Question

sending email with dropdown list

Asked by: interrelateIT

I've searched for this before with no help so I thought id post it.
I'm trying to send an email from a webpage.
The email goes to the desired address  and lists in text what the user has entered on the form.
It seems to have problems with the dropdown menu on "Jobcategory".
Is anyone able to help?

Also. How do you make a "required" field on a form?

Thanks

<?php
if ($_POST["email"]<>'') {
	$ToEmail = 'emailaddress';
	$EmailSubject = 'Site contact form ';
	$mailheader = "From: ".$_POST["email"]."\r\n";
	$mailheader .= "Reply-To: ".$_POST["email"]."\r\n";
	$mailheader .= "Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1\r\n";
	$MESSAGE_BODY = "First Name: ".$_POST["name"]."<br>";
	$MESSAGE_BODY .= "Last Name: ".$_POST["name2"]."<br>";
	$MESSAGE_BODY .= "Email: ".$_POST["email"]."<br>";
	$MESSAGE_BODY .= "Description: ".nl2br($_POST["description"])."<br>";
	$MESSAGE_BODY .= "Position: ".$_POST["position"]."<br>";
	$MESSAGE_BODY .= "Job Category: "(.nl2br$_POST["jobcategory"])"<br>";
	mail($ToEmail, $EmailSubject, $MESSAGE_BODY, $mailheader) or die ("Failure");
 
 
 
 
?>
Your message was sent
<?php
} else {
?>
<form action="test.php" method="post">
<table width="400" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td width="29%" class="bodytext">First Name:</td>
<td width="71%"><input name="name" type="text" id="name" size="32"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="29%" class="bodytext">Last Name:</td>
<td width="71%"><input name="name2" type="text" id="name" size="32"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="bodytext">Email address:</td>
<td><input name="email" type="text" id="email" size="32"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="29%" class="bodytext">Position:</td>
<td width="71%"><input name="position" type="text" id="name" size="32"></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td><font face="Verdana" size="2" color="#000000">Category</font></td>
<td>
<select name="jobcategory" id="jobcategory">
<option value="0">Please Select</option>
<option value="1">Purchases</option>
<option value="2">Phones</option>
<option value="3">Email</option>
</select><br /><br/>
</tr>
</table>
<tr>
<td class="bodytext">Description:</td>
<td><textarea name="description" cols="45" rows="6" id="comment" class="bodytext"></textarea></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="bodytext">&nbsp;</td>
<td align="left" valign="top"><input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Send">&nbsp; &nbsp; <input type="reset" class="btn" value="  Reset form  " name="Clear"></td></td>
</tr>
</form>
 
<?php
};
?>
 
</table>
</form>
 
<?php
};
?>

                                  
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Asked On
2009-05-26 at 21:57:35ID24440409
Tags

php

,

server-side script

,

Email

,

programming

Topics

PHP Scripting Language

,

PHP for Windows

,

SendMail Email Server

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: jessegivyPosted on 2009-05-26 at 22:16:52ID: 24480032

It looks like you've got a parenthesis out of place, fixed below.  There really shouldn't be any reason to call the nl2br function on anything but a textarea unless you're including newline characters in the value of the option tags.  Did you want the integer value of the select to be displayed for job category in the email - or would it make more sense to show the string?  If the string should appear, just adjust the values of the option tags.  Let me know if you're still getting an error (and if so what error) off the job category in email.

Typically, form validation is a very accepted use of JavaScript.  See the onsubmit event I've added to the form tag and add the javascript function (with script tags) to your <head> section.  If you want to require additional fields you can simply add another condition to the validate function.

<script type='text/javascript'>
function validate(){
  var jobcategory=document.getElementById('jobcategory');
  if(jobcategory.options[jobcategory.selectedIndex].value=0){
    alert("Please select a job category");
    return false;
  }
  return true;
}
</script>
<?php
if ($_POST["email"]<>'') {
        $ToEmail = 'emailaddress';
        $EmailSubject = 'Site contact form ';
        $mailheader = "From: ".$_POST["email"]."\r\n";
        $mailheader .= "Reply-To: ".$_POST["email"]."\r\n";
        $mailheader .= "Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1\r\n";
        $MESSAGE_BODY = "First Name: ".$_POST["name"]."<br>";
        $MESSAGE_BODY .= "Last Name: ".$_POST["name2"]."<br>";
        $MESSAGE_BODY .= "Email: ".$_POST["email"]."<br>";
        $MESSAGE_BODY .= "Description: ".nl2br($_POST["description"])."<br>";
        $MESSAGE_BODY .= "Position: ".$_POST["position"]."<br>";
        $MESSAGE_BODY .= "Job Category: ".$_POST["jobcategory"]."<br>";
        mail($ToEmail, $EmailSubject, $MESSAGE_BODY, $mailheader) or die ("Failure");
 
 
 
 
?>
Your message was sent
<?php
} else {
?>
<form action="test.php" method="post" onSubmit="return validate();">
<table width="400" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="0">
<tr>
<td width="29%" class="bodytext">First Name:</td>
<td width="71%"><input name="name" type="text" id="name" size="32"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="29%" class="bodytext">Last Name:</td>
<td width="71%"><input name="name2" type="text" id="name" size="32"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="bodytext">Email address:</td>
<td><input name="email" type="text" id="email" size="32"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="29%" class="bodytext">Position:</td>
<td width="71%"><input name="position" type="text" id="name" size="32"></td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td><font face="Verdana" size="2" color="#000000">Category</font></td>
<td>
<select name="jobcategory" id="jobcategory">
<option value="0">Please Select</option>
<option value="1">Purchases</option>
<option value="2">Phones</option>
<option value="3">Email</option>
</select><br /><br/>
</tr>
</table>
<tr>
<td class="bodytext">Description:</td>
<td><textarea name="description" cols="45" rows="6" id="comment" class="bodytext"></textarea></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="bodytext"> </td>
<td align="left" valign="top"><input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Send">    <input type="reset" class="btn" value="  Reset form  " name="Clear"></td></td>
</tr>
</form>
 
<?php
};
?>
 
</table>
</form>
 
<?php
};
?>

                                              
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by: cyberwebservicePosted on 2009-05-26 at 22:21:23ID: 24480052

There is a typo in Line 13, It should be like this:

$MESSAGE_BODY .= "Job Category: ".nl2br($_POST["jobcategory"])"<br>";

Change it and let me know how it works. If you get any error, post the error message here.

 

by: interrelateITPosted on 2009-05-26 at 22:48:42ID: 24480143

So i did both.
I think it works, well the form actually comes up now but doesnt send the mail...
Warning: mail() [function.mail]: Failed to connect to mailserver at "localhost" port 25, verify your "SMTP" and "smtp_port" setting in php.ini or use ini_set() in C:\xampp\htdocs\file.php on line 29
Failure
I tried to modify the php.ini file but it says that it's an invalid directory when its there....

Any help?

 

by: jessegivyPosted on 2009-05-26 at 23:53:28ID: 24480421

Maybe you could elaborate on what you mean when you say "it says that it's an invalid directory when its there"

You just have to set the port and server.  If you can just locate the php.ini and search for "smtp" then uncomment and/or change the values you should be golden.  I'm really not sure how xampp works, isn't there some kind of interface for making changes to the php.ini with xampp?

 

by: interrelateITPosted on 2009-05-31 at 16:10:00ID: 31585638

Changed the smtp settings in the xampp interface. Thanks for your help! :)

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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