email form not working

[brockie99]

i was directed to an 'email form' help page by someone from phpbuilder, but cant remember who, and after using the free code from the site, i have encountered some problems. i have built the from, and have inserted the code, but everytime i try and send an email to myself from the form to check if it is working, it fails saying that the response is invalid. Basically the form on my site is used to contact the company by supplying the name, email address, and message from the user. To test the form, i am using an email address that is one of my own, and is valid, but the checking mechanism on this free code looks to see if the email is invalid, and then wont send. but my address is valid!! i know i am using code that is too complicated for me, but it would be good if i could get it to work. any help would be much appreciated

Here is the code

<?php
$name = $POST['name'];
$email = $POST['email'];
$subject = 'Response from Web Site'; //Doesn't allow the user to enter a subject
$message = $_POST['message'];

$name=trim($name);
$email=trim($email);
$subject=stripslashes($subject);
$message=stripslashes($message);

$toaddress='[e-mail]'; //[e-mail]

function validate_email($email) {

// Function to validate an e-mail address by both checking the
// format of the address, and then testing it by holding an
// authorisation conversation with the addresses SMTP server
//
// inputs - $Email = the email address itself
//
// returns - function has a return value of
// 0 = success
// 1 = failed, invalid address
// 2 = system failure
//
// Written by Trib after reading, combining, enhancing and modifying
// the efforts of too many other people to give a credit list. However
// Jay Greenspan deserves a mention for his exhaustive work on address
// parsing (see the link in the rutorial at
// http://www.trib-design.com/gurututs/validatemail.php
// and also so does an unknown person who wrote the SMTP MX record
// query program which got me to thinking about the problem from the
// SMTP perspective.
//
// You can also find the associated e-mail contact form at
// <this address - later>
//
// Permission is hereby given to use, distribute and modify this code
// without restriction or condition. However if you are a decent person
// you might consider putting a credit into your comments. If you do,
// I'm K. Salt (a.k.a. Trib) at http://www.trib-design.com. Thanks and ...
//
// enjoy .....

global $HTTP_HOST;

// Check for a malformed address (roughly)
if (!eregi("^{[a-z0-9-]+(.[a-z0-9-]+)@[a-z0-9-]+(.[a-z0-9-]+)(.[a-z]{2,3})$",} $email)) {
// it failed the simple format test, so return with an invalid address error
return 1;
}
// otherwise it passes the test so we can go off and do the 'real' validation
//
// first split #Email up into parts
list ( $Username, $Domain ) = split ("@",$email);

// look for an MX record and get the mail host name
if (checkdnsrr ( $Domain, "MX" )) {

if (getmxrr ($Domain, $MXrec)) {

// save the MX hostname ready for Phase 3 testing
$Mailserver = $MXrec[0];
} else {
// there is an MX record, but we failed to retrieve it
return 2; // return system error NOT invalid address
}
} else {
// in this case there isn't an MX record so assume that the domain
// portion is also the name of the mail server itself (it can happen)
// save it as the mailserver address ready for Phase 3 testing
$Mailserver = $Domain;
}

// open a socket connection to the Mailserver
if ($Connection = fsockopen($Mailserver, 25)) {

// start the SMTP validation

if (ereg("^220", $Rubbish = fgets($Connection, 1024))) {
  // it is an SMTP server so you can start talking to it

  // Tell it who you are and get the response (not needed later). 
  fputs ( $Connection, "HELO $HTTP_HOST\r\n" );  
  $Rubbish = fgets ( $Connection, 1024 );

  // Ask it to accept mail from your $email user - store the response (needed later)
  fputs ( $Connection, "MAIL FROM: <{$email}>\r\n" );  
  $Fromstring = fgets ( $Connection, 1024 ); 

  // Ask it to accept mail for your $email user - store the response (needed later)
  fputs ( $Connection, "RCPT TO: <{$email}>\r\n" );  
  $Tostring = fgets ( $Connection, 1024 );

  // Now tell it you're done with chatting
  fputs ( $Connection, "QUIT\r\n");  
  // and close the connection
   fclose($Connection);  

  // finally test the resonses did we get OK (type 250) messages?
  if (ereg("^250", $Fromstring) && ereg("^250", $Tostring)) {
    // YAHOOO .. we got a good one
    return 0; //  return successful validation
  } else {
    // the server refused the user
    return 1; // return invalid address
  }
} else {
  // connected, to something but it failed to identfy itself as an SMTP server 
  // so assume its a bogus address
  return 1; // return invalid address error
}

} else {
// it failed to connect
return 1; // return invalid address or system error - its your call
}
}

if($send)
{

if(validate_email($email)==1) {
	echo "response=invalid";
	exit;
}
if(validate_email($email)==2) {
	echo "response=error";
	exit;
}
if(validate_email($email) == 0){
	mail($toaddress,$subject,$message,"From: $name <$email>");
	//clear the variables
	$name='';
	$email='';
	//$subject='';
	$message='';
	echo "response=passed";
	exit;
}

}
?>

---($send) is the name of the button i am using in the form to submit the form data---

[dalecosp]

Hmm, it looks like a bit of overkill, but his point seems to be cutting down on spammers and phreaks who don't submit a real email addy, which could be a good thing, indeed.

Funny thing, though; it works here, using either your address or mine in place of the POSTed information....

[travelbuff]

Brockie - that's actually a nice bit of validation of you can make it work!

