Email Script/form With Php - how to make a simple email script using php

snlildude87

Apr 19 2005, 02:27 AM

Today, I'm going to show you how to make an email script using PHP and HTML. Most people usually put <a href="mailto:blahblah@blah.blah">Email me</a> if they want an email link on their site, but there are several cons to this.

First, it's very inconvenient for those people who use web-based mail such as Yahoo!, Hotmail, or Gmail because that darn Micro$oft Outlook program comes up if one accidently click the link.

Second, you are very suseptible to spam bots because they scan your HTML source code for anything with the same pattern as an email address and add it to their database. If you are pretty popular on Google, you can expect mails like "Unlimited Bandw1dth!!1" or "Cows F0und 1n 0utersp4ace!!" in your inbox soon.

The Tutorial

Make a new file called mail.php in Notepad and copy and paste the following code:

CODE

<html>
<head>
<title>My first email script</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
if($content)
{
$from = $_POST["from"]; //gets the name of the person
$email = $_POST["email"]; //gets their email address
$content = "This message is from $from whose email address is $email.\r\n-----------\r\n "; //little intro of your email message that you will see in your inbox
$content = $content . $_POST["content"]; //concatenates the intro with the real content
$content = wordwrap($content, 70); //message must be no longer than 70 characters per line (PHP rule), so we wrap it
mail('snlildude87@gmail.com', 'Someone Sent You Something!!!', $content); //first argument = your email address; second argument = subject of email (make it very catchy so you won't miss it); third argument = the content (DO NOT CHANGE THIS!!)
echo "Your message has been sent, and if I like you, then you will receive a reply. Thank you."; //what you want to tell the user after sending
}
?>
<form method="post" action="mail.php">
<p>Name: <input type="text" name="from" title="Your name"></p>
<p>Email: <input type="text" name="email"></p>
<p>Message: <textarea rows="5" cols="15" name="content"></textarea></p>
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
</body>
</html>

That's it! If you want to see the email script/form in action, I have set one up on my site here: http://sang.trap17.com/aboutme.htm

Also, when someone sends you something with my script, you have to manually type in their email address. So after someone sends you a message, you will get the following in your email:

QUOTE

This message is from [the person's name] whose email address is [their email address].
-----------
[content of message]

You will have to copy whatever their email address is, and go to Compose in your mail provider to send them a reply. It's a hassle, but I promise, it won't take more than 1 minute.

If you have any questions, concerns, comments, or ideas, feel free to post them below. Thanks and good luck!!

scab_dog

Apr 19 2005, 04:06 AM

This is great, YDA snill, I was looking for one like this for ages!!

leiaah

Apr 19 2005, 05:47 AM

I've been looking for this! There's one in the trap17 cpanel called mailform/formail but I can't follow the instructions so thanks!

Spectre

Apr 19 2005, 06:54 AM

Just for the record, you can include extra headers as the fourth argument. One that you might want to take particular note of is the 'From:' header - if it is not specified, the mail will be sent from the server's default email address.

In this case, the best choice would probably be to use the values entered as the users' name and email. For example:

CODE

mail(
'snlildude87@gmail.com',
'Someone Sent You Something!!!',
$content,
"From: $from <$email>"
);

boyCradle

Apr 19 2005, 09:49 AM

wow! this is nice, i always have problems with that mailto: codes at html. this will be helpful for those internet users not using Microsoft outlook. it is very anoying when the Outlook window comes out everytime i click the mailto links at websites. thanks

hype

Apr 19 2005, 10:04 AM

Wow, we can place it at any part of the website as long as its with the <? php ?> tag right?

snlildude87

Apr 19 2005, 11:15 AM

QUOTE(hype @ Apr 19 2005, 07:04 AM)

Wow, we can place it at any part of the website as long as its with the <? php ?> tag right?

Well, yes. Only this part is the PHP code (this is the part you put in between the <?php ?>:

CODE

if($content)
{
$from = $_POST["from"]; //gets the name of the person
$email = $_POST["email"]; //gets their email address
$content = "This message is from $from whose email address is $email.\r\n-----------\r\n "; //little intro of your email message that you will see in your inbox
$content = $content . $_POST["content"]; //concatenates the intro with the real content
$content = wordwrap($content, 70); //message must be no longer than 70 characters per line (PHP rule), so we wrap it
mail('snlildude87@gmail.com', 'Someone Sent You Something!!!', $content); //first argument = your email address; second argument = subject of email (make it very catchy so you won't miss it); third argument = the content (DO NOT CHANGE THIS!!)
echo "Your message has been sent, and if I like you, then you will receive a reply. Thank you."; //what you want to tell the user after sending
}
?>

The rest is all HTML. You can, of course, always convert HTML to PHP...

