I am trying to set up a Contact Form the problem I have is the redirect when the form is submitted.

This is a WordPress site with PHP 7.4.

I have the HTML on the page, a folder called email in root directory. In the folder I have error_log, index.php and validation.js.

The form is https://thesisfocus.cloudaccess.host/contact which is a test site.

In case I am off the mark can I first ask the following. When the form is submitted it goes 404 to https://thesisfocus.cloudaccess.host/contact/email.

The code I am using:

if(mail($to,$subject,$message,$headers))
	header("Location:https://thesisfocus.cloudaccess.host/contact?msg=Successful Submission! Thank you for contacting us. We hope to respond within 24 hours.");
	else
	header("Location:https://thesisfocus.cloudaccess.host/contact?msg=Error sending content, please try email!");
		//contact:-your-email@your-domain.com

If the answer is not obvious I can post the full code.

Keith

    Not sure if this is your issue, but probably should urlencode() the message, something like:

    header("Location:https://thesisfocus.cloudaccess.host/contact?msg=" .
    urlencode("Successful Submission! Thank you for contacting us. We hope to respond within 24 hours.")
);

      PS: If that's not it, I guess in your shoes I'd be injecting error_log() statements or such into the code to figure out exactly where it's not doing what you want, and what the state of things is at that point?

      NogDog
      Thanks for help, I did try it but same result.

      I know this code works on a HTML site so should be good.

      But this is WP, so looking at the fact that the page is just contact and not contact.php as it is on HTML site.

      Keith

        keithwjone the page is just contact and not contact.php as it is on HTML site

        Wordpress is going to do a lot of URL re-writing and such, e.g. in a .htaccess file -- or at least that's what it did last time I used it for anything several years ago. As such, I personally don't really know where to look to figure out what might be happening on the Wordpress side of things, but if you can inspect the .htaccess file (assuming they still use one), it might give some hints as to what the redirect URL should look like, if we're lucky.

            Advice in WP forums is use a plugin.

            htaccess:

            # BEGIN WordPress
# The directives (lines) between "BEGIN WordPress" and "END WordPress" are
# dynamically generated, and should only be modified via WordPress filters.
# Any changes to the directives between these markers will be overwritten.
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule .* - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%{HTTP:Authorization}]
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress

            keithwjone Advice in WP forums is use a plugin

            Yeah, that's probably the quickest way, but like I said, these days I know very little about Wordpress, so I don't know what "obvious" thing I might be missing -- therefore I'd probably look for a plug-in. 😉

              NogDog
              Thanks for your input, I will have to rethink this one.
              When you look around the WP forums, no one is trying to do it this way.
              Keith

                  I can't remember specifically how WordPress works regarding redirects, but if your script is trying to redirect from within wordpress somewhere, you'll need to use their redirect function because WP tends to output a lot of text before your script even runs, and you cannot send any more headers once the output has begun.

                  sneakyimp
                  Thank you, I have some slightly different code which should work in WP.

                  But from further checks there are difficulties sending email out of WP.

                  Keith

                    If you're using WordPress then try to use forms by installing the plugin. If you write the code manually in WordPress it'll just mix up things.

                    So, my suggestion is you should go with the plugin to keep your game, smoothly going.

                    Have a try with WPFORMS.

                    marshray
                    Thank you looking at Ninja Forms. Now the issue is getting the emails to send. Looking as though I will need a SMTP server added.

                    Keith

                        keithwjone
                        Sending email is one thing, getting email delivered is something else entirely. Your server might happily accept an email for delivery and dutifully go out on the internet to deliver this email, only to have it rejected because your server looks sketchy to the remote mail server. It's my understanding that virtual servers like Amazon EC2 or digital ocean droplets or any dynamically allocated cloud server will not be able to send outgoing mail because the huge IP blocks where these servers get allocated are put on spam block lists. If you think about it, it makes sense. If anyone could just fire up a virtual server and start sending email, the global spam problem would get out of control. You have to investigate things like SPF and DKIM to get your email to arrive reliably.

                        Wordpress has a wp_mail function, and it looks like you can configure wp to send mail via SMTP which might be wise if you are running wordpress from a virtual machine.

                            5 days later

                            I am now testing 2 plugins. But I had to use a SMTP plugin and add DKIM and SPF records.

                            One thing I have learnt is not to use the same email address to send and receive the email.

                            As a learning curve I have found a lesson to show how to make a plugin. I have got this working, it displays the form and sends the email. I am now working on how to stop it sending blank emails. Also adding security check such as 1 + 1 =. I am using wp_mail as mentioned by @sneakyimp.

                            What is the best PHP Editor for Windows?

                            Keith

                            keithwjone What is the best PHP Editor for Windows?

                            I'm not claiming it's the best; it's just what I use: VS Code along with the "PHP Intelephense" and "PHP Debug" plug-ins.

                            PS: I use it on MacOS, but since it's made by Microsoft, I'm guessing it's at least as good on Windows. 😉

                              NogDog I use: VS Code along with the "PHP Intelephense" and "PHP Debug" plug-ins

                              Thanks, downloaded will give it a try. Looks the sort of app I am after.

                              Keith

                                  keithwjone But I had to use a SMTP plugin and add DKIM and SPF records.

                                  One thing I have learnt is not to use the same email address to send and receive the email.

                                  This all sounds about right insofar as setup goes (both WP and general).

                                  As for the plugins, I see a couple suggestions here - in my experience ContactForm7 wins for no-frills basic functionality, Ninja Forms was a great full-featured free option, and Gravity Forms is the mack daddy as long as you pay for it.

                                      8 months later

                                      It seems that you're encountering an issue with the redirect when the contact form is submitted on your WordPress site. There are a few things to consider and potential solutions:

                                      Verify the form action: Make sure the form action attribute in your HTML form is set correctly to point to the appropriate PHP file or script that handles the form submission. Double-check that the form action is set to the correct file path or URL.

                                      Check the file location: Confirm that the PHP script handling the form submission is located in the right directory. In your case, it should be in the "email" folder in the root directory. Ensure that the file name is correct (e.g., index.php) and that it has the necessary permissions to be executed.

                                      Debug the PHP script: It's important to check the PHP script that handles the form submission for any potential errors or issues. Make sure that the PHP code is valid and properly structured. You can try adding some debugging statements or error logging to track any errors that may occur during the script execution. The error_log file you mentioned in the "email" folder could be helpful in this regard.

                                      Verify the redirect URL: Ensure that the redirect URL specified in the header("Location: ...") function is correct. In your case, it seems to be pointing to the same contact page with a query parameter for the success or error message. Check that the URL is valid and accessible.

                                      Check for conflicting plugins or configurations: If you're using any WordPress plugins or configurations related to form handling or redirects, there may be a conflict causing the issue. Try disabling any relevant plugins temporarily and see if the problem persists. Additionally, review your WordPress settings related to permalinks and redirects to ensure they are properly configured.

                                      By reviewing these aspects and addressing any potential issues, you should be able to resolve the redirect problem when the contact form is submitted on your WordPress site.

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