How to display a message after form has successfully submitted

Question

I have a HTML form which is processed with PHP. I would like to display a message to let the user know that the form has submitted successfully. For now I don't mind if the page reloads or not. I would just like a 'Success!' message to appear once the form has been submitted.

Any help would be great!

PHP

<?php
$errors = array();
$missing = array();
if (isset($_POST['submit'])) {
    $to = 'celinehalpin@hotmail.com';
    $subject = 'Web Design';
    $expected = array('name', 'company', 'email', 'phone', 'contactYou', 'interest', 'budget', 'comments');
    $required = array('name', 'email', 'contactYou', 'interest', 'budget', 'comments');
    $headers = "From: webmaster@example.com\r\n";
    $headers .= "Content-type: text/plain; charset=utf-8";
    $authenticate = '-fcelinehalpin@hotmail.com';
    require './_includes/mail_process.php';
    if ($mailSent) {
        header('Location: index.php#c');
        exit;   
    }
}
?>

HTML

<div id="contactBox">

            <form name="contact" id="contactForm" method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>">
                <div id="formLeft">
                    <p>
                        <label for="name">Name</label>
                        <?php if ($missing && in_array('name', $missing)) { ?>
                        <div class="warningDivLeft">
                        <span class="warning">Please enter your name</span>
                        </div>                             
                        <?php } ?>
                        <input type="text" name="name" id="name" tabindex="10"
                        <?php
                        if ($errors || $missing) {
                            echo 'value="' . htmlentities($name, ENT_COMPAT, 'utf-8') . '"';
                        }
                        ?>      
                        >
                    </p>
                    <p>                           
                        <label for="company">Company Name/Website</label>
                        <input type="text" name="company" id="company" tabindex="30"
                        <?php
                        if ($errors || $missing) {
                            echo 'value="' . htmlentities($company, ENT_COMPAT, 'utf-8') . '"';
                        }
                        ?>      
                        >
                    </p>
                    <p>                           
                        <label for="email">Email</label>
                        <?php if ($missing && in_array('email', $missing)) { ?>
                        <div class="warningDivLeft">
                        <span class="warning">Please enter your email</span>
                        </div>
                        <?php } elseif (isset($errors['email'])) { ?>
                        <div class="warningDivLeft">
                        <span class="warning">Invalid email address</span>
                        </div>
                        <?php } ?>
                        <input type="email" name="email" id="email" tabindex="40"
                        <?php
                        if ($errors || $missing) {
                            echo 'value="' . htmlentities($email, ENT_COMPAT, 'utf-8') . '"';
                        }
                        ?>      
                        >
                    </p>
                    <p>                           
                        <label for="phone">Phone</label>
                        <input type="text" name="phone" id="phone" tabindex="50"
                        <?php
                        if ($errors || $missing) {
                            echo 'value="' . htmlentities($phone, ENT_COMPAT, 'utf-8') . '"';
                        }
                        ?>      
                        >
                    </p>
                    <p>                           
                        <label for="contactYou">Contact you by...</label>
                        <?php if ($missing && in_array('contactYou', $missing)) { ?>
                        <div class="warningDivLeft">
                        <span class="warning">Please select one</span>
                        </div>
                        <?php } ?>
                        <select name="contactYou" size="1" id="contactYou" tabindex="60">
                            <option value="" selected="selected">- select</option>
                            <option value="email" <?php echo ($contactYou == 'email') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; ?>>Email</option>
                            <option value="phone" <?php echo ($contactYou == 'phone') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; ?>>Phone</option>
                        </select>
                    </p> 
                </div>
                <div id="formRight">
                    <p>
                        <label for="interest">I am interested in...</label>
                        <?php if ($missing && in_array('interest', $missing)) { ?>
                        <div class="warningDiv">
                        <span class="warning">Please select one</span>
                        </div>
                        <?php } ?>
                        <select name="interest" size="1" id="interest" tabindex="80">
                            <option value="" selected="selected">- select</option>
                            <option value="new" <?php echo ($interest == 'new') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; ?>>Creating a new website</option>
                            <option value="current" <?php echo ($interest == 'current') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; ?>>Redesigning a current website</option>
                            <option value="responsive" <?php echo ($interest == 'responsive') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; ?>>Reponsive web design</option>
                            <option value="wordpress" <?php echo ($interest == 'wordpress') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; ?>>A WordPress website</option>
                            <option value="general" <?php echo ($interest == 'general') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; ?>>General enquiry</option>
                        </select>
                    </p>
                    <p>
                        <label for="budget">My budget is...</label>
                        <?php if ($missing && in_array('budget', $missing)) { ?>
                        <div class="warningDiv">
                        <span class="warning">Please select one</span>
                        </div>
                        <?php } ?>
                        <select name="budget" size="1" id="budget" tabindex="90">
                            <option value="" selected="selected">- select</option>
                            <option value="100" <?php echo ($budget == '100') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; ?>>€100 - €500</option>
                            <option value="500" <?php echo ($budget == '500') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; ?>>€500 - €1,000</option>
                            <option value="1000" <?php echo ($budget == '1000') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; ?>>€1,000 - €2,000</option>
                            <option value="2000" <?php echo ($budget == '2000') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; ?>>€2,000 - €5,000</option>
                            <option value="5000" <?php echo ($budget == '5000') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; ?>>€5,000 - €10,000</option>
                            <option value="10000" <?php echo ($budget == '10000') ? ' selected="selected"' : ''; ?>>€10,000+</option>
                        </select>
                    </p>
                    <p>
                        <label for="comments">How can I help you?</label>
                        <?php if ($missing && in_array('comments', $missing)) { ?>
                        <div class="warningDiv">
                        <span class="warning">Please leave a comment</span>
                        </div>
                        <?php } ?>
                        <textarea name="comments" id="comments" cols="45" rows="5" tabindex="100"><?php
                        if ($errors || $missing) {
                            echo htmlentities($comments, ENT_COMPAT, 'utf-8');
                        }
                        ?></textarea>
                    </p>
                </div>
                <div id="formSubmit">
                    <ul>
                        <li>
                          <input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="Send Message" tabindex="70">
                        </li>
                    </ul>
                </div>
                    </form>
        </div>

