Step-by-Step mail_form gem example with reCaptcha gem for Rails 3

Summary

• use the mail_form gem in Rails 3
• use the recaptcha gem in Rails 3
• setup the mailer to send out the form data as email

git clone http://github.com/tilo/mail_form_example_with_recaptcha

The mail_form Gem

The mail_form gem allows you to create forms directly in Rails 3 without a database backend. As soon as you submit the form, it gets emailed to an address you specify.

You might have read about the mail_form gem either on the web or in the Pragmatic Programmer's book "Crafting Rails Applications".

• https://github.com/plataformatec/mail_form
• http://pragprog.com/titles/jvrails/crafting-rails-applications

Unfortunately this example is incomplete:

• http://www.arailsdemo.com/posts/43

reCaptcha Gem

The recaptcha gem allows you to make sure that a human (not a bot) is submitting your forms. The recaptcha gem uses Google's ReCAPTCHA service. ReCAPTCHA is a free CAPTCHA service that helps to digitize books, newspapers and old time radio shows.

• https://github.com/ambethia/recaptcha
• http://www.google.com/recaptcha/learnmore
• https://www.google.com/recaptcha/admin/create

Getting Started

1. Clone this repository

gem clone git://github.com/tilo/mail_form_example_with_recaptcha.git

2. Check your Gemfile and install the Gems

emacs Gemfile bundle install

3. Set-Up a reCaptcha account with Google

By default, your reCAPTCHA key is restricted to the specified domain, and any subdomains for additional security. This is why you need to sign-up, to get your API-key for your specific domain.

https://www.google.com/recaptcha/admin/create

4. Customize this example to fit your needs:
• add your reCaptcha account information / add your private and public keys

emacs config/initializers/recaptcha.rb

• add your email settings / add your domain name and the email address where you want to receive the form data

emacs config/initializers/setup_mail.rb emacs app/models/mail_forms/contact.rb

• check Google's instructions on how to customizing the look and feel of reCAPTCHA

http://code.google.com/apis/recaptcha/docs/customization.html

• you might want to change the :theme variable in the view file

emacs app/views/mail_forms/contact/new.html.erb

5. Try out the Example
Start the Rails application:

rails s

Point your browser to

firefox http://localhost:3000/contact

Appendix

.
├── app
│   ├── controllers
│   │   ├── ...
│   │   └── mail_forms
│   │       └── contact_controller.rb
│   │   ...
│   ├── models
│   │   └── mail_forms
│   │       └── contact.rb
│   │   ...
│   └── views
│       └── mail_forms
│           └── contact
│               └── new.html.erb
│   ...
├── config
│   │   ...
│   ├── initializers
│   │   ├── recaptcha.rb
│   │   └── setup_mail.rb
│   │   ...