Form Delivery Formats

gramling

Hello-I am very new to PHP, so forgive me if this question is ridiculous:

I've created a form in PHP to process, send a custom thank you to the person completing it and results to a predetermined recipient. It's a long-winded form, so it creates a problem if you want to find info quickly.

Does anyone know of a (preferably simple) way I can create this same form and have it e-mail results is a format better than generic text? say html?

nnichols

This example of sending HTML email comes straight out of the PHP manual. You should download it - manual

/* recipients */
$to  = "You <you@you.com>";

/* subject */
$subject = "Whatever subject you want";

/* message */
$message = 'Insert any old html stuff here';

/* To send HTML mail, you can set the Content-type header. */
$headers  = "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";
$headers .= "Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1\r\n";

/* additional headers */
$headers .= "From: Me <me@me.com>\r\n";

/* and now mail it */
mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers);

Hope that helps 😉

gramling

Thanks. I did that and the formatting works, but now PHP elelments that are input in the form no longer come through. Instead, it will read: "Last Name: $lname" or similar for all inputs. How can I blend the two?

I've tried the <? ?> and <html></html> tag parameters, but that does not seem to work. Any other ideas?

nnichols

If you post (or email) your code I'll have a look for you and try to explain what you are doing wrong.

Nick 😉

BuzzLY

This could be happening for a couple of reasons.

Check to make sure your page is a PHP page, and not HTML. It's sometimes easy to make this mistake.
You didn't post your code, so it's not easy to say, but it's possible that you enclosed your variables in single quotes. If you type the following:
```
Last Name: <?php print '$lname'; ?>
```
then you will get the results you stated. Try this instead:
```
Last Name: <?php print $lname; ?>
 -- or --
<?php print "Last Name: " . $lname; ?>
```
My guess is that you used the example above, where $message is enclosed in single quotes, and put your own HTML in there. If that's the case, that is why your variables are coming across in the message -- PHP interprets anything in single quotes as a literal string, and does not convert variables. You need to use double quotes instead, or concatenate your variables with the message, like this:
```
'First Name: ' . $fname . '<br>Last Name: ' . $lname . '<br>etc, etc...'
```
If these suggestions don't help, copy and paste your code here so we can see it. Make sure you enclose it in
```
 or [code] tags.

Hope that helps!
```

gramling

It was the double vs. single quote issue! I ran with your suggestions and have finally gotten it to work the way I need it to. Thanks to you for all your help!

suntra

A simplier way to print variables is :
<?= $variable_to_print; ?>

It's as simple as that !

BuzzLY

sure... if short_open_tags is set to On. By default, it's turned off. That also only works if register_globals is turned on.

suntra

Originally posted by BuzzLY
sure... if short_open_tags is set to On. By default, it's turned off. That also only works if register_globals is turned on.

Are you sure of what you are saying ?

PHP.ini-recommended (in the zip file of the last PHP version) :

[...]
; Allow the <? tag. Otherwise, only <?php and <script> tags are recognized.
short_open_tag = On
[...]

BuzzLY

Interesting. I hear what you're saying, but when we installed PHP (version 4.2.2) on our Apache server, it was (and still is) set to "Off." It seems strange that they wouldn't set the default setting to the recommended setting, doesn't it? <shrug>

Be that as it may, if <?=$variable; ?> works for you, by all means use it 🙂. It sure is an easy way to include your variables in your pages.

dalecosp

Originally posted by BuzzLY
Interesting. I hear what you're saying, but when we installed PHP (version 4.2.2) on our Apache server, it was (and still is) set to "Off." It seems strange that they wouldn't set the default setting to the recommended setting, doesn't it? <shrug>

Maybe this'll explain:

#ls /usr/local/lib/ | grep php
libphp4.so
php
php.ini
php.ini-dist
php.ini-recommended

#diff php.ini php.ini-dist
; This is the default settings file for new PHP installations.
; By default, PHP installs itself with a configuration suitable for
; development purposes, and NOT for production purposes.
; For several security-oriented considerations that should be taken
; before going online with your site, please consult php.ini-recommended
; and http://php.net/manual/en/security.php.

6,73c17,60
;
; This is the recommended, PHP 4-style version of the php.ini-dist file. It
; sets some non standard settings, that make PHP more efficient, more secure,
; and encourage cleaner coding.
; The price is that with these settings, PHP may be incompatible with some
; applications, and sometimes, more difficult to develop with. Using this
; file is warmly recommended for production sites. As all of the changes from
; the standard settings are thoroughly documented, you can go over each one,
; and decide whether you want to use it or not.

🙂 dalecosp

BuzzLY

Well now... I guess that explains it, huh? I would have checked that myself, but for some reason when my net admin installed the server, php.ini-recommended never made it onto the server. Thanks for RTFDing for me 😃

In any case, my point still stands: <? ?> tags only work if short_open_tags = On. That's all I was trying to say. This is a newbie forum, so I wanted to make sure that point was clear.