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PHP

Posted by Nicholas Renfroe
Nicholas Renfroe
7,739 Points

Working with Get Variables...need help!

I'm having trouble with the project in PHP about "Working with Get Variables" video. It's about creating a simple contact form using PHP of course.

What I'm not getting is when I run my localhost contact page for this project, everything works great, until I finish the contact form. Once filled out, and submitted, it's supposed to redirect you to a thank you status. For some reason, when I submit mine, it sends me right back to a blank contact form again, instead of the thank you status and note.

Here is my code:

<?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'); ?>

Could someone review this code for me, and lend any advice. Thanks in advance!

4 Answers

Leonardo Hernandez
Leonardo Hernandez
13,798 Points

$_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']

Sean T. Unwin
Sean T. Unwin
28,690 Points
Sean T. Unwin
Sean T. Unwin
28,690 Points

I compared your code to mine, at the stage you are at, and it is practically identical so I pasted your above snippet into my t-shirt project and named the file contact2.php. I loaded the page, filled the form and I got the message as intended, but not before changing, 

$SERVER["REQUEST METHOD"] == "POST"

to

$_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST"

edit: I see Leonardo Hernandez found it also (have an upvote).

I did notice one minor point, which really is just semantic for HTML5 --

<input type="text" name="email" id="email">

may be changed to: 

<!-- change type from 'text' to 'email' -->
<input type="email" name="email" id="email">

The above won't have any impact on the issue you're having, it was simply something I noticed.

Nicholas Renfroe
Nicholas Renfroe
7,739 Points

Thanks Sean, for the info, I'm still kinda fresh at all this, so anything helps!

Leonardo Hernandez
Leonardo Hernandez
13,798 Points
Leonardo Hernandez
Leonardo Hernandez
13,798 Points

Your conditional for checking if the get variable has been set and equals something is correct, but the problem is you have not coded your form to post a get variable, or what its value is via its action. 

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

If this is all on the contact.php which i understand it is, remove your current action, and change it to set the get variable.

Sean T. Unwin
Sean T. Unwin
28,690 Points

This isn't needed as the status variable is set on the redirect in the first if statement with header("Location: contact.php?status=thanks");, which, in turn sets some variables to be used send mail later in the lesson within the same php doc.

Leonardo Hernandez
Leonardo Hernandez
13,798 Points

True Sean. Is there an underscore missing between request method?

Nicholas Renfroe
Nicholas Renfroe
7,739 Points
Nicholas Renfroe
Nicholas Renfroe
7,739 Points

Thank you all for your time and help! Yes, you all are correct, I left out two underscores. in $SERVER and "REQUEST METHOD". They should be $_SERVER and "REQUEST_METHOD". I changed that, ran my pages, and boom, all good to go! Thanks again Treehouse community for being a wealth of knowledge!