What do I need to run the script ?

• The script (see zip file)
• Your own website with FTP access
• Permission to run CGI scripts on your server
• Web hosting withPerl 5.006 or higher installed
• Web hosting hasthe Perl GD module installed(optional)

 

What will I have to do?

"Quick" and "Easy" are the keywords !

1. Make a few changes to the script options.
2. Upload the files to your web server.
3. Testing and using...

Here we go...

1. Make a few changes to the script

a. Unpack the zip file.
b. Edit a few options at the start of the script using a text editor like notepad or NOTEPAD++.  The options in the script are preceded by 'my'.  Leave it in, since it's a part of the programming language.  Some of the options underneath are only available in the XTra version.

#!/usr/bin/perl
	This is correct in 99% of the cases.  Alternatively, you can just check with your web administrator on what the correct path is.
my $script = 'http://www.your-url.co.uk/cgi-bin/ezmailer.pl';
	Enter the full URL to the script.  Note that you can rename the script (as long as you reflect the new name in this option).  Renaming the script will make your setup safer.
my $listDB = 'lists.txt';
	Enter the name of the file that will contain the info about the lists.  Do not use the default name and preferable put it in another path than the script.  If this file is visible to others, then the addresses of your subscribers will be too !!
my $listspath = './ourlists';
	The server path in which list info will be saved.  Make this one hard to guess.
my $Username = 'username';
	Choose a login name...
my $Password = 'password';
	Choose an admin password...
my $securitykey = '234FHAklwelwippq2328jwhl';
	This will be used to generate random names for the mailing list databases.  Do enter your own random sequence of numbers and letters there.  Do not use the default from the script.
my $HTML_thankyousubscribe = 'http://www.your-url.co.uk/thankyou1.htm';
	URL to the default Thank You page your visitors will see when they subscribe to one of your mailing lists from your web site.  You will be able to define thank you pages per list from within the application.
my $HTML_thankyouunsubscribe = 'http://www.your-url.co.uk/thankyou2.htm';
	URL to the default Thank You page your visitors will see when they unsubscribe from one of your mailing lists.  You will be able to define thank you pages per list from within the application.
my $backupdir = 'my/hidden/backup/path';
	Path to where list backups will be written.  Make sure it´s not an obvious one.
my $send_me = 0;
	Set to 1 if you want to make sure that a copy of every mail sent through EZMailer.net will also be sent to the underneath $admin_mail mail address.  (note : if you send a mail to e.g. 200 subscribers, you will only get one copy of course...).
my $admin_mail = 'email@your-url.co.uk';
	Your mail address or the mail address of the administrator of the site.
my $mailprog = '/usr/sbin/sendmail';
	The path to the unix or linux sendmail.  This should be correct in 99% of the cases.
my $backgroundcolor = "#FFFFFF";
	You can specify the background color for the application here.
my $titlecolor = "#0000FF";
	You can specify the font color of the titles here.
my $menucolor = "#D7EBFF";
	You can speficy the color of the menu tabs here.
my $defaultfont = "Verdana";
	You can specify the font that the application will use in the GUI.
my $style =<<EOF; A {color: #0000FF;text-decoration:none;font-weight:bold} A:hover {color: #FFFFFF;font-weight:bold;background:#0000FF} body, td {   font-size: 12px;   font-family: $defaultfont   } EOF
	You can enter some CSS style info there if you want to tune the application to look exactly like your site.
my $disable_list_delete = 0;
	Set to 1 if you want to disable the list delete function.
my $disable_list_create = 0;
	Set to 1 if you want to disable the creation of new lists.
my $disable_external_subscribe = 0;
	Set to 1 if you do not want users to subscribe themselves from web forms.
my $disable_batch_unsubscribe = 0;
	Set to 1 if you wish to disable the Batch Unsubscribe function.
my $disable_feature_warning = <<EOF; <p align="center"><br></p><p align="center">&nbsp;</p> <p align="center">For safety reasons, the administrator has disabled this function</p> EOF
	This is the warning that users will see when attempting to use a feature that has been disabled.

When you have done this, you can save the modified version of the script and close the editor.  Make sure you save the files in UNIX format.  See also the FAQ or point 2 on this page.

Note : As you noticed, there is no possibility to disable the external unsubscribe.  This is to make sure that you will never run into troubles with anti-spam legislation by which you should always offer your subscribers a straight-forward and immediate way to unsubscribe.

2. Upload the files to your web server

Now that you have edited the script options to your liking, you can start uploading the script to your web server.  Make sure the script is saved in unix format.  Notepad++ (see point 1) can save directly into unix format, when using notepad, you will have to run a little tool like dos2unix from the windows command line.

Upload each file to the location you specified in the script options.  Then set the permission for the script file and the database file (chmod 755 or 777 on some servers).  See the FAQ for more info on CHMOD.

3. Testing and using...

Now the script should be up and running !  Do a little test and type the value of $script in the address bar of your browser.  The login screen of EZMailer should appear.

You can now start to create lists and make forms for your web site, so visitors can subscribe themselves to these lists.  When you go to a list you created, you will see an example of how to make such a form for the selected mailing list.  Note that visitors can only unsubscribe themselves from a link in a mail from EZMailer.  This link also incorporates a code, without which EZMailer will not unsubscribe anyone.  Hence, there is less chance of hackers unsubscribing all your subscribers.