PHP mail() function sending duplicate (empty) email - php

Question

I've tried searching the forums, I have found that some other people have been having the same issue as me, but haven't found a solution that works yet.
I am creating a portal where the customer enters their information in the form and uploads an image, which is then sent as an attachment to the email.
I am finding that when I use the PHP mail() function, it is sending duplicate emails, one with the POST data, and one without. I am only calling the function once, and as far as I can tell I am only loading the page once.
Here is my code:
//recipient address (made up but you get the idea)
$to = 'sales#skycommunications.net';
//subject of email
$subject = 'Phone Order from Online Portal';
//create body of message
$message = "An order has been placed using the Portal.\n";
$message .= "The order details are as follows:\n";
$message .= "\n";
$message .= "First Name: ".$_POST["firstname"]."\n";
$message .= "Last Name: ".$_POST["lastname"]."\n";
$message .= "Phone Number: ".$_POST["phonenumber"]."\n";
$message .= "Email Address: ".$_POST["emailaddress"]."\n";
$message .= "\n";
$message .= "Phone: " . $_POST["phone"] . "\n";
$message .= "Color: " . $_POST["color"] . "\n";
$message .= "Voice Plan: " . $_POST["voiceplan"] . "\n";
$message .= "Data Plan: " . $_POST["dataplan"] . "\n";
//get file details from previous form
$file_tmp_name = $_FILES['uploaded_file']['tmp_name'];
$file_name = $_FILES['uploaded_file']['name'];
$file_size = $_FILES['uploaded_file']['size'];
$file_type = $_FILES['uploaded_file']['type'];
//read from the uploaded file & base64_encode content for the mail
$handle = fopen($file_tmp_name, "r");
$content = fread($handle, $file_size);
fclose($handle);
$encoded_content = chunk_split(base64_encode($content));
//random number for headers
$boundary = md5("sanwebe");
//create the headers
$headers = "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";
$headers .= "From: noreply#skycommunications.net\r\n";
$headers .= "Reply-To: noreply#skycommunications.net\r\n";
$headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary = $boundary\r\n\r\n";
//plain text info
$body = "--$boundary\r\n";
$body .= "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1\r\n";
$body .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n\r\n";
$body .= chunk_split(base64_encode($message));
//attachment info
$body .= "--$boundary\r\n";
$body .="Content-Type: $file_type; name='$file_name'\r\n";
$body .="Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='$file_name'\r\n";
$body .="Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n";
$body .="X-Attachment-Id: ".rand(1000,99999)."\r\n\r\n";
$body .= $encoded_content;
//send the email
mail($to, $subject, $body, $headers);
Everything works beautifully except for the fact that it sends one email complete with the information and attachment, another with no information from POST and a 0kb attachment. Any ideas? Is it a problem with the server possibly?

Answer 1

Wrap all of the mail code some sort of validation logic. Overall you want to:
Ensure that the request being made is in fact a POST request
Ensure that the required POST parameters are included in the request.
You can achieve that with code similar to the following:
function validRequest() {
return (
// make sure that the request type is POST
$_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST'
// make sure the required POST variables were included
&& isset($_POST['firstname'])
&& isset($_POST['lastname'])
&& isset($_POST['phonenumber'])
&& isset($_POST['emailaddress'])
&& isset($_POST['phone'])
&& isset($_POST['color'])
&& isset($_POST['voiceplan'])
&& isset($_POST['dataplan'])
// make sure that there is a file
&& $_FILES['uploaded_file']
);
}
if (validRequest()) {
// your email code
} else {
// there was some sort of error
}
I would bet if you looked at your server log you would be getting some errors saying that the array key does not exist.

Answer 2

My bet is that you are redirecting with .htaccess or some other redirect. It would be called once with the post data and called once more after the redirect.
A simple fix would be to prepend:
if(!empty($_POST['someinput'])) {
//send email
}

Answer 3

if you put this code on top of the page as it's then on initial page load it'll send a blank email to sales#skycommunications.net.
Second email will be sent when you actually submit the form.
To prevent this you need to wrap this in a IF condition and check $_POST is not empty. this way script won't execute on initial page load.
Best way is checking the submit value and you can also validate other post values as well.
Assume your submit button name is "submit".
if (isset($_POST['submit']) && !empty($_POST['submit'])){
//recipient address (made up but you get the idea)
$to = 'sales#skycommunications.net';
//subject of email
$subject = 'Phone Order from Online Portal';
//create body of message
$message = "An order has been placed using the Portal.\n";
$message .= "The order details are as follows:\n";
$message .= "\n";
$message .= "First Name: ".$_POST["firstname"]."\n";
$message .= "Last Name: ".$_POST["lastname"]."\n";
$message .= "Phone Number: ".$_POST["phonenumber"]."\n";
$message .= "Email Address: ".$_POST["emailaddress"]."\n";
$message .= "\n";
$message .= "Phone: " . $_POST["phone"] . "\n";
$message .= "Color: " . $_POST["color"] . "\n";
$message .= "Voice Plan: " . $_POST["voiceplan"] . "\n";
$message .= "Data Plan: " . $_POST["dataplan"] . "\n";
//get file details from previous form
$file_tmp_name = $_FILES['uploaded_file']['tmp_name'];
$file_name = $_FILES['uploaded_file']['name'];
$file_size = $_FILES['uploaded_file']['size'];
$file_type = $_FILES['uploaded_file']['type'];
//read from the uploaded file & base64_encode content for the mail
$handle = fopen($file_tmp_name, "r");
$content = fread($handle, $file_size);
fclose($handle);
$encoded_content = chunk_split(base64_encode($content));
//random number for headers
$boundary = md5("sanwebe");
//create the headers
$headers = "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";
$headers .= "From: noreply#skycommunications.net\r\n";
$headers .= "Reply-To: noreply#skycommunications.net\r\n";
$headers .= "Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary = $boundary\r\n\r\n";
//plain text info
$body = "--$boundary\r\n";
$body .= "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1\r\n";
$body .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n\r\n";
$body .= chunk_split(base64_encode($message));
//attachment info
$body .= "--$boundary\r\n";
$body .="Content-Type: $file_type; name='$file_name'\r\n";
$body .="Content-Disposition: attachment; filename='$file_name'\r\n";
$body .="Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64\r\n";
$body .="X-Attachment-Id: ".rand(1000,99999)."\r\n\r\n";
$body .= $encoded_content;
//send the email
mail($to, $subject, $body, $headers);
}

Answer 4

Eureka! Thanks for the help everyone!
Here is the code I used to validate the POST data prior to calling the mail() function:
//check for empty post so duplicate emails are not sent
if (
isset($_POST["firstname"]) &&
isset($_POST["lastname"]) &&
isset($_POST["phonenumber"]) &&
isset($_POST["emailaddress"]) &&
isset($_POST['phone']) &&
isset($_POST['color']) &&
isset($_POST['voiceplan']) &&
isset($_POST['dataplan']) &&
isset($_FILES["uploaded_file"])
)
{
mail($to, $subject, $body, $headers);
}
I found if I used an else statement, that the page wouldn't finish loading, so I just used the if statement, and presto, only one email with the POST data is being sent.
Thanks again for the help everyone.