Problem with sending mail

[Tonata]

Hello all.

I have a form that collects basic information about my users, I have a PHP code that is suppose to send the information to my email. When i run it, i don't receive any anything in my mail. Please help, and Thank you in advance. Here's my PHP code below:

 <?php
if ($_POST["ask"]==1 && $_POST["Polypipo"] != " " && $_POST["surname"] !=" " && $_POST["num"] !=" " && $_POST["ques"] !=" "){
//======== Subject Line =================
$subject = 'Suggestion box';
//=========Variables=================
//$ask = $_POST["ask"];
$success = 1;
$polypipo = $_POST["Polypipo"];
$name = $_POST["firstname"]." ".$_POST["surname"];
$num = $_POST["num"];
$course = $_POST["course"];
$year = $_POST["year"];
$dept = $_POST["dept"];
$email = $_POST["email"];
$ques = $_POST["ques"];


//========Mail Content=================
//$sucess =1; 
$msg_body .="Query/Suggestion: \n\n"
		  ." Requested by: $polypipo\n"
		  ." Name 		: $name  \n"
		  ." Number 	: $num \n"
		  ." Email 		: $email \n"
		  ." Course 	: $course \n"
		  ." Year	 	: $year \n"
		  ." Department	: $dept \n"
		  ." Type	 	: $stn_num \n"
		  ." ------------------------------- \n"
  		  ." Query		: $ques \n"
  		  ." ------------------------------- \n"				
		  ."\nQuery/suggestion :\n";

	$mailheaders .= "MIME-version: 1.0\n";
	$mailheaders .= "Content-type: multipart/mixed; ";
	$mailheaders .= "boundary=\"Message-Boundary\"\n";
	$mailheaders .= "Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT\n";

	$mailheaders .= "From: $name <$email>\n";
	$mailheaders .= "To: MyName MyLastName <[e-mail]>\n";
	$mailheaders .= "Bcc: $email\n";

	//body	
	$body_top = "--Message-Boundary\n";
	$body_top .= "Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII\n";
	$body_top .= "Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT\n";
	$body_top .= "Content-description: Mail message body\n\n";
	$msg_body = $body_top . $msg_body;
	$to .= '[e-mail]';

	ini_set("SMTP","smtp.companyName.com");
	ini_set("sendmail_from", $email);

	mail($to, $subject, $msg_body, $mailheaders);

	$msg_body .= "--Message-Boundary--\n";

}
?>

[__berfuzz]

I guess next step you should take is including some error messaging in you coding.

if(empty($_POST["surname"])) //checks if a variable (surname) is empty, in the array _POST.
{
   $status[] = "No family name was given."; 
}
if(empty($_POST["num"]))
{
   $status[] = "No phone number name was given.";
}

if(!isset($status))  //if no error message is recorded - go ahead and try to send
{
   $i = mail($adress, $subject, $msg, $headers);
   if($i)
   {
      $status[] = "The mail is on its way!";
   } else
  {
      $status[] = "Something went wrong contact administrator.";
   }
}

//you can list the status like this:

if(count($status) != 0 )
{
   echo "<ul><li>".implode("</li><li">", $status)."</li></ul>";
}

If you include error reports in a good way you'll get a good view over whats faltering. Later when the script is running smoothly the user will get feedback if theres something dodgy.

[Tonata]

I did.

<? if ($success == 1 ){ 
		echo "<span class=\"white\">Your Query/Suggestion has been submited. All your suggestion are noted. Thank you.	</span>";

	}else{
	echo "<span class=\"orange_bold\">Please complete the form";
	} ?>

I hope this is what you are saying i should do, the user gets notified that All your suggestion are noted, but still i don't receive anything.

[__berfuzz]

Well... what is the master-plan behind $success? You seem to give it the value 1 every time the script is running.

[Tonata]

That part will not be executed if the form is empty, but if it's executed (meaning form is not empty), number 1 will be assigned to $success, and success will be used to check if there's any data

if ($success==1)

. Remember $success is inside

if ($_POST["ask"]==1 && $_POST["Polypipo"] != " " && $_POST["surname"] !=" " && $_POST["num"] !=" " && $_POST["ques"] !=" ") 

.

