Why does my button trigger PHP when I'm pressing the button? - php

Question

I have created a PHP script that allows users on my site to sign up for our newsletter by entering their email and pressing the submit button. Then, it will give the user a notification to say that they have successfully signed up for our newsletter, and I will get an email. However, when you load the page (https://papaya-os.000webhostapp.com/) it sends me the email saying that somebody signed up, but the submit button was never pressed, and it doesn't show a success notification. On top of that, when you try to use the form correctly it doesn't work. Here is my PHP:
if($_POST["submit"]) {
if(!$_POST["email"]) {
$error = 'Please Enter Your Email';
}
if ($error) {
$result='<div class="alert alert-danger"><strong>There were error(s) in submitting the form: ' .$error. '</strong></div>';
}
} else {
if(mail("colin.vrugteman#hotmail.com", "Newsletter Sign Up", "Email: ".$_POST['email'])) {
$result='<div class="alert alert-success">Thank You. You have been signed up for our newsletter!</div>';
}
}
?>
I tried running the PHP on the top, and then the bottom of my HTML code, but neither worked. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

you have mistake in parenthesis
if($_POST["submit"]) {
if(!$_POST["email"]) {
$error = 'Please Enter Your Email';
}
if ($error) {
$result='<div class="alert alert-danger"><strong>There were error(s) in submitting the form: ' .$error. '</strong></div>';
} else {
if(mail("colin.vrugteman#hotmail.com", "Newsletter Sign Up", "Email: ".$_POST['email'])) {
$result='<div class="alert alert-success">Thank You. You have been signed up for our newsletter!</div>';
}
}
}

Answer 2

<?
//Here you should be checking if submit is set, or `empty()` is my preferred function. You could also use `isset()` but you would want to negate that, so it would be `!isset()`.
if(empty($_POST["submit"])) {
//If email is empty, set $error
if(empty($_POST["email"])) {
$error = 'Please Enter Your Email';
}
//if $error is not empty, set $result
if (!empty($error)) {
$result = '<div class="alert alert-danger"><strong>There were error(s) in submitting the form: ' . $error . '</strong></div>';
}
//if $_POST["submit"] IS set, send email.
} else {
//if $_POST['submit'] is NOT empty, and IS set, send email.
if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {
if (mail("colin.vrugteman#hotmail.com", "Newsletter Sign Up", "Email: " . $_POST['email'])) {
$result = '<div class="alert alert-success">Thank You. You have been signed up for our newsletter!</div>';
}
}
}
?>
Try this code, and I added comments to explain what was happening.
I personally would have wrote it to be more dynamic with the error code.
Here is how I would have personally wrote the code. I'm not claiming this is better or worse, just how I would have done it. :)
<?php
//if submit is empty there was an issue
if (empty($_POST['submit'])) {
//create an empty array to store errors
$errors = array();
//loop through each _POST element to see what you are missing. If any value is empty or not set, it will be added to the errors.
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
//skip key submit because we don't want that to appear in the errors, you could also add more you want to skip here.
if ($key == "submit")
continue;
//If value is empty/not set, add it to the error array.
if (empty($value)) {
array_push($errors, "Please provide " . ((in_array($key[0], $vocals)) ? "an" : "a") . " {$key}");
}
}
//check if $errors has any contents
if (!empty($errors)) {
//create $results filled with the dynamic errors from above. If there is only 1 error, properly format the sentence.
$result = '<div class="alert alert-danger"><strong>There '.((count($errors)==1)? "was an error" : "were errors" ).' while submitting the form: ';
foreach ($errors as $key => $value) {
$result .= "{$value}";
if ($key != count($errors) - 1) {
$result .= ", ";
}
}
$result .= '</strong></div>';
}
} else {
//if if $_POST['submit'] is not empty and IS set, send email.
if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {
$to = "test#email.com";
$subject = "Newsletter Sign Up";
$message = "Email: {$_POST['email]}";
if (mail($to, $subject, $message)) {
$result = '<div class="alert alert-success">Thank You. You have been signed up for our newsletter!</div>';
}
}
}
?>

Answer 3

You're structure is wrong so it's always hitting that block. You have the closing bracket for your if in the wrong place. Try this.
<?php
if($_POST["submit"]) {
if(!$_POST["email"]) {
$error = 'Please Enter Your Email';
}
if ($error) {
$result='<div class="alert alert-danger"><strong>There were error(s) in submitting the form: ' .$error. '</strong></div>';
} else {
if(mail("colin.vrugteman#hotmail.com", "Newsletter Sign Up", "Email: ".$_POST['email'])) {
$result='<div class="alert alert-success">Thank You. You have been signed up for our newsletter!</div>';
}
}
}
?>