[RESOLVED] $PHP_SELF on Windows System?

[bjblackmore]

Hi,

I've just moved my web hosting from a company that used linux, to a company (fasthosts) that uses Windows (2003), so I've had to slightly edit some of my php pages to fix them. However, this is one page, a contact page with a form, that I just can't get to work.
On linux I used to use 1 page with:

include('sendmail.php');
if ($submit){
mailfunction($name,$email,$subject,$message);
}
<form action="'. $PHP_SELF .'" method=post>
Message:<input name="name" size="35" type="TEXT">
<input name="submit" type="submit">
</form>

and then the sendmail.php script had:

function mailfunction($name,$email,$subject,$message){
ini_set("sendmail_from", "[e-mail]");
mail( "[e-mail]", $subject, $message, "From: $name <$email>" );
}

However, no matter what I do, I just can't get this to work. The page seems to submit, but I receive no email. I know the mail() function works, but only outside of a function, and only if I post directly to the script using:
<form action="sendmail.php" method=post>

Can anyone offer any advice, on how to get this working on a windows system?

Thanks
Ben

[konrad]

The page seems to submit

Check in HTML source if the form action is "sendmail.php". If it's empty, try to change $PHP_SELF to $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']

[angeljyt]

see php manual for function mail(),
Notes
????: The Windows implementation of mail() differs in many ways from the Unix implementation. First, it doesn't use a local binary for composing messages but only operates on direct sockets which means a MTA ( Mail Transport Agent ) is needed listening on a network socket (which can either on the localhost or a remote machine).

[angeljyt]

You need a Mail Transport Agent on Windows platform.

[bradgrafelman]

I would guess that the hosting company sets up the mail config, though you might want to ask them.

Other than that, I'd say try using the superglobal array $_POST to access the posted elements (adding to konrad's suggestion). Why? Because your new host is more than likely smart enough to turn off register_globals. If not, I would recommend you do this yourself using a .htaccess file in the root of your website.

[bjblackmore]

angeljyt wrote:

see php manual for function mail(),
Notes
????: The Windows implementation of mail() differs in many ways from the Unix implementation. First, it doesn't use a local binary for composing messages but only operates on direct sockets which means a MTA ( Mail Transport Agent ) is needed listening on a network socket (which can either on the localhost or a remote machine).

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. The mail() function does work, and I can get it to submit an email, but I have to use the following code in the form:
<FORM method=post action="sendmail.php">

then in the sendmail.php

mail( "[e-mail]", $subject, $message, "From: $name <$email>" );

However, this only sends data from the form, I'd like to also include some other variables along with the message, which are set outside of the form, such as:
$time = date("H:i");
$date = date("dS M Y");
$ip = getHostByAddr($REMOTE_ADDR);
$HTTP_USER_AGENT = $HTTP_USER_AGENT;

I used to be able to send these on the old linux system by using:

include('../include/sendmail.php');

$time = date("H:i");
$date = date("dS M Y");
$ip = getHostByAddr($REMOTE_ADDR);
$HTTP_USER_AGENT = $HTTP_USER_AGENT;

<form action="'. $PHP_SELF .'" method=post>
<input name="email" size="35" type="TEXT">
<input name="subject" size="35" type="TEXT">
<textarea cols="35" name="msg" rows="10"></textarea>
<input name="submitform" type="submit" value="Submit Form">

Then when you press submit, it's parsed using the function below:

if ($submitform){
mailfunction($name,$email,$subject,$time,$date,$ip,$HTTP_USER_AGENT,$msg);
}

Then sendmail.php consisted of the following function:

function mailfunction($name,$email,$subject,$time,$date,$ip,$HTTP_USER_AGENT,$msg){
$message = "You have received the following message\n".
"----------------------------------------\n".
"$msg\n\n".
"From\n".
"$name $email\n".
"----------------------------------------\n".
"Submitted at $time on $date\n".
"By IP Address $ip\n".
"Using $HTTP_USER_AGENT";
mail ($recipient,$subject,$message,"From: $name <$email>");
}

Any variable defined in the action "if ($submitform)" would get passed to the mailfunction() that existed in sendmail.php. But that doesn't seem to happen now!

