Javascript Submit is not Sending POST to php file

Question

I am having trouble getting my javascript hyperlink button to post data to my php form email script. I have tried doing it several different ways, but nothing seems to work. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

My form code:

<form id="form" action="contactform.php" method="POST" enctype="text/plain" >
      <fieldset>
        <label><strong>Your Name:</strong><input id="name" type="text" name="name">       </label>
        <label><strong>Your Phone Number:</strong><input id="phone" type="text" name="phone"></label>
        <label><strong>Your E-mail:</strong><input id="email" type="text" name="email"></label>
        <label><strong>Your Message:</strong><textarea id="message" name="message"></textarea></label>
        <div class="btns"><a href="contacts.html" class="button">Clear</a><a href="#" onclick="document.getElementById('form').submit();" class="button">Send</a></div>
      </fieldset>  
    </form>

Contactform.php:

<?php

    var_dump($_POST);

    if (isset($_POST['form'])) {


    $name = $_POST['name'];
    $phone = $_POST['phone'];
    $visitor_email = $_POST['email'];
    $message = $_POST['message'];


    $email_from = 'emailaddress@gmail.com';
    $email_subject = "Contact Form Submission";
    $email_body = "Name: $name\n" . "Phone: $phone\n" . "Messge: $message";


    $to= 'emailaddress@gmail.com';
    $headers= "From: $email_from \r\n";
    $headers.= "Reply-To: $visitor_email \r\n";
    mail($to,$email_subject,$email_body,$headers);

    echo "Thank you for your interest. I will contact you shortly.";

    }else{
    echo "It didn't work.";
    }


    ?>

Also, I have the var_dump at the beginning of the php for debugging purposes only. Not going to be a part of the final code.

So what happens when you press the button? Does it go to your `contactform.php` at all? — Hanky Panky, Apr 05 '13 at 03:46
@DipeshParmar don't you have anything more constructive to do? — Timmerz, Apr 05 '13 at 03:50
Since so many answers have been posted, do not with to confuse OP by posting another. But the only problem with this code is this if: `isset($_POST['form']))` ; you should not check for form name to see if the post was made, that will never evaluate to true since form name is not submitted to be saved under `$_POST`. Simply change it to lets say `isset($_POST[name])) `. Plus look at the answer by @Sam — Hanky Panky, Apr 05 '13 at 04:01
Thank you, I will keep that in mind in the future. The isset($_POST['form')) code did work after I removed the enctype="text/plain". Is it just bad practice to do it that way? — mtrussell, Apr 06 '13 at 18:41

score 8 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:25

8

Remove enctype="text/plain" from the form tag, PHP doesn't support it.

See: method="post" enctype="text/plain" are not compatible?

edited May 23 '17 at 10:25

Community

1
1

answered Apr 05 '13 at 03:53

Sam

4,475
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Dipesh Parmar · Answer 2 · 2013-04-05T04:18:38.117

Just replace a tag as below.

<a href="Javascript:void(0);"

and also replace document.forms["myForm"].submit();

and add name="myForm" to your form.

Complete Code

<form id="form" action="contactform.php" method="POST" name="myForm">
    <fieldset>
        <label><strong>Your Name:</strong><input id="name" type="text" name="name">       </label>
        <label><strong>Your Phone Number:</strong><input id="phone" type="text" name="phone"></label>
        <label><strong>Your E-mail:</strong><input id="email" type="text" name="email"></label>
        <label><strong>Your Message:</strong><textarea id="message" name="message"></textarea></label>
        <div class="btns">
            <a href="contacts.html" class="button">Clear</a>
            <a href="Javascript:void(0)" onclick="document.forms['myForm'].submit();" class="button">Send</a></div>
    </fieldset>  
</form>

@DannyBeckett because its using anchor link and passing href to other page so click event will not work because it will redirect to href page.... — Dipesh Parmar, Apr 05 '13 at 03:49

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 05 '13 at 03:53

While I know this does not answer your question there is no reason to use Javascript for this purpose (in the example above) as the HTML input elements will handle both of these functions automatically.

<input type="reset" value="Clear" />
<input type="submit" value="Send" />

I would only work on doing something like this for validating data and then I'd use the onsubmit action of the form (returning false if validation fails).

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 05 '13 at 03:51

0

This will work:

<a href="#" onclick="document.form.submit();" class="button">Send</a>

You don't need to getElementById, you can simply reference it this way.

answered Apr 05 '13 at 03:51

ElefantPhace

3,806
3
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Timmerz · Answer 5 · 2013-04-05T04:30:10.717

I tested this and it works....

<html>
<body>
<form id="form" action="contactform.php" method="POST">
      <fieldset>
        <label><strong>Your Name:</strong><input name="name" type="text" name="name">       </label>
        <label><strong>Your Phone Number:</strong><input name="phone" type="text" name="phone"></label>
        <label><strong>Your E-mail:</strong><input name="email" type="text" name="email"></label>
        <label><strong>Your Message:</strong><textarea name="message" name="message"></textarea></label>
        <div class="btns"><a href="contacts.html" class="button">Clear</a><a href="#" onclick="document.forms[0].submit();" class="button">Send</a></div>
      </fieldset>  
    </form>
</body>
</html>


<?php

var_dump($_REQUEST);

echo  "<BR>";

foreach ( $_POST as $key => $value )
{
    echo $key . " " . "=" . " " . $value;
    echo  "<BR>";
}

?>

Some other tips for you to consider are:

don't use <strong>. instead use css classes as you did with the hyperlink. example label { font-weight:bold } or <label class='strong'>
consider using jquery and unobtrusive javascript. example $("form").first().on("submit",function...
don't apply the label over the input. simply close the label tag and then use the input, or use <label for="input1"> to match to an input and enable a checkbox when the text is clicked for example.
specify a name attribute as that is what is sent to the server on post...the id is for script referencing in the browser

Javascript Submit is not Sending POST to php file

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