create a link to the form, set it to open in a new window so your visitors don't lose the page they were on - or you can use a popup window. 

Calling the tell a friend form via a popup window

If you want to call the form via a popup window, it's very easy to do. Simply click the "Select All" button below and then copy the code - remember to change the "path/to/recform.php" statement in the code to suit. You can also change the size of the popup window width and height attributes.

Troubleshooting the tell a friend script

The most common problems

• Your hosting plan not supporting PHP

• Permission error issues. If this occurs, set permissions to 755 or 750

• Changing ""$_POST[value]"" values

• Copying code directly from this page into FrontPage HTML source code. Copy to notepad first.

• Forgetting to change the "you@yoursite.com" for notifications.

You'll also find a stack of other troubleshooting tips in my tell a friend script update blog post.

I hope you find this recommendation script useful and that it brings you as many extra visitors as it has done for us!

Tip: get news of any updates to this Tell-a-friend script by subscribing to our free newsletter via the box on the top right hand side of this page!

Questions?

Unfortunately I don't have the time available to me to answer individual questions about the script; but check this blog post thread for other troubleshooting tips. Thanks!

Other learning resources

Tell a friend script V1

Favorites icon tutorial and bookmarking script

Creating custom error pages

Choosing the best shopping cart software

Michael Bloch
Taming the Beast
http://www.tamingthebeast.net 
Tutorials, web content, tools and software.
Web Marketing, Internet Development & Ecommerce Resources
____________________________

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