Directing user to a "thanks" page

[Craigj1303]

Hi

I know nothing about PHP and I am trying to come up with a basic contact form for my website. The form is no problem and I have cut and pasted some PHP which I have tried and tested OK for sending me mail.

The only thing I want to change is what happens after the form is submitted. I want to direct the client to a "thanks for your comments" page where they can then carry on navigating their way around the site. At the moment they just get a message saying "data has been submitted" and would have to use the back button to get back.

Can anyone advise me how to direct them to a different page? Below is the .php file I am using:

PHP: Select all

<?php 
if(isset($_POST['submit'])) { 
$to = "xxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com"; 
$subject = "Matchday Programmes"; 
$name_field = $_POST['name']; 
$email_field = $_POST['email']; 
$message = $_POST['message']; 
 
$body = "From: $name_field\n E-Mail: $email_field\n Message:\n $message"; 
 
echo "Data has been submitted to $to!"; 
mail($to, $subject, $body); 
} else { 
echo "blarg!"; 
} 
?>

Thanks in advance

Craig

[jimz]

Hi Craig,

The best way to do it would be to redirect the user to another page if the mail has been sent

PHP: Select all

// if the mail was sent successfully
if(mail($to, $subject, $body))
{ 
    // redirect the user to another page
    header('Location: http://www.example.com/'); exit;
}
else
{
    // otherwise, tell them something went wrong
    echo 'Oops!';
} 

You must not output any html before the header() function, so no using echo/print or any whitespace before your opening php tags!

Give that a shot

[Craigj1303]

Hi,
Thanks for replying. As I say I have no PHP knowledge at all at the moment so I just pasted your suggested code in to my mailer.php file but now when I post the form I get this message:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE in /home/fhlinux163/a/anyoldirons.me.uk/user/htdocs/mailer.php on line 14

Can you tell me exactly where I should paste your code in relation to my PHP below and whether I need to remove anything from it?

PHP: Select all

 <?php 
if(isset($_POST['submit'])) { 
$to = "xxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com"; 
$subject = "Matchday Programmes"; 
$name_field = $_POST['name']; 
$email_field = $_POST['email']; 
$message = $_POST['message']; 

$body = "From: $name_field\n E-Mail: $email_field\n Message:\n $message"; 

echo "Data has been submitted to $to!"; 
mail($to, $subject, $body); 
} else { 
echo "blarg!"; 
} 
?>

Thanks & Rgs

Craig

[jimz]

Replace this:

Code: Select all

echo "Data has been submitted to $to!"; 
mail($to, $subject, $body); 
} else { 
echo "blarg!"; 
}

with this:

Code: Select all

// if the mail was sent successfully
if(mail($to, $subject, $body))
{ 
    // redirect the user to another page
    header('Location: http://www.example.com/'); exit;
}
else
{
    // otherwise, tell them something went wrong
    echo 'Oops!';
}

[Craigj1303]

Thanks a bunch jimz

[CloudedVision]

Personally I wouldn't do an HTTP redirect unless absolutely necessary. I would do something like this:

PHP: Select all

<?php 
if(isset($_POST['submit'])) { 
$to = "xxxxxxxxxx@hotmail.com"; 
$subject = "Matchday Programmes"; 
$name_field = $_POST['name']; 
$email_field = $_POST['email']; 
$message = $_POST['message']; 
 
$body = "From: $name_field\n E-Mail: $email_field\n Message:\n $message"; 
 
if(mail($to, $subject, $body)) {?>Thank you message
<?php} else {?>Error message
<?php
} else { ?>Contact form
<?php } 
?>

And I also added error handling in there, which is always a plus.