Form Mail Help...

mwood_2k2

Hiya guys!

Ok, I've started writing a basic form mail script, and I think I am doing okay, I am just have problems implementing something...

I can get the form to submit and be re-directed via a header to a thankyou page. But, what I would like to do is in my thanks text, include the submitters name as inputted into the name field on my form. I am not sure but do I need an if statement to do this and what would I put in as the condition?

I am only a begginer so please dont over tech me lol.

Cheers!

PS: Heres my coding so far for the form and it's handler;


<?php

// The following echo statement writes in the html code that produces the form, this will pass the 
// information as variables to the mail handler function, which will in turn send the information 
// to the designated e-mail address. If you would like to change the appearance of the form, you can
// edit either the html, or the external cascading style sheet file.

echo("

<html>

<head>
<title>Comments Script - Powered by Marks Form Mail Vers. 1.0</title>

<style type=text/css>
<!--
@import url(style.css);
-->
</style>
</head>
<body>

<center>
<table width=95% border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0>
<tr><td>

<form method=post>

<input class=textbox type=text name=name size=53><br><br>
<input class=textbox type=text name=email size=53><br><br>
<textarea class=textarea name=message rows=12 cols=64></textarea><br><br>

<input class=button type=submit value=Send> <input class=button type=reset value=Clear>
</form>

</td></tr>
</table>
</center>

</body>
</html>

")

mail ("my-email-address", "Comments", $name, $message, "From: $email");

?>

Please help me!!

weekender

ok when you post the form an action occurs, and this action needs to be in another file

create a file called mail.php and in the html form (below) open the form like so

<form enctype="multipart/form-data" action="main.php" method="post">

see how action points to main.php? then, in main.php PHP will automatically have set the variables $name, $email and $message.

pass these into the mail command to send the email, and then after that, use the php header command to redirect the page to a thankyou page like so...

header("Location: [url]http://www.example.com/[/url]");

any questions, email me...

adam

ps. i would put the senders from address as an additional header in the mail command (read the help file) that way, when you get the email you will be able to hit reply and the message will go straight to the person

mwood_2k2

Yes, I know how to do this, it's what I've done already, if you read my post I said I wanted to be able to include whatever the user has set in the variable $name into a thankyou note, for example;


echo("<center>thankyou $name for you comments!</center>");

See what I mean? Plus I would like to have all the stuff for the script in the same page. I have got it to do this by leaving out the action in the form and it posts it to itself, I have tried an tested this, only thing I can't get it to do is to allow me to put that variable in my thank you note. Which is what I'm after.

erikwebb

I do this kind of stuff every day. Follow me closely now.

In the <FORM> tag, change the "action" attribute to:

<form method=post action="<?php echo "$PHP_SELF"; ?>">

This will send all the headers and POST information back to the same page. Now, the easiest way to check to see if the page has been submitted is to name the submit button:

<input type=submit value=Send name=submit>

On the initial load, the variable "$submit" will be unitialized because the page has never been loaded before. When the user clicks that button however, it gives the variable "$submit" a value of one. Just enclose this entire page in an "if" statement.

if (!isset($submit)) {
    // Place normal form page here
    ...
}
else if ($submit == 1) {
    // Place post-submission page here
    ...
}

This should clear things right up. If you have any more questions, just keep posting.

mwood_2k2

Cool thanx! I knew I had to do it with an if statement condition but I don't quite understand them yet.

Hey, you don't happen to know how to code a image gallery do you? I'm after one for my site and having looked at some of them out there they either have too many features or don't have the features I want or I can't edit them due to my lack of knowledge of php.

However I think I can handle a guestbook, gonna find some tutorials and start that today.

If you could help me make a gallery I would be much appreciative!

Cheers for your help so far :-]

mwood_2k2

Ok I've tried what you said, I probably haven't understood it but below is the code I have used for my form mail. Once submitted it just generates a blank page.... Whats wrong with it? Help me please!!

