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PHP Build a Simple PHP Application Adding a Contact Form Working with Get Variables

Steven Griffiths
Steven Griffiths
3,165 Points

contact.php is not redirecting to "thanks page"

Hi there. On the last video of creating a contact form, my code is not working. checked a thousand time against the TreeHouse files provided and it just won't work. I just get a blank page.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

code as follows

<?php 

if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
    $name = $_POST["name"];
    $email =  $_POST["email"];
    $message =  $_POST["message"];
    $email_body = "";
    $email_body = $email_body . "Name: " . $name . "\n";
    $email_body = $email_body . "Email: " . $email . "\n";
    $email_body = $email_body . "Message: " . $message;

    // TODO: Send Email
    header("Location: contact.php?status=thanks");
    exit;
}
?>
<?php 
$pageTitle = "Contact Mike";
$section = "contact";
include('inc/header.php'); ?>

    <div class="section page">

        <div class="wrapper">

            <h1>Contact</h1>

            <?php if (isset($_GET["status"]) AND $_GET["status"] == "thanks") { ?>
                <p>Thanks for the email! I&rsquo;ll be in touch shortly!</p>
            <?php } else { ?>

                <p>I&rsquo;d love to hear from you! Complete the form to send me an email.</p>

                <form method="post" action="contact.php">

                    <table>
                        <tr>
                            <th>
                                <label for="name">Name</label>
                            </th>
                            <td>
                                <input type="text" name="name" id="name">
                            </td>
                        </tr>
                        <tr>
                            <th>
                                <label for="email">Email</label>
                            </th>
                            <td>
                                <input type="text" name="email" id="email">
                            </td>
                        </tr>
                        <tr>
                            <th>
                                <label for="message">Message</label>
                            </th>
                            <td>
                                <textarea name="message" id="message"></textarea>
                            </td>
                        </tr>                    
                    </table>
                    <input type="submit" value="Send">

                </form>

            <?php } ?>

        </div>

    </div>

<?php include('inc/footer.php') ?>
Steven Griffiths
Steven Griffiths
3,165 Points

Seconds after I posted this , I removed a blank line at the top of the file.

This did the trick.

Maybe this is something you should mention in your videos to look out for when trouble shooting.

Actually, that would be a really good idea for a short TreeHouse video. "Trouble shooting code"

3 Answers

Andrew Shook
Andrew Shook
31,709 Points

Steven, if you leave a blank line or echo anything before a redirect, then the redirect will fail. This is because a blank line or echo statement will cause a header response to be spent back to the requesting computer, nullifying the redirect header.

Steven Griffiths
Steven Griffiths
3,165 Points

Many thanks Andrew. I will put that in my notes.

Rob Adams
Rob Adams
3,079 Points

Thanks Andrew, that's the same problem I had.