PHP mailto()

Question

Hey Guys,

Been struggling for about 2 weeks now on how to get a proper email form working on my Portfolio, i've tried well over 10 examples found from the internet aswell as made my own from scratch and I come across 3 common problems.

Sometimes the email works but I can't get any submitted data through the POST method.

Sometimes it works in the browser but won't sent an email.

Sometimes It doesn't work at all on the browser or getting an email through.

Anybody got any dummy guides for a newbie to PHP wanting to make an email form? If it helps anyone answer this I've never actually downloaded PHP onto my computer, only through WAMP Server.

Answer 1 · 2014-05-05T18:19:39Z

May 5, 2014 6:19pm

You can start by copying and pasting this code into a php file, make sure it works and then start editing it form there. If this form doesn't work then maybe something is misconfigured in your WAMP seetings.
W3C Schools PHP mail()

<h2>Feedback Form</h2>
<?php
// display form if user has not clicked submit
if (!isset($_POST["submit"])) {
  ?>
  <form method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"];?>">
  From: <input type="text" name="from"><br>
  Subject: <input type="text" name="subject"><br>
  Message: <textarea rows="10" cols="40" name="message"></textarea><br>
  <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit Feedback">
  </form>
  <?php 
} else {    // the user has submitted the form
  // Check if the "from" input field is filled out
  if (isset($_POST["from"])) {
    $from = $_POST["from"]; // sender
    $subject = $_POST["subject"];
    $message = $_POST["message"];
    // message lines should not exceed 70 characters (PHP rule), so wrap it
    $message = wordwrap($message, 70);
    // send mail
    mail("webmaster@example.com",$subject,$message,"From: $from\n");
    echo "Thank you for sending us feedback";
  }
}
?>

So basically here it is broken down:

We start with checking to see if we are seeing this page for the first time or after a user submitted the form. If they submitted the form, then we just need to mail the info and display a confirmation. Otherwise, we want to see the form

<?php
// display form if user has not clicked submit
if (!isset($_POST["submit"])) {
  ?>

Next, if the user has not sent the form, aka $_POST['submit'] is not set. Then we want to display the form. Notice that the method is post and the then action is set to php echo $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]. Also make sure form elements have name attributes so that they are available in the $_POST array.

  <form method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER["PHP_SELF"];?>">
  From: <input type="text" name="from"><br>
  Subject: <input type="text" name="subject"><br>
  Message: <textarea rows="10" cols="40" name="message"></textarea><br>
  <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit Feedback">
  </form>
  <?php 
}

Finally, if we are seeing this form after a submission, then we will skip displaying the form and rather get teh $_POST array, process the mail, and display a confirmation

else {    // the user has submitted the form
  // Check if the "from" input field is filled out
  if (isset($_POST["from"])) {
    $from = $_POST["from"]; // sender
    $subject = $_POST["subject"];
    $message = $_POST["message"];
    // message lines should not exceed 70 characters (PHP rule), so wrap it
    $message = wordwrap($message, 70);
    // send mail
    mail("webmaster@example.com",$subject,$message,"From: $from\n");
    echo "Thank you for sending us feedback";
  }
}
?>

hope that helps.

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Adam Duffield

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PHP mailto()

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