[RESOLVED] Noob Question

stuartbrown20

Ok so having some trouble... I'm formatting the body of an email within a mail function. It's fine so far except i'm having trouble calling the variables within $_POST.

I'm not sure how i'm meant to tell it to parse those variables within the body of the email. Can someone help me PLEEASE!!!! :bemused:

<?php
function sendMail() {
//recipients
$to = 'stuart@samsales.com.au';

// subject
$subject = 'STIHLPress Order Form';

//message
$message = '
<html>
<head>
<title>STIHL PRESS TEST FORM</title>
</head>
<body>


STIHLPress Order 
Type of ad:
Modules Selected:$POST['headline']
Strip Modules:$POST['footer']
Footer:$POST['stripmodule1']
Header:$POST['stripmodule2']
Contact Information

It continues like this but you get the idea...

Merve

First, you should enclose the text of $message in double quotes. Then escape all the double quotes for your HTML attributes with backslashes. Finally, you should concatenate your variables with the rest of the text as follows:

$example = "blah blah text".$_POST['one']."more blahs".$_POST['two']."even more blahs";

Hope this helps; I know it's a little unclear,
Merve

stuartbrown20

Ok thanks, that is very helpful. So i've modified the script and now it looks like this... does this make sense? Do i need to put inside " " too? Or is it ok sitting outside?

<?php
function sendMail() {
//recipients
$to = 'stuart@samsales.com.au';

// subject
$subject = 'STIHLPress Order Form';

//message
$message =
<html>
<head>
<title>STIHL PRESS TEST FORM</title>
</head>
<body>
STIHLPress Order
Type of ad: 
"Modules Selected: ".$POST['headline']; 
"Strip Modules: ".$POST['stripmodule1'] "and ".$POST['stripmodule2']; 
"Footer: ".$POST['footer']; 
"Header: ".$_POST['headline'];

"Contact Information
STIHL Contact First Name: ".$POST['stihl contact first name']; 
"Last Name: ".$POST['last name']; 
"State: ".$POST['state']; 
"Phone number: ".$POST['phone number']; 
"Mobile Number: ".$POST['mobile number']; 
"Email: ".$POST['email address']; 
"Publication Information 
Publication Name: ".$POST['pub name']; 
"Publication Date: ".$POST['pub date']; 
"Material Deadline: ".$POST['material deadline']; 
"Ad Size: ".$POST['ad size']; 
"Publication Contact Name: ".$POST['pub contact name']; 
"Publication Contact Phone: ".$POST['pub contact phone']; 
"Publication Contact Email: ".$POST['pub contact email'];
"Extra Information: ".$POST['extra info'];

</body>
</html>
;

phpshift

' ' tags need to be inside the quotes.

stuartbrown20

ok so now i have the script like this... can anyone see any problems preventing it from working? Sorry i know this is annoying 🙁🙁

<?php
function sendMail() {
//recipients
$to = 'stuart@samsales.com.au';

// subject
$subject = 'STIHLPress Order Form';

//message
$message =
<html>
<head>
<title>STIHL PRESS TEST FORM</title>
</head>
<body>
STIHLPress Order
Type of ad: 
"Modules Selected: ".$POST['headline'];" 
Strip Modules: ".$POST['stripmodule1'] "and ".$POST['stripmodule2'];" 
Footer: ".$POST['footer'];" 
Header: ".$_POST['headline'];

"Contact Information
STIHL Contact First Name: ".$POST['stihl contact first name'];" 
Last Name: ".$POST['last name'];" 
State: ".$POST['state'];" 
Phone number: ".$POST['phone number'];" 
Mobile Number: ".$POST['mobile number'];" 
Email: ".$POST['email address'];" 
Publication Information 
Publication Name: ".$POST['pub name'];" 
Publication Date: ".$POST['pub date'];" 
Material Deadline: ".$POST['material deadline'];" 
Ad Size: ".$POST['ad size'];" 
Publication Contact Name: ".$POST['pub contact name'];" 
Publication Contact Phone: ".$POST['pub contact phone'];" 
Publication Contact Email: ".$POST['pub contact email'];
"Extra Information: ".$POST['extra info'];
</body>
</html>
;

fire_cracker

code coloring is a great tool. Try and remember to use the php tags when posting code, and sometimes your question will be easily answered when you look at it.

You have to remember that the $message is still a variable, and all variables need to be enclosed by quotes. We get used to HTML being something special, but not when you are dealing with PHP. PHP looks at <HTML> the same way as it looks at the BOB. So enclose all your HTML in the quotes. Also, any qotes that are in the $message variable need to be escaped by using a slash (/) so that they are skipped over. Also you have to set appart your variables like this: text text text" . $var . " text text text. You need those two periods so that PHP will process the var.

I know this is a lot of info, but it looks like a complicated script you are trying to e-mail, but take a look at your work underneath the code coloring and if you still have trouble shout back and we'll give you a hand.

