Handling several input fields in html form with AJAX and PHP

Question

I have this form but I am getting the http_bad_response (400) when trying to test it. Can somebody throw some light on this?

I am new in this field and trying to improve still. Also, I would like to know if the radio inputs should be treated different when trying to catch them in the PHP script.

HTML form:

PHP:

// Only process POST reqeusts.
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
    // Get the form fields and remove whitespace.
    $name = strip_tags(trim($_POST["name"]));
    $name = str_replace(array("
","
"),array(" "," "),$name);
    $email = filter_var(trim($_POST["email"]), FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL);
    $mensaje = trim($_POST["mensaje"]);
    $phone = trim($_POST["phone"]);
    $dim = trim($_POST["dim"]);
    $ciudad = trim($_POST["ciudad"]);
    $poblacion = trim($_POST["poblacion"]);
    $viviendas = trim($_POST["viviendas"]);
    $garajes = trim($_POST["garajes"]);
    $trasteros = trim($_POST["trasteros"]);
    $locales = trim($_POST["locales"]);
    $ascensores = trim($_POST["ascensores"]);
    $asunto = trim($_POST["asunto"]);
    $ozc = trim($_POST["ozc"]);

    // Check that data was sent to the mailer.
    if ( empty($name) OR empty($message) OR !filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
        // Set a 400 (bad request) response code and exit.
        http_response_code(400);
        echo "Oops! There was a problem with your submission. Please complete the form and try again.";
        exit;
    }

    // Set the recipient email address.
    $recipient = "mdrr5545@gmail.com";

    // Set the email subject.
    $subject = "New contact from $name";

    // Build the email content.
    $email_content = "Name: $name
";
    $email_content .= "Email: $email

";
    $email_content .= "Message:
$message
";

    // Build the email headers.
    $email_headers = "From: $name <$email>";

    // Send the email.
    if (mail($recipient, $subject, $email_content, $email_headers)) {
        // Set a 200 (okay) response code.
        http_response_code(200);

        echo "Thank You! Your message has been sent.";              

    } else {
        // Set a 500 (internal server error) response code.
        http_response_code(500);
        echo "Oops! Something went wrong and we couldn't send your message.";
    }
}
else {
    // Not a POST request, set a 403 (forbidden) response code.
    http_response_code(403);
    echo "There was a problem with your submission, please try again.";
}

Don&#39;t Panic · Accepted Answer

Since you are returning your own http status codes, when you see 400 it could mean either a real 400, ie Apache saying there is a client data error, or it could be your own PHP code returning 400.

So, let's look at the 2nd case first. The PHP code would returns 400 in this case:

if (empty($name) OR empty($message) OR !filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {

Scanning through the code, $message is not defined, and it will always be null. That means empty($message) will always be true, and that whole test will always be true. So, you'll always see a 400 response.

Notes:

The form HTML is invalid, there is an unbalanced
. You can use a validator to check, eg https://validator.w3.org/, or if you use an IDE they will help.
I don't think it is a good idea to return http error codes like this, for 2 reasons. Firstly, you can't tell if it is a real 400 error, or just something your code is doing, making debugging and maintenance harder. Secondly, this is not a 400 response according to the spec. The request succeeded, with a completely valid payload - it is just that your application rejects it. 400 should mean something technically wrong, at the network/data layer.

Handling several input fields in html form with AJAX and PHP

Answers (1)

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