Sending email from PHP is not working - php

Question

I'll start off by saying that I know absolutely nothing about PHP. I'm more .NET.
I pulled this email template off the Internet - and the instructions said to simply change the "To" email address and the "Subject" line to whatever I wanted. At the very end of my PHP file, I have "Thank you for contacting us. We will be in touch with you very soon." - this message gets displayed on my browser when I click Submit. It thinks for a second, then displays the message, kind of indicating to me that the email sent. But I don't get any email. Any ideas why?
Here's my HTML form code:
<form name="contactform" method="post" action="MailHandler.php">
<table width="450px">
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<label for="first_name">First Name *</label>
</td>
<td valign="top">
<input type="text" name="first_name" maxlength="50" size="30">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<label for="last_name">
Last Name *</label>
</td>
<td valign="top">
<input type="text" name="last_name" maxlength="50" size="30">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<label for="email">Email Address *</label>
</td>
<td valign="top">
<input type="text" name="email" maxlength="80" size="30">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<label for="telephone">Telephone Number</label>
</td>
<td valign="top">
<input type="text" name="telephone" maxlength="30" size="30">
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top">
<label for="comments">Comments *</label>
</td>
<td valign="top">
<textarea name="comments" maxlength="1000" cols="25" rows="6"></textarea>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" style="text-align:center">
<br/>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
Here's MailHandler.php:
<?php
if(isset($_POST['email'])) {
// EDIT THE 2 LINES BELOW AS REQUIRED
$email_to = "mike#mikemarks.net";
$email_subject = "Your email subject line";
function died($error) {
// Your error code can go here
echo "We are very sorry, but there were error(s) found with the form you submitted. ";
echo "These errors appear below.<br /><br />";
echo $error."<br /><br />";
echo "Please go back and fix these errors.<br /><br />";
die();
}
// Validation expected data exists
if(!isset($_POST['first_name']) ||
!isset($_POST['last_name']) ||
!isset($_POST['email']) ||
!isset($_POST['telephone']) ||
!isset($_POST['comments'])) {
died('We are sorry, but there appears to be a problem with the form you submitted.');
}
$first_name = $_POST['first_name']; // Required
$last_name = $_POST['last_name']; // Required
$email_from = $_POST['email']; // Required
$telephone = $_POST['telephone']; // Not required
$comments = $_POST['comments']; // required
$error_message = "";
$email_exp = '/^[A-Za-z0-9._%-]+#[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,4}$/';
if(!preg_match($email_exp,$email_from)) {
$error_message .= 'The Email Address you entered does not appear to be valid.<br />';
}
$string_exp = "/^[A-Za-z .'-]+$/";
if(!preg_match($string_exp,$first_name)) {
$error_message .= 'The First Name you entered does not appear to be valid.<br />';
}
if(!preg_match($string_exp,$last_name)) {
$error_message .= 'The Last Name you entered does not appear to be valid.<br />';
}
if(strlen($comments) < 2) {
$error_message .= 'The Comments you entered do not appear to be valid.<br />';
}
if(strlen($error_message) > 0) {
died($error_message);
}
$email_message = "Form details below.\n\n";
function clean_string($string) {
$bad = array("content-type","bcc:","to:","cc:","href");
return str_replace($bad,"",$string);
}
$email_message .= "First Name: ".clean_string($first_name)."\n";
$email_message .= "Last Name: ".clean_string($last_name)."\n";
$email_message .= "Email: ".clean_string($email_from)."\n";
$email_message .= "Telephone: ".clean_string($telephone)."\n";
$email_message .= "Comments: ".clean_string($comments)."\n";
// Create email headers
$headers = 'From: '.$email_from."\r\n".
'Reply-To: '.$email_from."\r\n" .
'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion();
#mail($email_to, $email_subject, $email_message, $headers);
?>
<!-- Include your own success HTML here -->
Thank you for contacting us. We will be in touch with you very soon.
<?php
}
?>

Answer 1

The code looks legitimate. Ask if your host firm supports PHP-powered email...

Answer 2

I have used emails myself in PHP. The variables are automatically passed from my HTML file to what you are calling your mailHandler.php file. He is a sample of how I used the mail system. I hope it is helpful.
<?php
$to = $_POST['emailaddress'];
$subject = 'subject here';
$message = '<html><head><style type="text/css">Insert any css here</style></head><body>';
$message .= 'Any HTML like you were designing a standard screen display';
$from = 'emailaddress';
$headers = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n';
$headers .= "Content-type: text/html; charset=iso=8859-1' . "\r\n";
$headers .= "From: $email_from";
mail ($to,$subject,$message,$headers);
echo "<input type='button' value=\"Click to Close \" onclick=\"window.open('urlHere.php','_self');\" />";
?>
This is a simplistic version but it allows you to create/send an email that emulates a website within the email itself. Simply add any HTML code line by line inside the additional $message .= ' '; section.
I hope this was helpful. It is how I do emails.