How to create a form on the frontend of a magento store

Question

Synopsis

I Would like to create a form on the frontend of a magento store, I was considering using Zend_Form but before I do I was hoping someone could point me into the right direction using Varien_Form_Data.

The form is a simple contact form which will send an e-mail, this e-mail address is configured within the admin.

I would like the following:

• Ability to create A form /block
• Ability to validate this form using PHP (not JavaScript)

I do not want to add fields to the existing contact form, I want to build my own.

Answer 1

The way I solved this in the end was to use a similar convention to Mage_Contact:

• I created a normal form in html;
• I validated this form using Zend_Validate;
• I set-up some configuration settings in the admin for recipient/bcc.