PHP not working in contact us form - php

Question

I am just a beginner with PHP & Html. I have seen many questions on SO related to this, but somehow cannot fix a very simple looking problem at my end. So, kindly help.
The following code does not seem to be working. There is always a message "There seems to be a problem right now. Please try again after sometime" before the form when I run this code. Whether I press the submit button or not, it does not make any difference.
<h2 >Inquiry form</h2>
<?php
if (isset($_POST['submit'])){
echo "Thank You!";
}
else {
echo "There seems to be a problem right now. Please try again after sometime";
}
?>
<form name="input" method="POST" action="contact.php">
<label for="Name">Name (required):</label>
<br />
<input type="text" name="Name" />
<br />
<div class="clear"></div>
<label for="inputmail">Email(required):</label>
<br />
<input type="text" name="email" />
<br />
<div class="clear"></div>
<label for="inputtelefon">Phone:</label>
<br />
<input type="text" name="phone" />
<br />
<div class="clear"></div>
<label for="inputmessage">Message:</label>
<br/>
<textarea name="message" cols="28" rows="3" ></textarea>
<div class="clear"></div>
<div id="send">
<input type="submit" value=" Submit " />
<input type="reset" value=" Clear " />
</div>
</form>
Changed code:
<h2 >Inquiry form</h2>
<?php
if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST') {
//if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST') { This is not working as well
echo "Thank You!";
}
else {
echo "There seem to be a problem right now. Please try again after sometime";
}
?>
<form name="input" method="POST" action="contact.php">
<label for="Name">Name (required):</label>
<br />
<input type="text" name="Name" />
<br />
<div class="clear"></div>
<label for="inputmail">Email(required):</label>
<br />
<input type="text" name="email" />
<br />
<div class="clear"></div>
<label for="inputtelefon">Phone:</label>
<br />
<input type="text" name="phone" />
<br />
<div class="clear"></div>
<label for="inputmessage">Message:</label>
<br/>
<textarea name="message" cols="28" rows="3" ></textarea>
<div class="clear"></div>
</div>
<div id="send">
<input type="submit" value=" Submit " name="submit"/>
</div>
</form>

Answer 1

That's because your submit button does not have a name:
<input type="submit" value=" Submit " name="submit"/>
Edit
Based on the comment of RandomCoder (in Marc B's answer).
Found this similar question: isset($_POST['submit']) vs $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']=='POST'

Answer 2

Invalid method of checking for a submission. Never check for the presence/absence of a form field. It's unreliable. You might change the field name, but forget to update the PHP. Use this instead:
if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST') {
...
}
it's 100% reliable and will always be "true" if a POST was performed.

Answer 3

Take a look at your updated if statement. It is saying: if the form has been submitted then show "thank you", if the form hasn't been submitted then show "there seems to be a problem".
That's the reason you're always seeing "there seems to be a problem", because when you view the form without submitting it, the else block of your if statement fires.
You should remove the else block because it doesn't make any sense, so it becomes:
if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST') {
// form has been submitted, handle the data and say thanks...
echo "Thank You!";
}
Using this method instead of checking for the submit button is better because Internet Explorer will not send the submit button as a post variable if the user pressed the enter key to submit the form.
More info - Why isset($_POST['submit']) is bad.

Answer 4

There is Only one reasons which I see i.e. you have not defined the name submit to any variable. There are two ways to find the submitting form as:
Either change:
<input type="submit" value=" Submit " />
to
<input type="submit" value=" Submit " name="submit"/>
or add the extra line to do things something like this
<input type = "hidden" name="passed" />
and to check
<?php
if (isset($_POST['passed'])){
echo "Thank You!";
}else {
echo "There seems to be a problem right now. Please try again after sometime";
}
?>