Message form not working.

Question

Hello,

Pulling what's left of my hair out trying to get a message form to function. I have had a few different attempts at getting it to work with no luck. I followed the PHP contact form tutorials, but the message form simply loads a blank white screen when I submit it. If anyone can have a look and point out any glaring errors, it would be much appreciated.

<?php   
    if ($SERVER_["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
         $message = trim($_POST["message"]);
         $name = trim($_POST["name"]);
         $email = trim($_POST["email"]);

         //Validation for empty message fields.      
         if ($message == "" OR $name == "" OR $email == "") {
            echo "Please enter a message, name and email.";
            exit;
         }

         //Validation for injection attacks into the message field.
         foreach ( $_POST as $value ) {
            if ( stripos($value,'Content-Type:') !== FALSE ) {
                echo "There was an error with the information you entered.";
                exit;
            }
         }

         //Validation for the hidden field. If entered by a spambot, the form will not send.
         if ($_POST["address"] != "") {
            echo "Your form submission contains an error.";
            exit;
         }

         //Calling the phpmailer class which will format the email. Email will not send if this is not pointing at the correct directory.
         require_once("/inc/phpmailer/class.phpmailer.php");
         $mail = new PHPMailer();

         if (!$mail->ValidateAddress($email)) {
            echo "Please enter a valid email address.";
            exit;
         }

         $email_body = "";
         $email_body = $email_body . $message . "<br><br>";
         $email_body = $email_body . "From" . "<br><br>";
         $email_body = $email_body . $name . "<br><br>";
         $email_body = $email_body . $email;     

         $mail->SetFrom($email, $name); //States the sender's email address, and their name.
         $address = "example@hotmail.com"; //States the email address of the recepiant.
         $mail->AddAddress($address, "Example"); //States the name of the website which has sent the form.
         $mail->Subject = "Example | " . $name; //Sets the subject of the email, and the name of the sender.         
         $mail->MsgHTML($email_body);

         //An error message will display if the email did not send.
         if(!$mail->Send()) {
            echo "There was a problem sending the email: " . $mail->ErrorInfo;
            exit;
         }

         //The Location command directs the server to this page after the php script has been completed.
         header("Location: /index.sent.html");
         exit;
    }
?>

Answer 1 · 2014-09-11T09:36:16Z

September 11, 2014 9:36am

Hi ,

I'm inclined to say the below line is causing the issue as a forward slash dictates the root directory of the web server.

require_once("/inc/phpmailer/class.phpmailer.php");

Typically if the script is in a location that's relative to your script an relative path will suffice, i.e.

require_once("../inc/phpmailer/class.phpmailer.php");

Answer 2 · 2014-09-11T16:06:49Z

September 11, 2014 4:06pm

Can you please show us the code for the actual form page?

Also, what this file do?:

header("Location: /index.sent.html");

Answer 3 · 2014-09-11T21:07:47Z

September 11, 2014 9:07pm

Thank you for the syntax correction, I'm still very new to php so haven't quite got the grasp of the language yet. I corrected the mistake but there is still an error preventing the page from working. I will try your suggestion of adding in an echo "hi"; after each statement tomorrow, seems like a good way of testing thanks for the tip. I'll let you know what the outcome is.

Answer 4 · 2014-09-11T21:07:55Z

September 11, 2014 9:07pm

Not sure index.sent.html is the best way... maybe just do message-sent.html.

if ($SERVER_["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {

should definitely be

if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {

$SERVER is a global variable and cannot be mistyped / reused for any other purpose. I think with $SERVER you're checking something that doesn't exit. Because this if statement returns false, the whole execution code will not run.

There may be other bugs inside the statement, but it definitely won't be getting inside the block with $SERVER_.

Read more about $_SERVER

To test if you make inside the conditional if statement, try adding this at the top

if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
    echo "MADE IT!";
    exit;

    // rest of your code
}

If successful, you should see "MADE IT" printed to a blank screen.

If you don't see this after you've corrected $_SERVER, and the method is definitely POST, it's likely there's a syntax error which is breaking the whole page. Go over your code with a fine tooth comb to make sure you've got all your semi-colons etc..

Answer 5 · 2014-09-12T10:03:18Z

September 12, 2014 10:03am

Ok so I'v added in an echo " " with a number after each statement, and also the echo "MADE IT!"; suggestion. To begin with I was able to get to number 5, after which is this statement:

         //Calling the phpmailer class which will format the email. Email will not send if this is not pointing at the correct directory.
         require_once("../inc/phpmailer/class.phpmailer.php");
         $mail = new PHPMailer();
         }

Unfortunately after temporarily removing it, a blank page now displays every time I try to test the form, even after it has been added back and I have reverted to the exact same code which gave me a count of 5. No idea what the problem is now, as I have literally changed nothing else in the code. I have even added in an echo "1"; before any of the code is run, at the very top of the php file, and even this does not display. At a bit of a loss at what to do here...

Edit: With the possibilities being either the phpmailer.php file is corrupt, not being referenced correctly, or mispelt somehow, I will have a look at how to sort them out and write an update if the problem is solved. That is, when I am able to get any response from the form...

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Graham Huxtable

Graham Huxtable

Message form not working.

5 Answers

Chris Shaw

Chris Shaw

Graham Huxtable

Graham Huxtable

Logan R

Logan R

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Graham Huxtable

Logan R

Logan R

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Graham Huxtable

thomascawthorn

thomascawthorn

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Graham Huxtable

thomascawthorn

thomascawthorn