[Resolved] Having problem emailing myself using "mail()" function!

masood131

Hi,
I wrote a simple code, but it is not working correctly. It does not send an e-mail to me. I have yahoo e-mail, my SpamGuard is off, and I can receieve e-mail from myself I believe!

<html>
<head>
  <title>Bob's Auto Parts - Customer Feedback</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Customer Feed Back</h1><br />
Please tell us what you think

<form action="processfeedback.php" method="post">
  Your name <br />
  <input type="text" name="name" size="40" /><br />
  Your email address<br />
  <input type="text" name="email" size="40" /><br />
  Your feedback<br />
  <textarea rows="5" cols="30"></textarea><br />
  <input type="submit" name="feedback" value="Send feedback" size="40" />
</form>
</body>
</html>
[CODE]

[code=php]
<?php
//create short variable
$name = $_REQUEST['name'];
$email = $_REQUEST['email'];
$feedback =$_REQUEST['feedback'];

$toaddress = 'masood131@yahoo.com';
$subject = 'Feedback from web site';
$mailcontent = 'Customer name: '.$name."\n"
               .'Customer email: '.$email."\n"
               ."Customer comments: \n".$feedback."\n";
$fromaddress = 'From: [email]webserver@example.com[/email]';

mail($toaddress, $subject, $mailcontent, $fromaddress);
?>
<html>
<head>
  <title>Bob's Auto Parts- Feedback Submitted</title>
<head>
<body>
<h1>Feedback Submitted</h1>
<p>Your feedback has been sent.</p>
</body>
</html>
[code=php]

bpat1434

First things first:
Your BBCode is wrong. You need to add a "/"-slash previous to the text in the second tag (i.e. [/CODE]).

Next:
Your submit button is actually named feedback, not the text-area. You need to change your code to:

 Your feedback<br />
<textarea rows="5" cols="30" name="feedback"></textarea><br />
<input type="submit" value="Send feedback" size="40" />

But that won't really make your mail() function not work. Have you checked your error logs? Also, you might want to build in an error handle event like:

if(mail($toaddress, $subject, $content, $fromaddress) === false){
    echo "There was an error sending the email.";
}
else{
    // Display the thank you page
}

Of course, you might also think of using the PEAR::Mail function as an alternative. It took a couple days to get used to, but it works a lot better and you can do more.

~Brett

masood131

Brett,
Thank you for looking at the code. I really didn't know how to trackel this one.
As usual I corrected the misteakes you pointed out, and added the testing code for the mail. I do get an error when trying to send the mail that I will put in here for everyone to see. I am not sure how I can narrow down the error on this code however?

<html>
<head>
  <title>Bob's Auto Parts - Customer Feedback</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Customer Feed Back</h1><br />
Please tell us what you think

<form action="processfeedback.php" method="post">
  Your name <br />
  <input type="text" name="name" size="40" /><br />
  Your email address<br />
  <input type="text" name="email" size="40" /><br />
  Your feedback<br />
  <textarea rows="5" cols="30" name="feedback"></textarea><br />
  <input type="submit" value="Send feedback" size="40" />
</form>
</body>
</html>

<?php
//create short variable
$name = $_REQUEST['name'];
$email = $_REQUEST['email'];
$feedback =$_REQUEST['feedback'];

$toaddress = 'masood131@yahoo.com';
$subject = 'Feedback from web site';
$mailcontent = 'Customer name: '.$name."\n"
               .'Customer email: '.$email."\n"
               ."Customer comments: \n".$feedback."\n";
$fromaddress = 'From: [email]webserver@example.com[/email]';

if(mail($toaddress, $subject, $mailcontent, $fromaddress) === false) {
    echo "There was an error sending the email.";
}
else
    echo "Your messege was sent.";
?>
<html>
<head>
  <title>Bob's Auto Parts- Feedback Submitted</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Feedback Submitted</h1>
<p>Your feedback has been sent.</p>
</body>
</html>

The result of running feedback:

There was an error sending the email.
Feedback Submitted
Your feedback has been sent.

ty
masood

mrhappiness

Originally posted by masood131
I can receieve e-mail from myself I believe!

That means you don't know?

Where is the page stored?
If it's at your local webserver at your computer: Do you have a mailserver installed?

Or can't you send mails using the space your hoster gave to you?

bpat1434

I don't know what to tell you. If you want to have better error handeling, I would suggest moving to the PEAR mail function. It's rather easy to implement.