Ben

[konrad]

According to bradgrafelman, try this:

if ($_POST['submitform']){
mailfunction($_POST['name'],$_POST['email'],$_POST['subject'],$time,$date,$ip,$HTTP_USER_AGENT,$_POST['msg']);
}
else{
 echo '<p>Something went wrong. Variables posted:</p>';
 print_r($_POST); 
}

[bradgrafelman]

$HTTP_USER_AGENT = $HTTP_USER_AGENT;

What is that supposed to do, other than set a variable to equal its own value, which was never set in the first place? I believe you're looking for $SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'].

$ip = getHostByAddr($REMOTE_ADDR);

Where is $REMOTE_ADDR ever set? I believe you're looking for $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'].

Since register_globals is probably (or at least, SHOULD be) turned off, you need to start changing your code so that data from the server environment, GET/POST methods, cookies, or sessions is identified by using one the appropriate superglobal array. For more information about these arrays, see this man page: [man]variables.predefined[/man].

[bjblackmore]

konrad wrote:

According to bradgrafelman, try this:

if ($_POST['submitform']){
mailfunction($_POST['name'],$_POST['email'],$_POST['subject'],$time,$date,$ip,$HTTP_USER_AGENT,$_POST['msg']);
}
else{
 echo '<p>Something went wrong. Variables posted:</p>';
 print_r($_POST); 
}

Hi,

Thanks for the code, I'll give it a try.
For the moment, I've done a quick fix by setting $time, $date, $HTTP_USER_AGENT, and $IP at the start of my code, and then in the form using hidden fields such as:
<input type="hidden" name="time" value="<? echo "$time" ?>">

When the form is submitted to sendmail.php I then use $time = $_REQUEST['time'] ; to retrieve the data as suggested.

Seems to work for the moment, emails are coming in with the data. Only trouble is the variable shows in the HTML, which means if you view it, you can see the hidden field data i.e. <input type="hidden" name="HTTP_USER_AGENT" value="Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)">.

It doesn't matter too much, I'd just prefer it to be hidden. Hopefully with your code I can do this!

Many thanks

Ben

[bjblackmore]

bradgrafelman wrote:

$HTTP_USER_AGENT = $HTTP_USER_AGENT;

What is that supposed to do, other than set a variable to equal its own value, which was never set in the first place? I believe you're looking for $SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'].

$ip = getHostByAddr($REMOTE_ADDR);

Where is $REMOTE_ADDR ever set? I believe you're looking for $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'].

Since register_globals is probably (or at least, SHOULD be) turned off, you need to start changing your code so that data from the server environment, GET/POST methods, cookies, or sessions is identified by using one the appropriate superglobal array. For more information about these arrays, see this man page: [man]variables.predefined[/man].

Hi bradgrafelman,

Thanks for the reply. I can see what you're saying, especially with $HTTP_USER_AGENT = $HTTP_USER_AGENT setting it's value to itself, it shouldn't return anything. So I just went back to my old shell account, and checked the code in my old page, and it does have the 2 lines of code below present:

$ip = getHostByAddr($REMOTE_ADDR);
$HTTP_USER_AGENT = $HTTP_USER_AGENT;

To test I posted a message to myself to see if they would work, and they did, I got an email come in with

By IP Address hostxxx-xxx-xxx-xxx.rangexx-xxx.btcentralplus.com
Using Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; FDM)

I've changed the code on my new pages to what you suggested, and that works as well. But strange that the other code also works, when apparently it shouldn't? :queasy:

Ben

[bradgrafelman]

The code works on your old server because register_globals was enabled. There fore, $HTTP_USER_AGENT was set before the script even began executing the code within itself. This line:

$HTTP_USER_AGENT = $HTTP_USER_AGENT;

did nothing.

So, the script on your new host is working now?

[bjblackmore]

bradgrafelman wrote:

The code works on your old server because register_globals was enabled. There fore, $HTTP_USER_AGENT was set before the script even began executing the code within itself. This line:

$HTTP_USER_AGENT = $HTTP_USER_AGENT;

did nothing.

Ah I see, I understand now, I'd forgotten $HTTP_USER_AGENT was a predifined variable, I'd come up with the original code over 3 years ago, when I started learning PHP for the company I use to work for, I've barely touched it since then!

So, the script on your new host is working now?

Yes, it's working with the 'quick fix' with the hiden form fields. I still need to test konrad's code, but I'm sure I can get it working.

Thanks for all the help

Ben