<?php
function sendMail() {
//recipients
$to = 'stuart@samsales.com.au';

// subject
$subject = 'STIHLPress Order Form';

//message
$message =
<html>
<head>
<title>STIHL PRESS TEST FORM</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>STIHLPress Order</p>
Type of ad:<br>
"Modules Selected: ".$_POST['headline'];"<br>
Strip Modules: ".$_POST['stripmodule1'] "and ".$_POST['stripmodule2'];"<br>
Footer: ".$_POST['footer'];"<br>
Header: ".$_POST['headline'];

"<p>Contact Information</p>
STIHL Contact First Name: ".$_POST['stihl contact first name'];"<br>
Last Name: ".$_POST['last name'];"<br>
State: ".$_POST['state'];"<br>
Phone number: ".$_POST['phone number'];"<br>
Mobile Number: ".$_POST['mobile number'];"<br>
Email: ".$_POST['email address'];"<br>
Publication Information<br>
Publication Name: ".$_POST['pub name'];"<br>
Publication Date: ".$_POST['pub date'];"<br>
Material Deadline: ".$_POST['material deadline'];"<br>
Ad Size: ".$_POST['ad size'];"<br>
Publication Contact Name: ".$_POST['pub contact name'];"<br>
Publication Contact Phone: ".$_POST['pub contact phone'];"<br>
Publication Contact Email: ".$_POST['pub contact email'];
"Extra Information: ".$_POST['extra info'];
</body>
</html>
;

Merve

fire_cracker, I believe that you escape double quotes using a backslash (). 🙂

fire_cracker

Yup, you are right Merve. I just noticed that I screwed that up. Thanks for making the clarification

halojoy

I am not sure
but if you use $POST variable inside function sendMail()
maybe you need to make $POST global.

<?php

function sendMail() {

global $_POST;

//recipients
$to = 'stuart@samsales.com.au';

// subject
$subject = 'STIHLPress Order Form';

//message
$message =
"<html>
<head>
<title>STIHL PRESS TEST FORM</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>STIHLPress Order</p>
Type of ad:<br>
Modules Selected: " . $_POST['headline'] . "<br>
Strip Modules: " . $_POST['stripmodule1'] . " and " . $_POST['stripmodule2'] . "<br>
Footer: " . $_POST['footer'] . "<br>
Header: " . $_POST['headline'];

}

stuartbrown20

Guys i'm really sorry, i don't know how to bring across the text colouring from dreamweaver (i said i was a noob 😢 ) but for some reason it's still not working... I've tried just simplifying the $message part as much as possible, but I can't even get 1 variable to come in, the sendmail.php just stalls and when i take out the $_POST stuff it runs fine and parses the html stuff fine...

Please if anyone can help me resolve the $message issue i'm having i would be most grateful. Thankyou all for your help and patience so far! :o

<?php
function sendMail() {
//recipients
$to = 'stuart@samsales.com.au';

// subject
$subject = 'STIHLPress Order Form';

//message
$message = "
Put the body of the email here, with all your variables" . $_POST['footer'];

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

// additional headers
$headers .= 'To: Stuart <stuart@samsales.com.au>' . "\r\n";
$headers .= 'From: STIHLPress < sales@stihlpress.com.au>' . "\r\n";

// and now mail it
if(!mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers)) {
echo "Could not mail from 'sendMail'. Please contact STIHLPress directly. ";
return false;
} else {
echo "Mail sent. ";
return true;
}
}
?>

fire_cracker

I am not sure, but could it maybe be because you aren't passing variables through your function? Functions are something I rarely have need to develop, but the way that I understand it, you have to define the vars inside the function (or maybe using that global command mentioned above. I would suggest trying to make post global, or defining your variables in the function like this:

function sendMail($header,$footer) {
   //your code that sends the message but instead of using $_POST['footer'] just use $footer

}

Then when you make your call to the variable do it like this:

sendMail($_POST['header'],$_POST['footer']);

I hope you understand what I mean, because it is really tough to try and describe lol.

As for making your code show up colored you use php tags which are like this: [ php ] and [ / php ] without the spaces.

stuartbrown20

ok i got it all working, thanks for your help guys! 😃

Just one last thing, can anyone tell me if this makes sense?

It is a small if statement also contained within $message...

$message =

"AD COMPOSITION INFO
 Modules Selected: "

if ( !$POST['option0'] == "" ) {
echo $POST['option0'] . "(" . $_POST['order0'] . ")";
}

doesn't seem to be working and i can't figure out why...

bradgrafelman

Perhaps because you're missing an ending semicolon after the value for $message ?

Also, your IF statement is a bit funky. I would do something like:

if($_POST['option0'] != '') { // etc.

fire_cracker

if you made $_POST a global variable, then it looks good to me, otherwise, make sure you are passing that variable through to your function.

Also, let us know which solutioin worked for you, so that other people with a similar problem can refer to this thread, and don't forget to mark this thread resolved.

bradgrafelman

fire_cracker wrote:
if you made $POST a global variable

But $POST is a superglobal array...

stuartbrown20

ok the problem was a missing semi colon after the tag... the code now reads...

$message =

"AD COMPOSITION INFO
 Modules Selected: ";

if ( !$POST['option0'] == "" ) {
$POST['option0'] . "(" . $_POST['order0'] . ")";
} and so on....

I'll also move the ! around for the sake of house keeping and readability. thanks to everyone, you've been very helpful.