[__berfuzz]

Tonata;10906633 wrote:

That part will not be executed if the form is empty, but if it's executed (meaning form is not empty), number 1 will be assigned to $success, and success will be used to check if there's any data

if ($success==1)

. Remember $success is inside

if ($_POST["ask"]==1 && $_POST["Polypipo"] != " " && $_POST["surname"] !=" " && $_POST["num"] !=" " && $_POST["ques"] !=" ") 

.

In that case, did you read anything of my first post?

[djjjozsi]

is $stn_num set in your code ?

you should use isset or empty functions to know which variable has a value. if $a==" " is not enought.

strlen gives you back the string's lenght, use it...

And its a week point in your code that allowes a not email syntax email address for the user. i can easily insert more then one email address, adding several harmful codes.

i've made an email generator, that was the source code from your $_POST arrays:

you can see here

[Tonata]

Thanx guys i will try that one.

[Tonata]

Hello guys, I tried it out but i still sit with the same problem. The user gets the message that the mail has been sent but I don't receive anything.

<?php
session_start();

if ( $_POST["ask"]==1 ) 
  { 
  	 $_SESSION[$message_body]=1;
	$success = 1;
	$polypipo = $_POST["Polypipo"];
	$fname = $_POST["firstname"];
	$lname = $_POST["surname"];
	$num = $_POST["num"];
	$course = $_POST["course"];
	$year = $_POST["year"];
	$dept = $_POST["dept"];
	$email = $_POST["email"];
	$ques = $_POST["ques"];

function isempty($polypipo , $fname , $lname , $num , $ques) 
{ 
    global $error_message; 

            if ( empty( $_POST["Polypipo"] ) ) 
            { 
                    $error_message .= "<span class=\"orange_bold\" align=\"left\">Please select a Mode <br>"; 
            } 

			if ( empty( $_POST["firstname"] ) ) 
            { 
                    $error_message .= "<span class=\"orange_bold\" align=\"left\">Please enter your First Name <br>"; 
            } 

			if ( empty( $_POST["surname"] ) ) 
            { 
                    $error_message .= "<span class=\"orange_bold\" align=\"left\">Please enter your Last Name <br>"; 
            } 

			if ( empty( $_POST["num"] ) ) 
            { 
                    $error_message .= "<span class=\"orange_bold\" align=\"left\">Student number/Staff number is required <br>"; 
            } 

			if ( empty( $_POST["ques"] ) ) 
            { 
                    $error_message .= "<span class=\"orange_bold\" align=\"left\">Please suggest or ask something before you submit this Query <br />"; 
            } 
			}
}
//$polypipo , $fname , $lname , $num , $ques
	if ( $success== 1){
    isempty( $polypipo, $fname, $lname , $num,$ques); 

function is_mail($email) 
{ 
global  $error_message; 
if ( !empty( $_POST["email"] ) ) 
        if ( !ereg( "^[^0-9][A-z0-9_-]+[@][A-z0-9_-]+([.][A-z0-9_-]+)*[.][A-z]{2,4}$",  $_POST["email"] ) ) 
        { 
                $error_message .= "<span class=\"orange_bold\">You have to add a valid email address<br />"; 
        } 
} 
is_mail($email); 
//$error_message='Error While sending message'; 

/*  If there is  no error, */ 
    if ( empty( $error_message ) ) 
    { 

    $subject='Library Query/Suggestion box'; 
    $message_body='Library Query/Suggestion:'; 
  //  $message_body.= "ask: ".$_POST["ask"] ."\n"; //message_body set from: ask 

    $message_body.= "Requested by: ".$_POST["polypipo"]."\n"; //message_body set from: Polypipo   
    $message_body.= "Surname: ".$_POST["surname"] ."\n"; //message_body set from: surname 
    $message_body.= "Firstname: ".$_POST["firstname"] ."\n"; //message_body set from: firstname 
    $message_body.= "Number: ".$_POST["num"] ."\n"; //message_body set from: num         
    $message_body.= "Course: ".$_POST["course"] ."\n"; //message_body set from: course 
    $message_body.= "Year: ".$_POST["year"] ."\n"; //message_body set from: year           
    $message_body.= "Department:".$_POST["dept"] ."\n"; //message_body set from: dept         
    $message_body.= "Query: ".$_POST["ques"] ."\n"; //message_body set from: ques        



    ini_set( 'sendmail_from', $_POST["email"] ); 

