PHP echo placement

[frazzled]

How do I place where the echo (or print) message appears on the page? When my user pushes a button it generates the Thank you message but stuffs it at the very top of page. I need to place it in a particular spot. Not sure what I need here?

[scross]

I can't really tell much from your rather vague description of the problem.. Please could you post your code, and then I'll happily help you out 🙂

[frazzled]

function ljSendMail() {
{
ini_set("sendmail_from", "[e-mail]");
$to = "[e-mail]";
$subject = "Maestro Contact Request";

$message = "A new registration has arrived requesting more info.\n\n";

$message .= "First name: ".$POST['firstname']."\n";

$message .= "Last name: ".$POST['lastname']."\n";

$message .= "Company: ".$POST['company']."\n";
$message .= "Phone: ".$POST['phone']."\n";
$message .= "E-mail: ".$POST['email']."\n";

//mail("[e-mail]", $subject, $message, "From: ".$POST['email']);

if (mail($to, $subject, $message))

{

echo "We will contact you soon. Thank you, ";

echo $POST['firstname']." ".$POST['lastname']."!";
}
else
echo "Mail send failure - message not sent";

my code works fines and executes the ljSendmail(). But the echo "We will contact you soon. Thank you, "; appears at the top of the page. I need that message to appear right next to the button after they push it.

[scross]

So this is a contact form and you want the form to be displayed again with the message next to it? Or are you looking for an AJAX solution?

[frazzled]

Sorta. The values of the form are hidden. The values are pulled in from MySQL db. The user clicks the 'Contact Me' button. The form action sends me an email with the User info from the *hidden) form fields. This all works great - but - the echo function puts the (echo) Thank you message all the way at the top of the page. I need to keep the (echo) message inside the form, next to the button.
Thanks for your help.

[Jack_McSlay]

simply put, you don't. If you need the message to appear inside the form, it must be sent inside the form. If you NEED to execute the code before the output, then save the message to a variable and put it where you want to appear

[frazzled]

I tried this:

if (mail($to, $subject, $message))

{

$echoMessage = "We will contact you soon. Thank you, ";
$echoUser = $POST['firstname']." ".$POST['lastname']."!";
}
else
echo "Mail send failure - message not sent";
}

and put the 2 variables $echoMessage and $echoUser inside the form but on submit I got:

Notice: Undefined variable: echoMessage in d:*ip info removed*\demo_7connection_wContact.php on line 221

Notice: Undefined variable: echoUser in d:\
Notice: Undefined variable: echoMessage in d:*ip info removed*\demo_7connection_wContact.php on line 221

[Jack_McSlay]

the variable is not being set when the e-mail is not sent. try this:

$echoUser = $_POST['firstname']." ".$_POST['lastname']."!";

if (mail($to, $subject, $message)) {
   $echoMessage = "We will contact you soon. Thank you, ";
}
else {
   $echoMessage = "Mail send failure - message not sent";
} 

[frazzled]

Thanks for the help but I could not get it to work. If I got it to echo the message, the message always appeared at the absolute top of page and not inside the form. I need to see a page with a form, it's function and the variables.
I appreciate the replies.

[cbesh2]

In regards to text placement, why not use CSS?

[frazzled]

Because i'm bad enough at php...

I have opted to just eliminate the echo message altogether. The form performs it's action and sends the data via email, the echo message was merely a pleasantry (that would have been a nice touch).

PS - how do you insert today's date into a "hidden" text field in a registration form?

Thanks.

[scross]

I'm notsure exactly what you're trying to do, but if this helps, here's a basic contact form layout:

<?php
$your_email = '[e-mail]';

$name = isset($_POST['name']) ? $_POST['name'] : '';
$email = isset($_POST['email']) ? $_POST['email'] : '';
$content = isset($_POST['content']) ? $_POST['content'] : '';
if(empty($name) || empty($email) || empty($content)){
   if(isset($_POST['submitbtn'])){
      $msg = 'Please fill out the form fully.';
   }else{
      $msg = '';
   }
}else{
   // you should probably do some validation here
   if(mail($your_email, 'Contact Form Message From '.$name, $content, 'Reply-To: '.$email)){
      $msg = 'Email sent successfully';
   }else{
      $msg = 'Email could not be sent';
   }
   $name = $email = $content = '';
}
?>
<form action="thisfile.php" method="post">
   Name: <input type="text" name="name" value="<?php echo $name; ?>" />
   Email: <input type="text" name="email" value="<?php echo $email; ?>" />
   <textarea name="content"><?php echo $content; ?></textarea>
   <input type="submit" name="submitbtn" value="Send" />
   <?php echo $msg; ?>
</form>

Note that this is by no means complete, and requires validation and output filtering (htmlentities) among other things. I hope it helps.

[scross]

frazzled wrote:

PS - how do you insert today's date into a "hidden" text field in a registration form?

Use the time() function to get a numerical time in seconds (read up on the function if you don't know). You can then use the date() function wherever you need to display the time in a more readable way than just a number.

<input type="hidden" name="date" value="<?php echo time(); ?>" />

[frazzled]

The user has already registered and is now viewing a demonstration. Using SESSION info, the form on the page is dynamically filled using his registration info, the form fields are hidden form fields.

If he wants me to contact him he clicks the button. This activates the form action and sends me his information via email.

He then gets a message that says 'thanks'. BUT, the message does not appear where I want it, it appears at the very top of the page...I want it to appear directly next to the button he clicks.

In a nutshell...

[scross]

Then why not echo the message next to the button. Or are you trying to prevent the need for a page reload using javascript?

[frazzled]

...because if i define and call the variable it does not recognize it for some reason. I have turned off the echo statement and left the button to send the mail. THey just don't get thanked.

But thank YOU.

[scross]

Why not post all the code and then I'll be able to tell you what's going wrong and how to get it to work.

[toxoc]

Its like.. TOP SECRET marked! 😃