Here's an implementation that I use:

require_once('Mail.php');
require_once('PEAR.php');

$breaks = array("\r", "\n", "\r\n", "<br>", "<br />");
$Email = $_REQUEST['email'];
$Comments = $_REQUEST['comments'];
$Name = $_REQUEST['fullname'];
$Recip = $_REQUEST['recip'];
$Subject = '[RSC] '.eregi_replace($breaks, " ", $_REQUEST['subject']);
$Today = date("l F d, Y");
$Time = date("g:i A");

$fromcc = '"'.$Name.'" <'.$Email.'>';

$params['host'] = "mail.domain.com";
$params['port'] = "25";
$params['auth'] = TRUE;
$params['username'] = "username";
$params['password'] = "password";

$recips = $Recip.', ';
$recips .= $Email;

$headers['From'] = $fromcc;
$headers['To'] = $Recip;
$headers['Cc'] = $fromcc;
$headers['Subject'] = $Subject;
$headers['Date'] = date("r");

$comments = wordwrap($Comments, 70);

$MessageTop ="This is an email from the Ridge Swim Club Website.\n\n";
$MessageTop .="This message was sent by:\nName:  $Name\nEmail:  $Email\n\n";
$MessageBody =	">========== Message ==========<\n\n";
$MessageBody .= $comments."\n\n";
$MessageBody .= ">========== End Message ==========<\n";
$MessageBottom = "Message sent on: ".$Today." at ".$Time;
$WholeMessage = $MessageTop.$MessageBody.$MessageBottom;

$Message = eregi_replace($breaks, "\n..", $WholeMessage);
$message = stripslashes($Message);

$mail = &Mail::factory('smtp', $params);
if(PEAR::isError($mail)){
	$show = "<b><font style='font-size: 14px;'>Can't Connect to the Mail server!</font></b><br />";
	$show .= $mail->getMessage();
	$_REQUEST['pageid'] = '23';
}
else{
	if(PEAR::isError($error = $mail->send($recips, $headers, $message))){
		$show = "<b><font style='font-size: 14px;'>Can't Send the email through the account!</font></b><br />";
		$show .= $error->getMessage();
		$_REQUEST['pageid'] = '23';
	}
	else{
		$_REQUEST['pageid'] = '22';
	}
}

It took me a while to get it working (cuz I couldn't figure out what was wrong: my connection to my site) but now it works like a charm. If you have PEAR installed, I would suggest using it. If you don't, I would suggest seeing about enabling it.

Your code, would then look like:

<?php
require_once('Mail.php');
require_once('PEAR.php');

$name = $_REQUEST['name'];
$email = $_REQUEST['email'];
$feedback =$_REQUEST['feedback'];

$params['host'] = "mail.domain.com";
$params['port'] = "25";
$params['username'] = "username";
$params['password'] = "password";

$recip = "masood131@yahoo.com";

$headers['From'] = "Sitename <webserver@example.com>";
$headers['To'] = "Your Name";
$headers['Cc'] = $email;
$headers['Subject'] = "Feedback from the website";
$headers['Date'] = date("r");

$comments = wordwrap($feedback, 70);
$comments = stripslashes($comments);

$mail = &Mail::factory('smtp', $params);
if(PEAR::isError($mail)){
    $show = "Error!!<br />".$mail->getMessage();
}
else{
    if(PEAR::isError($error = $mail->send($recip, $headers, $comments))){
        $show = "Error!!<br />".$error->getMessage();
    }
    else{
        echo"<html>
<head>
  <title>Bob's Auto Parts- Feedback Submitted</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Feedback Submitted</h1>
<p>Your feedback has been sent.</p>
</body>
</html>";
    }
}

Don't know if PEAR is installed? Write a quick php file:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

Place that anywhere, and go to it. After you're done using it, delete it. It contains sensitive information for your eyes only, and is a huge security risk.

Hope that helps you.

~Brett

masood131

Brett, mrhappiness:
Brett: Your reply is in the middle of this post.

mrhappiness: I must have made a giant misteak when I wrote:

Originally posted by masood131
I can receieve e-mail from myself I believe!

I am sorry, but I should have said: I can not receive e-mail from myself. My bad!

The page (I believe you are referring to the "processfeedback.php" page, which processes my "feedback" form) I think you are referring to is stored locally on my computer and if you need the path for some reason I be happy to provide it for you.

You asked: Do I have a mailserver: I don't know! I never had to use it and I am not sure if I have it or not. If I can check somewhere to find out the answer please let me know and I will check.

ty for your interest
masood

Brett,

I just got your reply, wow, please give a day to read the codes you wrote for me and check if I have PEAR or not! If I do not have PEAR per your suggestion I will install it.

The only reason I am not using what you have suggested as of yet is because I am going along with a book I bought to learn php, and that is what the book is telling me to do. I am certainly open to learn new ways, as you see me trying.

Thanks a bunch,
You have been a life saver
I really appreciate all your feed backs

bpat1434

Well, if you can't send mail from yourself to yourself, neither the PEAR nor the mail() function will work. You have to enable the mail server which is done through the php.ini file.

Once you enable it, your mail() function will work. If you look around here (or even in that book you alluded to) you should find something on how to enable it. If not, I'm sure someone in the "Install" forum could help you out.

~Brett

masood131

Brett,

Thanks, I am on my way to enable the mail server.
I assure you I am not limiting myself just to a book, but I have to admit it is nice to have some structure to go along and learn when I know so little about pearl, php, and mailservers. However, I am doing more reading as we speak on the PEAR::Mail on the PHP-Manual site.

ty again
masood