Posting multiple checkboxes using PHP and sending to an email

Question

I am fairly new with using PHP. I have a form that I am using to send a contact form form a webpage to an email address.

I am having trouble passing multiple checkboxes styled with a comma. For example, if the user picks checkbox1 and checkbox4, the code will be styled: checkbox1, , , checkbox4. I don't want to display the commas, unless the user picks the checkboxes. Let me know if that makes sense or not.

This is the HTML:

    


            
            



            
            



            Would you like to be contacted by:
            
            EMAIL
            
            PHONE NUMBER



            
            EVENT DATE:

            
            
            
            
            
            EVENT LOCATION:

            
            

            Services we may assist you with:


            
            
            PERSONAL CHEF

            
            PRIVATE COOKING CLASSES
            
            
            
            EVENT CATERING

            
            RESTERAUNT CONSULTING

This is my PHP:

    


Contact Details
First Name: '.$firstname.'
Last Name: '.$lastname.'
Email: '.$email.' 
Phone:  '.$phone.'
How Should We Contact You?  '.$contact_type.'
Event Date: '.$month.' / '.$day.' / '.$year.' 
Location:  '.$location.'
Which Services Are You Interested In?  '.$contact_type2.'
How Did You Hear About Us?  '.$heard.'
Comments:  '.$comments.'
Date:  '.date('d/m/Y').'
 ';


// Define email variables
$headers = "From:".$email."
";
$headers .= "Reply-to:".$email."
";
$headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=UTF-8';

if (! empty($how) || ! empty($how2)) {
if (! empty($services) || ! empty($services2) || ! empty($services3) || ! empty($services4)) {
if( ! empty($firstname) && ! empty($lastname) && ! empty($email) && ! empty($phone) && ! empty($month) && ! empty($day) && ! empty($year) && ! empty($location) && ! empty($heard) && ! empty($comments) ) {

// Sending Email 
if( mail($to, $subject, $content, $headers) ) {
print "Thank you, I will get back to you shortly!
";
return true;
}
else {
print "An error occured and your message could not be sent.";
return false;
}
}
else {
print "An error occured and your message could not be sent.";
return false;
}
}
}
}

EDIT:

After some research and the right guidance I came across an answer that helped me solve this. If anyone else is having the same problem feel free to refer to this.

     0){
    $selectedHow = implode(', ', $_POST['how']);
    }
$phone = stripslashes($_POST['phone']);
$month = stripslashes($_POST['month']);
$day = stripslashes($_POST['day']);
$year = stripslashes($_POST['year']);
$location = stripslashes($_POST['location']);
$services = 'None';
    if(isset($_POST['services']) && is_array($_POST['services']) && count($_POST['services']) > 0){
    $selectedServices = implode(', ', $_POST['services']);
    }
$heard = stripslashes($_POST['heard']);
$comments = stripslashes($_POST['comments']);

// Collecting all content in HTML Table
$content='
Contact Details
First Name:  '.$firstname.'
Last Name:  '.$lastname.'
Email:  '.$email.' 
Phone:   '.$phone.'
How Should We Contact You?   '.$selectedHow.'
Event Date:  '.$month.' / '.$day.' / '.$year.' 
Location:   '.$location.'
Which Services Are You Interested In?   '.$selectedServices.'
How Did You Hear About Us?   '.$heard.'
Comments:   '.$comments.'
Date:   '.date('d/m/Y').'
 ';


// Define email variables
$headers = "From:".$email."
";
$headers .= "Reply-to:".$email."
";
$headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=UTF-8';

if( ! empty($firstname) && ! empty($lastname) && ! empty($email) && ! empty($phone)  && ! empty($selectedHow) && ! empty($month) && ! empty($day) && ! empty($year) && ! empty($location) && ! empty($selectedServices) && ! empty($heard) && ! empty($comments) ) {

// Sending Email 
if( mail($to, $subject, $content, $headers) ) {
print "Thank you, I will get back to you shortly!
";
return true;
}
else {
print "Please go back and make sure that all fields have been filled out.";
return false;
}
}
else {
print "An error occured and your message could not be sent.";
return false;
}
}



        
        



        
        



        Would you like to be contacted by:
        
        EMAIL
        
        PHONE NUMBER



        
        EVENT DATE:

        
        
        
        
        
        EVENT LOCATION:

        
        

        Services we may assist you with:


        
        
        PERSONAL CHEF

        
        PRIVATE COOKING CLASSES
        
        
        
        EVENT CATERING

        
        RESTERAUNT CONSULTING

Peter · Accepted Answer

You need to have the name of those checkboxes as an array. Like:

Would you like to be contacted by:

EMAIL

PHONE NUMBER

Do same for services:


PERSONAL CHEF


PRIVATE COOKING CLASSES



EVENT CATERING

Then in your php:

$how = stripslashes($_POST['how']); 
// is actually an array and holds its values in a comma separated format
//no need for how2
//The same approach for services: it's also an array now. if you followed the html above 
$services = stripslashes($_POST['services']);

It will also be good if you assign different unique error messages unlike you did along

if( ! empty($firstname) && ! empty($lastname) && ! empty($email) && ! empty($phone)  && ! empty($how) && ! empty($month) && ! empty($day) && ! empty($year) && ! empty($location) && ! empty($services) && ! empty($heard) && ! empty($comments) ) {

// Sending Email 
if( mail($to, $subject, $content, $headers) ) {
print "Thank you, I will get back to you shortly!
";
return true;
}
else {
print "An error occured and your message could not be sent.";//here 1
return false;
}
}
else {
print "An error occured and your message could not be sent.";//here 2
return false;
}
}

You can then find out if it's the outer if( ! empty($firstname) && ... or the mail function that is failing

Posting multiple checkboxes using PHP and sending to an email

Answers (2)

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