Contact Form Disappearing When Div is Set? - php

Question

Ok, so I've got a contact form:
<?php
if (isset($_POST['subtest'])) {
$to = 'thomofawsome#gmail.com';
$name = $_POST['firstname'];
$lastName = $_POST['lastname'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$city = $_POST['city'];
$state = $_POST['state'];
$zip = $_POST['zip'];
$comments = $_POST['comments'];
$Message = <<< STOP
From: $name $lastName
Email: $email
In: $city, $state, $zip
Comments: $comments
STOP;
$subject = "Contact Request";
$headers = 'From: system';
if (mail($to, $subject, $Message, $headers)) {
echo '<div id="thanks">Mail sent</div>';
exit();
}
else {
echo 'Mail Failed';
}
}
?>
<form name="contact_form" action="" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="subtest" value="true">
First Name:<br>
<input type="text" name="firstname">
<br>
Last Name:<br>
<input type="text" name="lastname">
<br>
Email Address:<br>
<input type="text" name="email">
<br>
City:<br>
<input type="text" name="city">
<br>
State:<br>
<input type="text" name="state">
<br>
Zip:<br>
<input type="text" name="zip">
<br>
Comments:<br>
<textarea name="comments"></textarea>
<br>
<input id="submit" type="submit" name="submit" value="Send">
<br>
</form>
The problem is I want the echo mail sent correctly formatted (with a green color, positioned correctly on the page, etc.). As you can see, I've put it in a div. When I submit the form though, I'm redirected back to the form page, except the entire form and footer disappear, and Mail sent appears on the bottom of the page (correctly formatted).
Any ideas?

Answer 1

The exit() function prevents the rest of the script from executing, which includes your form and footer. Remove it and it will work.
if (mail($to, $subject, $Message, $headers)) {
echo '<div id="thanks">Mail sent</div>';
} else {
echo 'Mail Failed';
}
As Raidenance pointed out, if someone refreshes this page after posting the form it will resend the email address. A better solution to this problem is to post your contact form to another url (/contact/submit for instance) and on completion of the script execution at that url simply redirect back to the contact form with a parameter
header("Location:/contact?success=true");
Then on your contact form page:
if (isset($_GET['success']) && $_GET['success'] == "true") {
echo '<div id="thanks">Mail sent</div>';
} else {
echo 'Mail Failed';
}
This will prevent the issue of the user reloading and receiving the email multiple times.