     $headers  = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n"; 
     $headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\r\n"; 
	// $headers .= "Content-type: multipart/mixed; ";
     $headers .= "From: " . $_POST["firstname"]." ".$_POST["surname"] . " <" . $_POST["email"] . ">\n"; 	     			

            $to .= "[e-mail]"; //specify to( email)  
            mail( $to, $subject, $message_body , $headers );

            if(!empty($_SESSION[$message_body])) 
            die("<span class=\"white\">You have sent this email thank you!</span>>"); 
            else 
            { 
                $mailer = mail( $to, $subject, $message_body , $headers ); 
                if ( $mailer == true ) 
                { 
                         //$_SESSION[$message_body]=1;
                        print ( "<span class=\"white\">Thank You. Message has been sent.<br></span>" ); 
                } 
                else 
                        print ( "Error while sending the mail" );  

            }
    } 
    else {
    print "  $error_message "; 
	}

	}

 ?>

Should i post the form as well?

[djjjozsi]

you misunderstood the 2 function.

why do you use function? becouse you can minimise the repeating events.

you pass one or two parameter to the function, and that will check the POST superglobal using the passed string.

you pass two strings: is_empty("email","Email address");

that will test if $_POST["$passed_variable1"] is empty, if its empty, the function fill an error message using the $passed_variable2.

so you'r on a wrong direction with this function issue.

however i know this function, i've made it 🙂

Shall i show you a video about a mail body generator? 🙂

[Tonata]

Yes please do, i am really new to this stuff.. please show me the video

[djjjozsi]

in the original code, you see the usage of thi is_empty function:

function isempty( $postvar , $title , $required = 0 , $min=0 , $max=0)

The first parameter is the post var name ,
second is the title, that will be in the error message.
3th parameter is 1 if that field is required , 0 if its not.
4th you set the minimum lenght of that field,
5th sets the maximum lenght of that field.

if you set the lenghts into 0, the function won't check the lenghts!

isempty( "ask", "ask", 1 , 0,0);
    isempty( "Polypipo", "Polypipo", 1 , 0,0);
    isempty( "surname", "surname", 0 , 0,0);
...
...
    is_mail("email"); 

is_mail: this created function checks a post variable using the parameter.
and fills the error_message string.

[Tonata]

Thanx alot, i will try that out now

[Tonata]

Can you just do the whole thing for me, I tried my best but i cant get it right...

[djjjozsi]

Tonata;10906907 wrote:

Can you just do the whole thing for me, I tried my best but i cant get it right...

🙂 can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.

http://sfx.site40.net/tutorials/how_to_use_mail_generator/how_to.html

[Tonata]

I don't know wht's happening man, but the video only plays for 3 secs, can you maybe provide a download link, i downloaded some flash downloader software, but they ddnt help much...

[djjjozsi]

check this link, its becouse a buffering:

http://data.hu/get/1277937/how_to.mp4.html

Hello, jjozsi.

[Tonata]

Thanx for your help and patience djjjozsi, it works...

[Tonata]

Hello, i am back again... Now i have another problem. My SMTP ends with .edu.na, if i input the company's email address, which of course ends with .edu.na [[e-mail]] it works fine, i receive the email. But if i enter another email address e.g. Gmail, Yahoo etc. it doesn't work, it'll show the user that the email has been sent, but i don't receive anything. [Let's say my email is [e-mail], this doesnt work, but if i change it to [e-mail] it works]. This is strange and weird.. Can you pleas help me out.. Thank you very much....

[djjjozsi]

Hello,
i'm not sure, but this problem might be in a connection with spam filters.

Try to change the subject. Test the mail function with pre-defined variables.

(pn php.net you can find another mail examples, if they're working then you can change its structure)

i've used these mail functions whithout problems.

Its helpful to show us how is your code looks like.

hello, jjozsi.