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Changes to hosting company's server has affected web contact form

Posted on 16th Feb 2014 07:03 pm by admin

I started a thread a couple of months ago about the contact forms on my client's website. Basically he wants me to overhaul the SEO on his site. However, there were problems with the PHP contact forms and I had to try to rectify them.

I have no experience in PHP coding so I turned to this forum for advice on fixing the problem. A few of the members kindly helped me out and I managed to fix the problem and get the contact forms to work. Here is the thread if anyone is interested:

http://www.phpfreaks.com/forums/index.php/topic,271795.msg1283238.html#msg1283238

Since then the hosting company has made changes to their system "to prevent spammer mass mailing." These changes mean that enquiries are being blocked if the user has a certain email address. Namely Yahoo, Hotmail, Google, AOL or FSnet. There may be more but those are the five I'm aware of.

The hosting company say an extra variable has to be added in the code to rectify this. They provided the following example on their website:

QuotePHP send mail scripts - Update. Possibly one of the most popular ways to send a form submission is the use of the PHP mail function. Due to a recent server update customers who choose to use this method will need to include an extra variable in their code.

What needs to be included is;

1. A variable that tells the script where the email is being sent from; For example; $SendEmail ="enquire@domainname.com";
2. Adding this variable onto the end of the mail() function. Below is a very basic php script, I have included the extra entries in italic.

$nameField = $_POST['name'];
$emailField = $_POST['email'];
$SendEmail ="enquiry@domainname.com";
$body = <<< EOD

Name: $nameField
Email: $emailField
EOD;

$headers = "From: $emailFieldrn";
$headers .= "Content-type: text/htmlrn";
$sucess = mail($webMaster, $emailSubject, $headers, $body, '-f'.$SendEmail);

The important part here is the '-f'.$SendEmail at the end of the mail() function. The '-f' although not a php command is a sendmail parameter that is telling our mailserver the mail is being sent from the $SendEmail address and nowhere else.

This is the relevant code from one of the contact forms on my client's site:

Code: <?php

if($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST') {

$name = $_POST['name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$phone = $_POST['phone'];
$mobphone = $_POST['mobphone'];
$town = $_POST['town'];
$county = $_POST['county'];
$voucher = $_POST['voucher'];
$propertyvalue = $_POST['propertyvalue'];
$mortgagetype = $_POST['mortgagetype'];
$hours1 = $_POST['hours1'];
$minutes1 = $_POST['minutes1'];
$date1 = $_POST['date1'];
$hours2 = $_POST['hours2'];
$minutes2 = $_POST['minutes2'];
$date2 = $_POST['date2'];
$info = $_POST['info'];

$sendemail = "Name: $name
Email address: $email
Phone number: $phone
Mobile number: $mobphone
Town: $town
County: $county
Voucher: $voucher
Purchase price / Property value: £$propertyvalue
Mortgage type: $mortgagetype
Callback 1: $hours1:$minutes1 - $date1
Callback 2: $hours2:$minutes2 - $date2

Extra info:
$info";
$subject = "Mortgage call back request from company x";
$mailheaders = "From:$emailn";
$mailheaders .= "Reply-To:$emailn";
$message="".stripslashes($message);
$subject=stripslashes($subject);
mail("info@companyx.co.uk",$subject,$sendemail,$mailheaders);
$status = "<span style="color:red;"><strong>Your call back request has been sent successfully.</strong><br />Thank you for contacting us. We aim to get back to you as you have specified.</span>";

}
?>


<h1>Company X Mortgages</h1>

<div class="maincont">

<? if ($status) { print "$status<br /><br /><br />n"; } ?>

<h2><strong>Local advice - It's never been so important.</strong></h2>


Speak to a qualified financial adviser in North Norfolk, South Norfolk, West Norfolk or North Suffolk.


Save money - Find the mortgage deal that's best for you.



Free Advice - Leaving you to choose your mortgage lender.



<h2>Request a Call Back</h2>


Please request a time you would like an adviser to call. We aim to return calls within one hour.