The error reporting there is pretty lousy, lets add a little so we can try and nail down the problem.

After the lines:
if (!eregi("^{[a-z0-9-]+(.[a-z0-9-]+)@[a-z0-9-]+(.[a-z0-9-]+)(.[a-z]{2,3})$",} $email)) {
// it failed the simple format test, so return with an invalid address error
return 1;
Let's add:
$error_msg .="The Email address fail regex validation<BR>";

Then after:
// connected, to something but it failed to identfy itself as an SMTP server
// so assume its a bogus address
return 1; // return invalid address error
Let's add:
$error_msg .="Connected to a server, but it was not a mail server, so I had to give up!<BR>";

And after:
// it failed to connect
return 1; // return invalid address or system error - its your call
We will add:
$error_msg .="Could not connect to the mail server!<BR>";

And then after:
// it failed to connect
return 1; // return invalid address or system error - its your call
$error_msg .="Could not connect to the mail server!<BR>";

}
Add:
return $error_msg;
NOTE: That needs to be below the first curly brace but above the second!

Then, lastly, make this:
if(validate_email($email)==1) {
echo "response=invalid";
exit;

Look like this:

if(validate_email($email)==1) {
echo "response=invalid";
echo $error_msg;
exit;

That should tell you where the validation is failing.

HTH

[dalecosp]

... AAMOF, that's pretty much what I did prior to testing it on my server.

However, (and I've never called myself a guru), assigning a value to $error_message should happen before the return call, shouldn't it? Else the function will return the value and not continue processing, therefore $error_message won't be set ...

[edit]Actually, you want to set $error_message before each call, and return immediately (return $error_message) within each "if" or each "else", or else you want to concatenate the new $error_message text to the extant text and return it all at the end.

Here's what I did today (and to whomever read this: sorry for the formatting, but I'm not gonna spend time indenting other people's posts ...):

<?php
$name = "Fred Jones"; //$_POST['name'];
$email = "[e-mail]"; //$_POST['email'];
$subject = 'Response from Web Site'; //Doesn't allow the user to enter a subject
$message = "Foo the Bar!  The British are coming!"; //$_POST['message'];

$name=trim($name); $email=trim($email);
$subject=stripslashes($subject);
$message=stripslashes($message);
$toaddress='[e-mail]'; //[e-mail]

function validate_email($email) {

// Permission is hereby given to use, distribute and modify this code
// without restriction or condition. However if you are a decent person
// you might consider putting a credit into your comments. If you do,
// I'm K. Salt (a.k.a. Trib) at [url]http://www.trib-design.com.[/url] Thanks and ...
//
// enjoy .....

global $HTTP_HOST;

// Check for a malformed address (roughly)
if (!eregi("^[_a-z0-9-]+(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*@[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,3})$", $email)) {
// it failed the simple format test, so return with an invalid address error
$invalid = "format test";
return $invalid;
}
// otherwise it passes the test so we can go off and do the 'real' validation

// first split #Email up into parts
list ( $Username, $Domain ) = split ("@",$email);

// look for an MX record and get the mail host name
if (checkdnsrr ( $Domain, "MX" )) {
if (getmxrr ($Domain, $MXrec)) {
// save the MX hostname ready for Phase 3 testing
$Mailserver = $MXrec[0];
} else {
// there is an MX record, but we failed to retrieve it
$error = "Failed retrieval of MX record";
return $error; // return system error NOT invalid address
}
} else {
// in this case there isn't an MX record so assume that the domain
// portion is also the name of the mail server itself (it can happen)
// save it as the mailserver address ready for Phase 3 testing
$Mailserver = $Domain;
}

// open a socket connection to the Mailserver
if ($Connection = fsockopen($Mailserver, 25)) {

// start the SMTP validation

if (ereg("^220", $Rubbish = fgets($Connection, 1024))) {
// it is an SMTP server so you can start talking to it

// Tell it who you are and get the response (not needed later).
fputs ( $Connection, "HELO $HTTP_HOST\r\n" );
$Rubbish = fgets ( $Connection, 1024 );

// Ask it to accept mail from your $email user - store the response (needed later)
fputs ( $Connection, "MAIL FROM: <{$email}>\r\n" );
$Fromstring = fgets ( $Connection, 1024 );
// Ask it to accept mail for your $email user - store the response (needed later)
fputs ( $Connection, "RCPT TO: <{$email}>\r\n" );
$Tostring = fgets ( $Connection, 1024 );

// Now tell it you're done with chatting
fputs ( $Connection, "QUIT\r\n");
// and close the connection
fclose($Connection);

// finally test the resonses did we get OK (type 250) messages?
if (ereg("^250", $Fromstring) && ereg("^250", $Tostring)) {
// YAHOOO .. we got a good one
   $valid="we got a good one";
   return $valid; // return successful validation
      } else {
      // the server refused the user
         $invalid = "return invalid address !";
         return $invalid; // return invalid address
      }
   } else {
// connected, to something but it failed to identfy itself as an SMTP server
// so assume its a bogus address
      $invalid = "invalid server";
      return $invalid; // return invalid address error
   }
} else {
// it failed to connect
   $invalid = "could not connect";
   return $invalid; // return invalid address or system error - its your call
}
}  // END FUNCTION
echo "the thing says ".validate_email($email)."\n\n";
?>

[/edit]

HTH,