Topic awaiting preservation: Php Emailing from a Form (Page 1 of 1)

Hiya all, i'm currently doing an email from forms using some asp and an inbuild jmail thing on my hosts, im wondering if anyone has some suggestions on howto send an email from a form using PHP, preferably a html formatted email also. Any ideas or pointers? Is it possible to do this at all without relying on your host?

Thanks all!

The mail() function allows you to send mail in PHP =)



__________________

Kriek says '[SYSTEMWIDE_MESSAGE] PHP Meetup'
What we do is never understood; only praised and blamed

but of course it relies on your host providing smtp and having in configured in php.ini...

I believe you can set your own smtp.

Anyhow, it would be possible to do via the php sockets api withouta smtp-server, but most hosts deny those as well (and for a good reason).

So long,

Tyberius Prime

H][RO: I couldn't recommend this more highly:
www.gurusnetwork.com/tutorials/php/contact_page/contactpage_1_en.html

___________________
Emps

FAQs: Emperor

Thanks all ill take a look at that link emperor, unfortunately my host doesnt give s smtp's ill see how i go

<form action='?mode=mail' method='post'>
<table align='left'>
<tr>
<td align='right'>TO:</td>
<td><input type='text' name='to'></td>
</tr>
<td align='right'>SUBJECT:</td>
<td><input type='text' name='subject'></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align='right' valign='top'>MESSAGE:</td>
<td><textarea rows='10' cols='20' name='message'></textarea></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><input type='submit' value='send it'></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>

<?php
if($_GET['mode']=='mail')
{
$to = $_POST['to'];
$subject = $_POST['subject'];
$message = $_POST['message'];
mail($to, $subject, $message);
echo "EMAIL SENT";
}
?>

Above is a very, very simple script put together in 5 minutes to show the mail() function.
Check to see if your host is using Linux or Unix, if so, then sendmail is what php will be using.
Or the easiest way is to create a script with the following:
<?php
phpinfo()
?>

Then check for a section that has the server info, this will let you know if it is Linux, Unix or Windows...and a path to the sendmail app, if it is installed.

Not sure if that helps out.

1

Thanks Az, its a windows server, and they have a smtp for me to use from the server which is good.

Im not sure about the sendmail app tho, i thought mail() was a standard part of the php install from what i read, do they need something else as well?

Thanks.

No the php mail function is mostly an API configured with the php install to use the appropriate mailer utility



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

Bummer, well thanks for that, i guess i better give it a try and check with them. Does phpinfo() tell you if it has been setup and installed at all?

here is the php info for my host, i saw the sendmail_path = novalue =/ but further down it says sendmail support for windows enabled.

im not sure if the host has everything configured in a good way, they are still running v4.1.1 which im pretty sure has security issues too, i dont know enough about the php configuration to know if they have set things up the right way or not tho so if anyone notices anything strange please let me know.

I asked them if they would upgrade to a later php but i guess it requires a recomplie and everything so they didnt want to.



[This message has been edited by H][RO (edited 03-12-2003).]

Well, you can try the script I posted to see if it works...or just create a script like this:
<?php
mail(you@yourdomain.com,test,testmessage);
?>

replace `you@yourdomain.com` with your email address and load it up...see if it sends.
It may be reading that the smtp server is the localhost and may send it.
Also, you may want to take the phpinfo down as it is revealing everything about the server...just a security thing.

Thanks Az,

it all works a treat

on the same note, is there any way to get a response if the mail has been sent or not successfully? I'm not sure how this works, thanks again.

goto http://php.net

type in mail in the functions box to search for, and find more info about basically everything you can do with this.

Yeh ive done this, i dont quite see anything about returning wether it was successful or not

The mail() function retruns "true" if the mail could be sent and "false" if there was a problem, so you can use something along these lines:

if (mail($recipient_email, $subject, $message, "From: $name <$email>")) {

  echo "Success!";

}

else {

  echo "Error!";

}

You'll find more on this in my GN tutorial which Emps mentioned above as well.

Thanks Kuckus, i have never really taken much advantage of funciton returns, a bad thing on my part, appreciate it.