# How do I get a message indicating someone gave input to my website?

**URL:** <https://community.wolfram.com/t/how-do-i-get-a-message-indicating-someone-gave-input-to-my-website/24792>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Tags:** wolfram-cloud\
**Created:** [November 18, 2024, 10:42am UTC](https://community.wolfram.com/t/how-do-i-get-a-message-indicating-someone-gave-input-to-my-website/24792 "2024-11-18T10:42:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hwemwilschut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/d9b06d/32.png) [@hwemwilschut](https://community.wolfram.com/u/hwemwilschut)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2024, 10:42am UTC](https://community.wolfram.com/t/how-do-i-get-a-message-indicating-someone-gave-input-to-my-website/24792/1 "2024-11-18T10:42:33Z")

</div>

Chad Knutson gave a talk to setup a simple form to find the best date for a party. That was useful, but that his query was answered he only knew by inspecting the data file in the cloud.  
I would like to be signaled that there was a successful interaction with my website, i.e. someone who has added to the file in the cloud.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![robpacey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/51bf81/32.png) [@robpacey](https://community.wolfram.com/u/robpacey)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2025, 8:23pm UTC](https://community.wolfram.com/t/how-do-i-get-a-message-indicating-someone-gave-input-to-my-website/24792/2 "2025-11-02T20:23:25Z")

</div>

H.W.,

You’re looking for a proactive notification instead of a manual check. The Wolfram Language is perfect for automating that step.

We can use the `SendMail` function right after the data has been written.

**Using SendMail in Your FormFunction**

Assuming your original `FormFunction` looked something like the first line below, here is how you would modify the function that handles the form data (`#`):

```
(* The new action function is enclosed in parentheses for clarity *)

CloudDeploy[
 FormFunction[
  {"name" -> "String", "date" -> "DateObject"},
  (
    (* 1. Write the new data to the cloud file *)
    Export["cloud:///Path/To/Your/DataFile.mx", #, "Append"];

    (* 2. Send the Notification Email *)
    SendMail[
      "To" -> "your.email@example.com", (* <--- Your Email Address *)
      "Subject" -> "✅ New Form Submission Received!",
      "Body" -> "A new entry has been submitted for the party date finder.
                 Name: " <> #name <> "
                 Date: " <> ToString[#date]
    ];

    (* 3. Provide a response to the user *)
    "Thank you for your input! Your suggestion has been saved."
  ) &
 ]
]

```

**Key Points**

1. [Cloud Credits](https://www.wolfram.com/cloud-credits/): Using `SendMail` consumes a small number of cloud credits, as it is a service-based operation.

2. `#name` Access: The symbol `#` in the `FormFunction` represents the submitted form data as an `Association.` You can directly access the submitted fields using `#name`, `#date`, etc.

3. `ToString`: Since the values are Wolfram Language expressions (like a `DateObject`), it’s often best practice to wrap them in `ToString` before concatenating them with a string, to ensure they format correctly in the email body.

**Alternative: Using [Wolfram Data Drop](https://datadrop.wolframcloud.com/)**

A Data Drop is specifically designed for collecting time-series or event-based data from external sources.

1. Create a Data Drop: `data = CreateDataDrop[]`

2. Integrate: Use `DropData[data, #] &` as the action for your `FormFunction`

3. Monitor: You can set up monitoring or alerts directly on your Data Drop in the Cloud interface or by using functions like `DataDropContentMonitor`

[Getting Started with the Wolfram Data Drop](https://www.wolfram.com/broadcast/video.php?c=393&ob=title&o=ASC&disp=list&v=1415)