Html5 contact form - issues with javascript and php validation - php

Question

Before I begin please except my appologises if this is to long, I'm totaly new to Html5 (usually design in Flash)and just getting started. I recently downloaded a free template called Brownie and understand most things but the contact form. It's using Javascript, PHP and Ajax I think. Ive got it kinda workin locally but things aren't working how I want. What I'm trying to do is make it validate fields with error message or success message e.t.c. this is the html form code I have:
<p class="required_info"><span>*</span> Required</p>
<!-- SUCCESS MESSAGE -->
<div class="success_box none"> Email successfully sent. Thank you! </div>
<!-- END SUCCESS MESSAGE -->
<!-- START CONTACT FORM -->
<form action="#" class="contact_form">
<p>
<label for="name">Name <span>*</span></label>
<input type="text" class="inputText" id="name" name="name" placeholder="Please enter your full name" pattern="[a-zA-Z ]+" onkeypress="return alpha(event,letters)" required minlength="5" maxlength="50" onpaste="return false;" tabindex="1"/>
<div class="success_title none"> You've entered your name. </div>
<div class="error_title none">* Please enter your full name. </div>
</p>
<div class="clear"></div>
<p>
<label for="company">Company </label>
<input type="text" class="inputText" id="company" name="company" placeholder="Company Name" minlength="3" maxlength="50" onpaste="return false;" tabindex="2"/>
</p>
<div class="clear"></div>
<p>
<label for="email">E-mail <span>*</span></label>
<input type="text" class="inputText" id="email" name="email" placeholder="Please enter a valid email address" required minlength="5" maxlength="50" onpaste="return false;" tabindex="3"/>
<div class="error_title none">* Please enter a valid email. </div>
</p>
<div class="clear"></div>
<p>
<label for="message">Message <span>*</span></label>
<textarea class="inputTextarea" cols="88" rows="6" id="message" name="message" placeholder="Please enter your message" required tabindex="4"></textarea>
<div class="error_title none">* Please enter your message. </div>
</p>
<div class="clear padding20"></div>
<p class="submit"><input type="reset" class="resetBtn button white" onclick="resetFields()" value="Reset" /> Send </p>
</form>
<!-- END CONTACT FORM -->
<!-- ERROR MESSAGE -->
<div class="error_box none"> Please complete all required fields [ highlighted in red ]. </div>
<!-- END ERROR MESSAGE -->
and this is the javascript code:
$(document).ready(function () {
$('#name').focus(function () {
$(this).removeClass('error_class');
});
$('#email').focus(function () {
$(this).removeClass('error_class');
});
$('#message').focus(function () {
$(this).removeClass('error_class');
});
$('.contact_form').submit(function () {
hasError = false;
if ($('#name').val() == '') {
$('#name').addClass('error_class');
hasError = true;
}
var emailReg = /^([\w-\.]+#([\w-]+\.)+[\w-]{2,4})?$/;
var emailaddressVal = $('#email').val();
if (emailaddressVal == '') {
$('#email').addClass('error_class');
hasError = true;
}
else if (!emailReg.test(emailaddressVal)) {
$('#email').addClass('error_class');
hasError = true;
}
if ($('#email').val() == '') {
$('#email').addClass('error_class');
hasError = true;
}
if ($('#message').val() == '') {
$('#message').addClass('error_class');
hasError = true;
}
if (hasError == true) {
$('.info_box').hide();
$('.error_box').show();
$('.error_title').show();
}
else {
$.ajax({
type: 'POST',
url: 'contact.php',
cache: false,
data: $(".contact_form").serialize(),
success: function (data) {
if (data == "error") {
$('.success_box').hide();
$('.success_title').hide();
$('.error_box').show();
$('.error_title').show();
}
else {
$('.error_box').hide();
$('.error_title').hide();
$('.success_box').show();
$('.success_title').hide();
$('.resetBtn').hide();
$('.submit').hide();
}
}
});
}
return false;
});
});
This is the PHP code:
<?php
$your_email = 'name#domain.com'; // Your email address
$subject = 'Email from your contact form'; // Email subject
$name = isset($_POST['name']) && $_POST['name'] ? $_POST['name'] : ''; // Visitor Name
$company = isset($_POST['company']) && $_POST['company'] ? $_POST['company'] : ''; // Visitor Company
$email = isset($_POST['email']) && $_POST['email'] ? $_POST['email'] : ''; // Visitor Email
$message = isset($_POST['message']) && $_POST['message'] ? $_POST['message'] : ''; // Visitor Message
$website = isset($_POST['website']) && $_POST['website'] ? $_POST['website'] : ''; // Visitor Message
$full_message = 'Website: '.$website. "\r\n\r\n Message:".$message;
if($name && $email && $message)
{
$headers = 'From: '.$name.' <'.$email.'>' . "\r\n" .
'Reply-To: '.$email.'' . "\r\n" .
'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion();
$headers .= 'Content-type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8' . "\r\n";
//------------------------------------------------
// Send out email to site admin
//------------------------------------------------
if(#mail($your_email, $subject, $full_message, $headers))
die("success");
else
die("error");
}
else
{
die("error");
}
?>
When the send button is pressed i want it to check if any data has been entered in each input field - if yes add success message if no add error message. I have the error message working but cant get the success message working on individual input fields. Any sugestions would be helpful...

Answer 1

I suspect it is because you are assigning true or false to each variable instead of the value of the variable in your php script. Isset($_POST[test]) is true, not the value of the test form value.