mail_process.php

<?php
$suspect = false;
$pattern = '/Content-Type:|Bcc:|Cc:/i';

function isSuspect($val, $pattern, &$suspect) {
    if (is_array($val)) {
        foreach ($val as $item) {
            isSuspect($item, $pattern, $suspect);   
        }
    } else {
        if (preg_match($pattern, $val)) {
            $suspect = true;    
        }
    }
}

isSuspect($_POST, $pattern, $suspect);

if (!$suspect) {
    foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
        $temp = is_array($value) ? $value : trim($value);
        if (empty($temp) && in_array($key, $required)) {
            $missing[] = $key;
            $$key = '';
        } elseif(in_array($key, $expected)) {
            $$key = $temp;
        }
    }
}

if (!$suspect && !empty($email)) {
    $validemail = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'email', FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL);
    if ($validemail) {
        $headers .= "\r\nReply-to: $validemail";
    } else {
        $errors['email'] = true;
    }
}

if (!$suspect && !$missing && !$errors) {
    $message = '';
    foreach ($expected as $item) {
        if (isset($$item) && !empty($$item)) {
            $val = $$item;
        } else {
            $val = 'Not selected';
        }
        if (is_array($val)) {
            $val = implode(', ', $val); 
        }
        $item = str_replace(array('_', '-'), ' ', $item);
        $message .= ucfirst($item) . ": $val\r\n\r\n";
    }
    $message = wordwrap($message, 70);

    $mailSent = mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers, $authenticate);
    if (!$mailSent) {
        $errors['mailfail'] = true;
    }
}

Answer 1

$_GET works, but it will always be present if they revisit the link in their history (clicking their history, browser back, or refresh)

You could set a $_SESSION upon success, then redirect to another page (e.g. thanks.php).

In thanks.php if session is set, and whatever criteria you wish, echo them out whatever message is relevant to the data in the session.

Then unset the session.

This way, if they click a link and come back to the thanks.php page, your script will show the session as not set, and so can produce a generic message:

This page is for confirmation of sending stuff. You're here as you refreshed the page or used your browser back button. As part of security procedures, we clear the data once sent and confirmed, etc

Refreshing the thanks.php, messing with GET data, etc, etc, will do nothing. The session is not set, they get the friendly generic message.

Answer 2

Instead of:

header('Location: index.php#c');

go to:

header('Location: ' . $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] . '?success=1');

then add:

if (isset($_GET['success'])) print 'Message sent!';

anywhere you want.