I hope that answered your question.

Carsten

Apr 19 2005, 12:00 PM

Unfortunately you might need to include more headers other then the From header if you want to send e-mail to big free e-mail providers like Hotmail. The mail() function has the syntax of mail($to, $subject, $content, $headers). To add some more required headers, just add a comma after $content and add a variable $headers. Then, fill the variable $headers with something like this:

CODE

$headers = "MIME-Version: 1.0\n"; // don't change
$headers .= "Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1\n"; // don't change
$headers .= "X-Priority: 1\n"; // don't change
$headers .= "X-MSMail-Priority: High\n"; // don't change
$headers .= "X-Mailer: php\n"; // change php in what you like
$headers .= "From: \"" . $from . "\" <" . $email . ">\n";
$headers .= "Reply-To: \"". $from ."\" <". $email .">\n";

Now you don't even have to copy/paste the users e-mail adress, you can directly click reply and send them an e-mail.

To make it clear, replace

CODE

mail('snlildude87@gmail.com', 'Someone Sent You Something!!!', $content);

with

CODE

mail('snlildude87@gmail.com', 'Someone Sent You Something!!!', $content, $headers);

and put all the $headers in front of that.

Newton

Apr 19 2005, 07:34 PM

I'd just like to add that mail headers should use \r\n line breaks, as per RFC 2822 section 2.1.

Also if you want something more 'complicated', use PHPMailer.

hype

Apr 20 2005, 07:35 AM

I believe you have to replace this as well

CODE

mail('snlildude87@gmail.com', 'Someone Sent You Something!!!', $content);

CODE

mail('youremail@yourdomain.com', 'Someone Sent You Something!!!', $content);

Latest Entries

farsiscript

May 28 2006, 05:11 PM

hi all, good job
i write this script at hotscript ::
http://www.hotscripts.com/Detailed/59330.html

* thi script has 4 file :

config.php :

CODE

<?php
$email="admin@fascript.com";
// Type Your email address here
$thxemial="Thank Your for Sending Email to Us";
//Your thanks Note
?>

mail.php:

CODE

<?php
include ("config.php");
$sub = $_POST['sub'];
$text = $_POST['text'];
$memail = $_POST['memail'];
mail($email, $sub, $text ,"From: $memail \nReply-To: $memail");
mail($memail, $sub, $thxemial,"From: $email \nReply-To: $email");
?>

Send.htm

CODE

<html>

<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
<title>Your Email Address</title>
</head>

<body>

<form method="POST" name="mail" action="mail.php">
    <p><font face="Verdana" style="font-size: 8pt">Your Email Address </font></p>
    <p><input type="text" name="memail" size="20"></p>
    <p><font face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 8pt">Your Mail Subject</span></font></p>
    <p><input type="text" name="sub" size="20"></p>
    <p><font face="Verdana" style="font-size: 8pt">Your Mail Body</font></p>
    <p><textarea rows="2" name="text" cols="20"></textarea></p>
    <p><input type="submit" value="Send Email" name="Submit"></p>
</form>

</body>

</html>

Readme and install :
install ::
1 - open config.php by notepad and wirte your email address at line 2
2 - write your thanks note at line 4
3 - Save config.php and close
4 - Make one form by this code ::
<form method="POST" name="mail" action="mail.php">
<p><font face="Verdana" style="font-size: 8pt">Your Email Address </font></p>
<p><input type="text" name="memail" size="20"></p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><span style="font-size: 8pt">Your Mail Subject</span></font></p>
<p><input type="text" name="sub" size="20"></p>
<p><font face="Verdana" style="font-size: 8pt">Your Mail Body</font></p>
<p><textarea rows="2" name="text" cols="20"></textarea></p>
<p><input type="submit" value="Send Email" name="Submit"></p>
</form>
5 - and enjoy it

Copyright ::
www.fascript.com
You can find next version of this script at http://famail.fascript.com
if you have question about this script you can send email

I Hope trap17 Members enjoy this script

sasuke13

May 28 2006, 04:25 PM

Wow man great thx for giving me this script i was really searching for this script from so many days. I had searched google, yahoo etc... but none of them worked. But i found one in google but that script used to send the mail from contact form after few hours or so...... Those scripts lack, but urs is good script man. Please kepp posting the scripts for many programs and also i want the script for posting a google adsense banner on my forums pages, if you know the script please kindly let me know about this to me as soon as possible.

True2Earn

May 21 2006, 09:15 AM

I think I overlooked something. Add the following to the thankyou.php right after the <body> tag

CODE

<?
$ip = $_POST['ip'];
$httpref = $_POST['httpref'];
$httpagent = $_POST['httpagent'];
$visitor = $_POST['visitor'];
$visitormail = $_POST['visitormail'];
$notes = $_POST['notes'];
$attn = $_POST['attn'];
?>

and it should fix a few things.