<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
function checkform() {
if (document.callback.hours1.value == '') { alert('Please enter a call back time'); return false; }
else if (document.callback.minutes1.value == '') { alert('Please enter a call back time'); return false; }
else if (document.callback.date1.value == '') { alert('Please enter a call back date'); return false; }
else if (document.callback.email.value == '') { alert('Please enter your email address'); return false; }
else if (document.callback.phone.value == '') { alert('Please enter your phone number'); return false; }
return true;
}
</script>
<form id="callback" name="callback" method="post" action="mortgages.php" style="display:inline;" onSubmit="return checkform()">
Your first choice:

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="datetimepicker.js"></script>
<select name="hours1" id="hours1">
<option value="" selected>--</option>
<option value="08">08</option>
<option value="09">09</option>
<option value="10">10</option>
<option value="11">11</option>
<option value="12">12</option>
<option value="13">13</option>
<option value="14">14</option>
<option value="15">15</option>
<option value="16">16</option>
<option value="17">17</option>
<option value="18">18</option>
<option value="19">19</option>
<option value="20">20</option>
<option value="21">21</option>
</select>:<select name="minutes1" id="minutes1">
<option value="" selected>--</option>
<option value="00">00</option>
<option value="05">05</option>
<option value="10">10</option>
<option value="15">15</option>
<option value="20">20</option>
<option value="25">25</option>
<option value="30">30</option>
<option value="35">35</option>
<option value="40">40</option>
<option value="45">45</option>
<option value="50">50</option>
<option value="55">55</option>
</select>
<input name="date1" type="text" id="date1" size="10" />
<a href="javascript:NewCal('date1','ddmmyyyy')"><img src="cal.gif" width="16" height="16" border="0" alt="Pick a date"></a> *



Your second choice:<br />
<select name="hours2" id="hours2">
<option value="--" selected>--</option>
<option value="08">08</option>
<option value="09">09</option>
<option value="10">10</option>
<option value="11">11</option>
<option value="12">12</option>
<option value="13">13</option>
<option value="14">14</option>
<option value="15">15</option>
<option value="16">16</option>
<option value="17">17</option>
<option value="18">18</option>
<option value="19">19</option>
<option value="20">20</option>
<option value="21">21</option>
</select>:<select name="minutes2" id="minutes2">
<option value="--" selected>--</option>
<option value="00">00</option>
<option value="05">05</option>
<option value="10">10</option>
<option value="15">15</option>
<option value="20">20</option>
<option value="25">25</option>
<option value="30">30</option>
<option value="35">35</option>
<option value="40">40</option>
<option value="45">45</option>
<option value="50">50</option>
<option value="55">55</option>
</select>
<input name="date2" type="text" id="date2" size="10" />
<a href="javascript:NewCal('date2','ddmmyyyy')"><img src="cal.gif" width="16" height="16" border="0" alt="Pick a date"></a>



Your name:

<input name="name" type="text" id="name" size="30" />



Your email address:

<input name="email" type="text" id="email" size="30" /> *



Your home phone number:

<input name="phone" type="text" id="phone" size="30" /> *



Your mobile phone number:

<input name="mobphone" type="text" id="mobphone" size="30" />



Your town:

<input name="town" type="text" id="town" size="30" />



Your county:

<input name="county" type="text" id="county" size="30" />



Voucher Code:

<input name="voucher" type="text" id="voucher" size="30" />



Mortgage amount:

&pound; <input name="propertyvalue" type="text" id="propertyvalue" size="25" />



Type of mortgage required:

<select name="mortgagetype" id="mortgagetype">
<option selected>Select One</option>
<option>-------------</option>
<option value="Remortgage">Remortgage</option>
<option value="Repayment">Repayment</option>
<option value="First time buyer">First time buyer</option>
<option value="Sert cert">Self cert</option>
<option value="Buy to Let">Buy to Let</option>
<option value="Interest Only">Interest Only</option>
<option value="Commercial">Commercial</option>
<option value="Let to Buy">Let to Buy</option>
<option value="Fast Track">Fast Track</option>
<option value="Holiday Let">Holiday Let</option>
<option value="Self Build">Self Build</option>
<option value="Renovation">Renovation</option>
<option value="Property Conversion">Property Conversion</option>
</select>



Different requirements:

<span style="font-size:12px;">If the service your require is not on the drop down list above, please describe it in the box below:</span>

<textarea name="info" cols="50" rows="5" id="info"></textarea>




<input type="submit" name="button" id="button" value="Confirm Call Back" />
</form>




Required fields are marked with a *</div>

Is there any way this code can be slightly tweaked to include the extra variable mentioned by the hosting company?

As I mentioned, I don't have any PHP experience so I don't want to try and create contact forms from scratch or significantly alter the existing forms.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

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