<?php

// Form Mail Script Vers. 1.0

// The below statement checks if the submit button has been clicked and if not displays the form
if (!isset($submit)) {

// The following mail() function is the handler to send off the user input to your e-mail address.
mail( "mwood_2k2@msn.com", "Feedback", $name, $message, "From: $email" ); 

// The first set of quotes contains the e-mail address that you wish to recieve the user input at.
// The second set of quotes contans the text you wish to be displayed in the subject of the recieved mail.
// $name displays the senders name from the form submissal.
// $message obviously displays the message content the user submitted.
// The final set of quotes displayes the submitters e-mail address in the from: field in the e-mail.


// Insert your html form below, making sure to leave out the "s in your html or it will close the echo()
// function that displays the form prematurely.

// Example: <img src="foobar.gif"> should be <img src=foobar.gif>

echo("

<html>
<head>
<title>Comments Script - Powered by Marks Form Mail Vers. 1.0</title>
<style type=text/css>
<!--
@import url(style.css);
-->
</style>
</head>
<body>

<center>
<table width=95% border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0>
<tr><td>
<form method=post action=$PHP_SELF>
<input class=textbox type=text name=name size=53><br><br>
<input class=textbox type=text name=email size=53><br><br>
<textarea class=textarea name=message rows=12 cols=64></textarea><br><br>
<input class=textarea type=submit value=Send name=submit> <input class=button type=reset value=Clear>
</form>

</td></tr>
</table>
</center>

</body>
</html>
");
}

// The below statement checks if the submit button has been clicked and if it has it says thanks.
else if ($submit == 1) {

// The below html is the code responsible for the thank you page that this file generates once the form
// has been submitted. Of course you can change this, but if you wish to keep the thank you message
// peronalised make sure to include the variable $name somewhere;

// Example; Thank you $name for your comments etc

// As before remember to leave out the "s as it will prematurely end the echo() function if you use them.

echo("

<html>
<head>
<title></title>
<style type=text/css>
<!--
@import url(style.css)/;
-->
</style>
</head>

<body>

<center>
  <table width=95% border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0>
    <tr> 
      <td>

<div align=center>

:: Thank you <b>$name</b> for your comments! They will be looked at as soon as they are recieved! ::

</div>

  </td>
</tr>
  </table>
</center>

</body>
</html>
");
}

// Final Comments:

// At some point I will add information on how to edit the number of fields for people who wish to gather
// further information, this is something I haven't tested yet and as I am a begginner in php and I still 
// have a lot to learn! Happy Forming!

?>

mrmufin

This logic appears to be backwards:

// The below statement checks if the submit button has been clicked and if not displays the form
if (!isset($submit)) {

// The following mail() function is the handler to send off the user input to your e-mail address.mail( "mwood_2k2@msn.com", "Feedback", $name, $message, "From: $email" ); 
}

I think you want to run the mail() function once the form has been submitted. If your form has been submitted, than $submit will be set.

This statement should never evaluate as true:

else if ($submit == 1)

because $submit will never have an integer value of 1, which is what that if() statement is checking.

Additionally, <center> is a deprecated HTML tag. Though most browsers will respect it, as of the HTML 4.0 spec by per W3C, the preferred solution is to use a stylesheet directive, or, you could put an align="center" attribute in your <table> tag and get the exact same effect.

If you would like to assure that this script works well on many servers, you should seriously consider getting the variables used within the script from either the $_POST array (on PHP 4.2.x and up) or the $HTTP_POST_VARS array (early versions). The growing trend (as well as PHP recommendation) is to keep the register_globals configuration directive in the 'off' position for security reasons.

You may also want to consider what might happen within your script should someone enter an email address which is not valid...

I have a small, simple function that I use for parsing user-world submitted email addresses, which verifies that a value may be an email address. (It doesn't do any DNS lookup on the network, just regular expression pattern match.)

If you're interested, I'd be happy to post it for you.

Have fun...

mwood_2k2

Well actually the align tag in a table centers the entire table not the text inside it, and instead of creating a class in a stylesheet and then writing in the class name to call on it, its quicker to use center tag, screw W3 standard, let them make there own websites the way THEY want, I'll make mine the way I want.

It doesnt matter if it isnt a valid e-mail address, if someone posts something they want to be answered they will leave a valid one or contact me themselves via e-mail or instant messenger.

Last I checked its going on my server not anyone elses lol.

Anyways I changed the value of the if statement to true and placed it just under the if else statement and it now works, thanks anyways.