EDIT: Here is a better example of the contact form in action at my main site True2Earn.com. Sometimes, simplicity is the best way as this example shows. Plus, I set it to open in a new window and not directly on the page. One of those little "tricks" to keep people on your website

AnGeL KiSS

May 21 2006, 06:22 AM

Wow this is useful, I tried it and it works, thought I don't get how I'm gonna have a hidden thing in the form (the subject) but it doesn't show in the Email.

True2Earn

May 21 2006, 03:35 AM

Here's another way of having a feedback form on your website. This is the method I use since it works great and, I guess you can say, professional. What I do is create a page, such as contact.php and a page, such as thankyou.php. I will break it down into the bare essentials for you and you can modify it to match your own site. Oh, it also checks for a valid email address as well as a drop down box for the subject field of the email.

contact.php

CODE

<html>
<head><title>Feedback Form</title></head>
<body>
<h3 align=center>Write to us!</h3><br><br>
<FORM action=thankyou.php method=post>
<?
    $ipi = getenv("REMOTE_ADDR");
    $httprefi = getenv ("HTTP_REFERER");
    $httpagenti = getenv ("HTTP_USER_AGENT");
?>
    <INPUT type=hidden value="<?php echo $ipi ?>" >
    <INPUT type=hidden value="<?php echo $httprefi ?>" >
    <INPUT type=hidden value="<?php echo $httpagenti ?>" >
    Your Name:<BR><INPUT size=35 name=visitor><BR>
    Your Email:<BR><INPUT size=35 name=visitormail <BR><BR><BR>
    Attention:<BR>
    <SELECT size=1 name=attn>
        <OPTION value=" General Support " selected>General Support</OPTION>
        <OPTION value=" Refunds ">Refunds</OPTION>
        <OPTION value=" Webmaster ">Webmaster</OPTION>
    </SELECT><BR><BR>
    Mail Message:<BR><TEXTAREA name=notes rows=4 cols=40></TEXTAREA><BR>
    <INPUT type=submit value="Send Mail"><BR>
</FORM>
</body>
</html>

After the email is typed up and ready to be sent, the user clicks on the Send Mail button and are taken to the thankyou.php page. The script makes sure all fields are filled out. The only place in the script that needs to be edited is clearly marked.

CODE

<html>
<head><title>Thank You For Your Feedback!</title></head>
<body>
    <h3 align=center>
        Thank you for your feedback.<br>
        We value your input.<br>
        We will get back to you as soon as possible!
    </h3><br>
    <?
        if(!$visitormail == "" && (!strstr($visitormail,"@") || !strstr($visitormail,".")))
        {
            echo "<h2>Use Back Button - Enter a valid e-mail</h2>\n";
            $badinput = "<h2>Feedback was NOT submitted</h2>\n";
        }
        if(empty($visitor) || empty($visitormail) || empty($notes ))
        {
            echo "<h2>Use Back Button - make sure you fill in all fields</h2>\n";
        }
        echo $badinput;
        $todayis = date("l, F j, Y, g:i a");
        $attn = $attn;
        $subject = $attn;
        $notes = stripcslashes($notes);
        $message = " $todayis [EST] \n
        Attention: $attn \n
        Message: $notes \n
        From: $visitor ($visitormail)\n
        Additional Info : IP = $ip \n
        Browser Info: $httpagent \n
        Referral : $httpref \n";
        $from = "From: $visitormail\r\n";
        mail("you@yourdomain.com", $subject, $message, $from); //CHANGE THIS TO YOUR EMAIL
    ?>
    <P align=center>
        Date: <?php echo $todayis ?><BR>
        Thank You : <?php echo $visitor ?> ( <?php echo $visitormail ?> )<BR>
        Your message has been sent.<BR>We will be in touch shortly.<BR><BR>
        Attention: <?php echo $attn ?><BR>
        Message:<BR><?php $notesout = str_replace("\r", "<br/>", $notes);
        echo $notesout; ?><BR>
        <?php echo $ip ?>
    </P>
</body>
</html>

And there you have a complete emailing systen in php for your website. Feel free to modify it any way you see fit. You can even copy the above code and save it in two files, one named contact.php and one named thankyou.php and change the one line to your email address and it will work "right out of the box." One of the features of the thankyou page is it informs the sender that the email has been sent as well as displaying their name, date, subject of the email, text of the message sent and their IP address. I hope you find this code useful.

EDIT: I forgot to add, you can see this script in action at Everything For Free.

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