The Automatic E-Mail Follow Up System v1.1 requires a UNIX web server with Perl 5 installed. This script will NOT work on a WinNT server. Your server also, must allow you to use crontab. Crontab is a small program installed on most UNIX servers which allows you to automatically run scripts at set times.

If you would like to offer all members an autoresponder, you MUST have procmail installed. Procmail is a small program on many UNIX web servers which allows you to easily process incoming mail, hence the name procmail. If you do not know if you have procmail installed or not, please contact your server administrator. If there's a file in your home directory called .procmailrc, then you have procmail installed.

Most people feel safer about using a program if they know how it works. For that reason, this section will explain exactly how the AEFS v1.1 handles mailing lists, ect...

There is no actual database for the this version. Instead, each member will have their own small text file, which is stored in the MemberCGI directory. Inside this file, the first line contains all the member's personal information. Using the database this way provides for more speed, reliability, and security. Each member will also have their own directory created inside the MemberCGI directory which will store the member's mailing lists, and follow up messages.

Inside each member's directory there is a file called list.conf. The first line of this file contains information such as, the maximum number of lists and messages the member is allowed to have ect... Each line after the first line represents one mailing list. These lines contain the follow up settings of when to follow up, and which message to send.

Each mailing list consists of three different files, x.lst, x.log and x.bak, where x is a number. The .log file contains a log of the follow ups from the previous day. They x.bak file contains all of the entries which have completed the entire follow up process, and the x.lst file contains the actual mailing list. The first four fields in each mailing list are always the same, ID, FOLLOW_UP_DATE, CYCLE and MESSAGE. The rest of the fields are the ones which you specify for that mailing list.

Installation

First, sit back and make a list of all the information you want stored in your member database. For example, you might want to store the members name, e-mail address, city, state, zip, and password in your database. Remember to include a password field for your members. You do not need to include a Username field because the script will automatically add this field in.

Once you have your list of things you want to store in your database, create a variable for each thing in your list. The variables can not contain spaces, or special characters, and should be relatively short. For example, if I wanted to store everyone's e-mail address in my database, I could use EMAIL for the variable.

What you need to do next is configure the CGI scripts for your server. There is only a minor amount of configuration required. With a text editor, like notepad, open up each file inside the /cgi-bin/ directory, except the file aefs.conf.

First you have to edit the very top line of these files to point to the location of perl on your server. If you do not know this, telnet into your account, and at the prompt type which perl. This will display the location of perl on your server. Make sure the very top line of each file points to the location of perl on your server.

Next, scroll down below the copyright information to where is says $Conf and $Library. Set the $Conf variable to the full path on your server to the aefs.conf file. Then set the $Library variable to the full path on your server to the aefs-lib.pl file. If you do not know the full path, telnet into your account, change to the directory you want, then at the prompt type, pwd. This will display the full path on your server to the directory you are currently in.

Once your done settings those variables, save and close all of the files.

Next, FTP into your web server. Upload everything inside the /cgi-bin directory into your cgi-bin directory on your web server. Make sure you upload in ASCII format, not binary! Now chmod all of the files with a .cgi, or .pl extension to 755. Chmod the file aefs.conf, and all three directories, /messages, /data, and /backup to 777. Also, make sure you chmod the three files inside the /data directory to 777.

Now you need to upload the MemberCGI directory to your server. This directory can be placed anywhere on your server you would like, and can be called anything you like. It does not have to be called MemberCGI. Chmod this directory to 777.

The last thing you have to do is upload the images directory to your server. This directory can be placed anywhere on your server you would like, and can be called anything you would like.

Open up your web browser and goto the install.cgi script which you just uploaded to your server. A screen which says "Automatic E-Mail Follow Up System v1.1 Installation" at the top in red text should appear. All you have to do is answer the following questions, and your basically done installing the script.

The first question should be fairly straight forward. The second question asks you for the location of sendmail on your server. If you do not know this, telnet into your account, and at the prompt type which sendmail. This will display the location of sendmail on your server which is what you use for the answer.

The next section of questions ask for the full path on your server to different locations. If you do not know what the full path is, telnet into your account, change to the directory it's asking for, and type pwd. This will display the full path to the directory you are currently in.

The last section of questions should again, be fairly straight forward. Once your done all of the questions, click on the Install button. The next screen should say "Installation Complete" at the top in big red letters. Then just click on the link that says "Click Here to Run First Time Setup", and move on to the next section of this manual.

To most of you, this probably sounds pretty complex. Don't worry, it isn't. All you have to do, is telnet into your account, then change directories to your /cgi-bin/ directory. Now type crontab .crontab, and that's it! Your crontab file has been loaded. To check, and make sure this worked, type crontab -l. This should display one line which says something like this:

1 0 * * * /home/mysite/public_html/cgi-bin/aefs/followup.pl

The script will now run the followup.pl script every night at one minute after midnight.

Now, you should be at a gray screen which says "Security Check" at the top, and asks for a Username and Password. Use admin for both, the username and the password. This will bring you into the Admin Control Panel. Now click on the Setup button, then click on First Time Setup.

The first four questions should be fairly straight forward. Just enter your full name, your e-mail address, and the username and password you would like to use from now on to login to the Admin Control Panel.

The last question asks you how many fields you would like your database to contain. Remember that list of variables you created at the very beginning. Put the number of variables you have in the box for your answer. Then click the Submit button and you should be taken to another screen which says "First Time Setup - Part 2" at the top.

This screen should be fairly straight forward. Just fill in the blanks and hit the Submit button again. This should take you to a third and final screen which says "First Time Setup - Part 3" at the top. The first three questions on this screen are easy. Just select which field in your database will contain the names, e-mail addresses and passwords of your members. The next question is also fairly easy, just select which fields you would like your members to be able to edit online.

Now just hit the Submit button one last time, and you should goto a page that says "Firt Time Setup - Successful" at the top of the screen.