Contact form using PHP mail() responds with 500 error

Question

I'm trying to get a contact form using ajax and PHP to work but I'm getting a 500 error response every time. PHP isn't my strong point and I've spent hours trying to find the error in my code as I know there must be one. I've even tried linters but they're telling me it's all good.

JS

$(function() {
   // Get the form.
   var form = $('#ajax-contact');
   // Get the response messages div.
   var formMessages = $('#form-messages');

   // Set up an event listener for the contact form.
   $(form).submit(function(event) {
       // Stop the browser from submitting the form.
       event.preventDefault();

       // Serialize the form data.
       var formData = $(form).serialize();

        // Submit the form using AJAX.
        $.ajax({
           type: 'POST',
           url: $(form).attr('action'),
           data: formData
        })
        .done(function(response) {
           // Make sure that the form-messages div has the 'success' class.
           $(formMessages).removeClass('error');
           $(formMessages).addClass('success');

           // Set the message text.
           $(formMessages).text('Message sent. Expect a reply within 24 hours!');

           // Clear the form.
           $('#name').val('');
           $('#email').val('');
           $('#company').val('');
           $('#message').val('');
        })
        .fail(function(data) {
           // Make sure that the formMessages div has the 'error' class.
           $(formMessages).removeClass('success');
           $(formMessages).addClass('error');

           // Set the message text if there's a respone
           if (data.responseText !== '') {
              $(formMessages).text(data.responseText);
           } else {
              $(formMessages).text('Oops! An error occured and your message could not be sent.');
           }
        });
   });
});

PHP

<?php
// Only process POST reqeusts.
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
    // Get the form fields and remove whitespace.
    $name = strip_tags(trim($_POST["name"]));
        $name = str_replace(array("\r","\n"),array(" "," "),$name);
    $email = filter_var(trim($_POST["email"]), FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL);
    $company = strip_tags(trim($_POST["company"]));
        $company = str_replace(array("\r","\n"),array(" "," "),$company);
    $message = trim($_POST["message"]);

    // 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 "There was a problem with your submission. Please complete the form and try again.";
        exit;
    }

    // Set the recipient email address.
    $recipient = "jacob@business.co.uk";

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

    // Build the email content.
    $email_content = "Name: $name\n";
    $email_content .= "Email: $email\n";
    $email_content .= "Company: $company\n\n";
    $email_content .= "Message:\n$message\n";

    // 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 "Something went wrong and your message couldn't be sent.";
    }

} 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.";
}
?>

@Fred-ii- I've attempted the view the logs but when I go to Status > Monitor In PHPMyAdmin I don't have privileges to enable the slow query log and general log. Is there another way to see the logs? — Jacob Banner, Jun 26 '17 at 00:22
You need to check your HTTP server's error log, not MySQL. Also, try adding `var_dump(error_get_last());` into the `else` block where you have `http_response_code(500)` — Phil, Jun 26 '17 at 00:23
Server logs are usually saved somewhere around /var/logs (depending on you system) - if it is a shared host try to find the logs in your admin panel — lumio, Jun 26 '17 at 00:25
Giving this all a look now, adding `var_dump(error_get_last());` produced NULL though which I find odd. I'll keep looking into this, thanks — Jacob Banner, Jun 26 '17 at 00:34

lumio · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-26T00:29:14.807

In your code example you have a line saying

if (mail($recipient, $subject, $email_content, $email_headers)) {

And in case mail returns false it jumps down to the else statement saying this:

// Set a 500 (internal server error) response code.
http_response_code(500);
echo "Something went wrong and your message couldn't be sent.";

I guess that your server doesn't have sendmail set up.

Try reading the server logs if you have access and/or use var_dump (or xdebug if you know how to use that) and print out your parameters like so:

if (mail($recipient, $subject, $email_content, $email_headers)) {
  // ...
}
else {
    var_dump( error_get_last() );
    var_dump( $recipient );
    var_dump( $subject );
    var_dump( $email_content );
    var_dump( $email_headers );
}

I'll give that all a go, the linked topic really helps, thanks so much! — Jacob Banner, Jun 26 '17 at 00:33

Contact form using PHP mail() responds with 500 error

1 Answers1