Execute a php function with field value after it has been entered - php

Question

I have a form that ask the email of the new user. I got a php function that can use this email to get informations (firstname, lastname, office, job...) using a cURL request and return it into an array ($full_informations).
I want this function to be executed after an email has been entered. For different reasons, I cannot directly add code to my form, so I need something can be read somewhere else in the body or the head.
I got this field that is automatically populated by a script:
<input onKeyPress="" class="editingSize " type="text" id="emails" name="emails" size="" value="" maxlength="150">
I want to be able to send the value of this field to a php function such as
$full_informations = get_more_info_from_mail($email)
then I could do something like
$firstname = $full_informations['firstname'];
$lastname = $full_informations['lastname'];
$job = $full_informations['job'];
//...
and make these variables automatically inserted in my mysql DB without asking the user to complete the form (I know how to make that part).
So, again, my question is, how can I get my function to be called with the value of the field after the user has entered an email?
I suppose I'll need some ajax request but I'm not familiar with those at all.

Answer 1

Are you using a mysql database. You can achieve this in php like this:
Put this at the beginning of you page
<?
if (isset($_POST['submit'])) {
$link = mysql_connect('localhost', 'mysql_user', 'mysql_password');
$mail = $_POST['mail'];
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE email = $mail");
$row = mysql_fetch_row($result);
$firstName = $row[0]; //FirstName
$lastName = $row[1]; //LastName
$job = $row[2]; //Job
}
?>
You html should look like this:
<form action="" method="POST">
<input type="text" name="mail" />
<input type="submit" value="submit" name="submit" />
</form>
Hope this helps!

Answer 2

With jquery:
<script type="text/javascript">
$(function() {
$('#emails').on('blur',function() {
$.post('/path/to/your/php.php',
{email: $('#emails').val()},
function(json) {
alert('responded with '+json.response);
});
});
});
</script>
Your php script should look like this:
<?php
$email = $_GET['email'];
// make sure you verify the email is in a correct format.
// save it to a database
//if it succeeds:
echo json_encode(array('response'=>'success'));
//if it fails:
echo json_encode(array('response'=>'failure'));