Resetting a form after successful submit - php

Question

So I've set everything up so my contact form submits and I get an email in my inbox. They problem is that every time I refresh the page, or come back to the page, I get ANOTHER copy of the same email in my inbox.
How do I ensure that I'll only get the email once, and also that a user won't accidentally keep sending me messages after they've written and successfully sent the one they want.
I'd also love to know how to make sure the success message isn't just showing ALL the time.
If it's helpful, here are my PHP and jQuery codes:
PHP: https://www.tehplayground.com/Z7mCYfoSz09WEEVj
jQuery: https://www.tehplayground.com/cN9U4HpE0J5czkyS
Thanks for the help!

Answer 1

You can redirect the user to another page, and it will "reset" the form requests:
header("Location: index.php");

Answer 2

document.onload = function () {document.getElementById("form").reset();}

Answer 3

$("#refresh").click(function(){
$("#myModal").find('input:text, input:password, select, textarea').val('') ;
$("#myModal").find('input:radio, input:checkbox').prop('checked', false);
$("#weak").html('') ;
$("#moderate").html('') ;
$("#strong").html('') ;
$("#show_error").html('') ;
$("#show_success").html('') ;
$("#new_password").attr("disabled", "disabled") ;
$("#confirm_password").attr("disabled", "disabled") ;
$("#reset_pass").attr("disabled", "disabled") ;
});
Use the above and it will reset a form .

Answer 4

this is a common problem if you are submitting forms using post. if a user accidentally refreshes a page after submission. it can cause duplicate form submission. read more more about post redirect get pattern here for clarity on what am talking about.so in a nutshell the basic procedure to do here is to redirect the page after submission either to a different page or the same page. like so
<?php
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
if (empty($_POST["name"])) {
$error .= "<p>• Don't forget to write your name!</p>";
} else {
$name = test_input($_POST["name"]);
}
if (empty($_POST["email"])) {
$error .= "<p>• An email address is required. </p>";
} else {
$email = test_input($_POST["email"]);
}
if (empty($_POST["phone"])) {
$phone = "";
} else {
$phone = test_input($_POST["phone"]);
}
if (empty($_POST["message"])) {
$error .= "<p>• Don't forget to write your message!</p>";
} else {
$message = test_input($_POST["message"]);
}
if ($_POST["email"] && filter_var($_POST["email"], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) === false) {
$error .= "<p>• Please input a valid email! </p>";
}
header('Location: index.php');// redirect so that the pages is recieved through get method
exit()
//note that if you are redirecting to the same page you wont be able to use variable, you can instead use session knowing that the page refreshess
}
?>

Answer 5

I think the best way to handle this issue is to create a unique identifier for each submission.
foreach($_POST as $data){
$s = md5($s . $data);
}
Now $s holds a value of 32 chars in length that is pretty much unique to any input.
You have multiple options:
You can insert this value into a table (2 columns) where 1 is this value and the other the date of insert and delete the record after 1 day.
Use sessions and just append this id to the array (and reset it from time to time)
Any other method of storage, just keep in mind that storing it on the client is not the best way to do it.
This pretty much eliminates double submissions. However this is more or less an example code to give you a general idea. Perhaps not all fields should be used, and maybe you want to add a date() to it as well.
All depends on your needs.
You can use other techniques to do the same thing, this however is something that should be handled by the server and not the client. So using Javascript is an escape goat, just not a permanent solution.

Answer 6

Thanks all. Got it sorted!
I ended up splitting up the PHP into a “process.php” and “form.php”, which has helped with stopping duplicates, and then used an AJAX to effectky refresh and rest the form without refreshing the whole page.
Everything works wonderfully now - although hard to say whether its as secure as it can be!

Answer 7

The best way is to use JQuery to submit the form and email and reset it without refreshing the page . Don't use "form" tag , instead use "div" tag with the same class , otherwise the page will get refreshed and the click event will be called .