How do I validate recaptcha? - php

Question

I have the recaptcha displaying in my form but when someone hits submit I just get a blank white screen. Right now I have the questionable php commented out and the site works you can see it at www.necowindtest.com under the comments tab. Here is the php routine that runs when the submit button is clicked: Everything after the commented section works.
<?php
// define variables and set to empty
$moniker = $commentdate = $comment = "";
//
//set timezone to mountian
date_default_timezone_set("America/Denver");
//
/*This starts the possibly problematic statements
//
// files placed in root of server
require_once "recapthchalib.php";
//
//exit for troubleshooting move this up if you didn't get a message or down if you did
exit("MADE IT THIS FAR");
//
//secret key
$secret = "6LfUTwoaAAAAAGIDFC8FqCoZX0TOTzSKFyOKT57h";
//
//empty response
$response = null;
//
//check secret key
$reCaptcha = new ReCaptcha($secret);
//
//if submitted check response
if ($_POST["g-recaptcha-response"]){
$response = $reCaptcha->verifyResponse(
$_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"],
$_POST["g-recaptcha-response"]
);
}
//
//display form or thank you for submission
if ($response != null && $response->success) {
echo "Hi " . $_POST["moniker"] . " thanks for the submission";
}
else {
echo "Sorry captcha verification was unsuccessful";
}
//
//This is the end of the problematic statements
//
*/
//load form fields into variables and check for extraneous characters
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
$moniker = test_input($_POST["moniker"]);
$comment = test_input($_POST["comment"]);
}
//
function test_input($data) {
$data = trim($data); //trim out spaces
$data = stripslashes($data); //strip out slashes
$data = htmlspecialchars($data); //change special characters to entities
return $data;
}
//
//write comment to end of comment file (commenttest.txt)
$dateofcomm = date("m-d-Y");
$dateofcomm = $dateofcomm . " ";
$newline = "\n";
$comment = $comment . " ";
$moniker = str_replace(" ", "", $moniker);
$newrecord = $dateofcomm . $comment . $moniker;
//
$prevcomm = fopen("commenttest.txt", "r") or die ("Unable to open file");
$allfiledcomments = file_get_contents("commenttest.txt");
file_put_contents("commenttest.txt", $dateofcomm);
file_put_contents("commenttest.txt", $comment, FILE_APPEND);
file_put_contents("commenttest.txt", $moniker, FILE_APPEND);
file_put_contents("commenttest.txt", $newline, FILE_APPEND);
file_put_contents("commenttest.txt", $allfiledcomments, FILE_APPEND);
fclose($prevcomm);
//
//display return link
echo "<div class='container' style='text-align: center'><br>";
echo "<a href='comments.php'><h2>Return to site</h2><br>";
echo "</div>";
//
//read comments from file (commenttest.txt)
$prevcomm = fopen("commenttest.txt", "r") or die ("Unable to open file");
while (!feof($prevcomm)) {
$acomm = fgets($prevcomm);
$acomm = chop($acomm);
$commdate = substr($acomm, 0, 10);
$bypos = strrpos($acomm, " ",); //get position of last space before name
$commenter = substr($acomm, $bypos,); //name is from last space to end
$bypos = $bypos - 10;
$filedcomm = substr($acomm, 11, $bypos); //comment is from position 11, after the date, to last space left to right
//
//write formatted comment to screen
echo "<div container style='font-size: 25px; border: solid red; border-radius: 20px;'><br>";
echo "<div container style='padding-left: 25px;'>";
echo $commdate;
echo "</div>";
echo "<div container style='padding-left: 50px; width: 225px; display: inline-block;'>";
echo "<h2><strong>COMMENT: </strong></h2>";
echo "</div><br>";
echo "<div container style='padding-left: 75px; width: 600px; display: inline-block;'>";
echo $filedcomm;
echo "</div><br>";
echo "<div container style='padding-left: 50px; width: 100px; display: inline-block;'>";
echo "<h2><strong>BY: </strong></h2>";
echo "</div>";
echo "<div container style='padding-left: 1px; width: 500px; display: inline-block;'>";
echo $commenter;
echo "</div>";
echo "</div><br>";
}
fclose($prevcomm);
?>

Answer 1

Thanks Alvaro, It took a while but I figured out how to get bluehost to show the php errors. Now I am getting closer.