SeppeVerhavert / php-contact-form

Learn to process a contact form.

Php-contact-form

Learn to process a contact form in PHP.

Objectives

Your client would like you to make him a website with a few pages. One of the pages should actually contain a contact form, so that people can send him messages. Create a fully-functioning html contact form which will be processed by a php script. That form has to be validated by the W3C and follow the basics of Accessibility... Because the web is for everyone.

1. Backend: A basic but real-life form processing: sanitization > validation > execution > feedback
2. Backend: create a function that displays all error messages above the form
3. Git: useful Readme file
4. Backend : deploy on Heroku
5. (bonus) Backend: Use third-party dependencies (php classes)
6. (bonus) backend : Use of an external SMTP server to send emails

My solutions

Validation & Sanitation of user input

<?php
$errors  =  array();
$name  =  filter_var($_POST["name"],  FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);
$email  =  filter_var($_POST["email"],  FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL);
$message  =  filter_var($_POST["message"],  FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

if  (empty($name))  {
$errors['0']  =  "Please fill in your full name. <br>";
}  

if  (empty($email))  {
$errors['1']  =  "Please fill in your email-adress. <br>";
}  else  if  (!filter_var($email,  FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL))  {
$errors['3']  =  "This email-address is invalid. <br>";
}

if  (empty($message))  {
$errors['2']  =  "Please fill in a message. <br>";
}

Function displayErrorbox()

function  displayErrorbox() {
	if  (count($GLOBALS['errors'])  >  0  &&  count($GLOBALS['errors'])  <  3)  
	{ displayErrors(); }  
	else  if  (count($GLOBALS['errors'])  >=  3)  
	{ echo  ""; }  
	else  
	{ sendMail();}
}

Function displayErrors()

function  displayErrors() {
	for  ($x  =  0;  $x  <  4;  $x++)  {
		if  (!empty($GLOBALS['errors'][$x]))  {
			echo  "<li>";
			print_r($GLOBALS['errors'][$x]);
			echo  "</li>";
		}
	}
}

Evaluation

The evaluation method chosen is a self-evaluation based on the following indicators:

• When one submits the form, you receive an email with the form content to my email address
• Most PHP code is above the html doctype line
• All PHP variable names are explicit and consistently named
• PHP contents as little comments as possible, but as much as necessary
• DRY: repeated instructions are wrapped into custom PHP functions
• If one forgets the email address or the message, the proper feedback message is displayed and no email is sent
• If one enters an incorrectly formatted email message, the proper feedback message is displayed and no email is sent
• If there are more than one error, all error messages are displayed in one html (un)ordered list (above the first question in the form).
• If one enters some javascript code in any input field, the javascript is removed
• The HTML is valid html5, as per the W3C Validator
• The HTML is accessible, as per the Web Accessiblity Checker online tool.
• The Git Repository Readme file is useful (what / why / when / who / where)

Live Version

Send me a message here.

Dependencies & Credits

Image is taken from Dustin Lee on Unsplash

This site was made with:

(Composer)[https://getcomposer.org/]

(PHPMailer)[https://github.com/PHPMailer/PHPMailer]