Contact Form Success Message on contact form not in new window?

I've followed a tutorial and created a contact form. Once the form has been submitted the browser opens a new page displaying a success message. How do I display the message at the bottom of the contact form itself? I think I need to declare a variable in php then call the variable in the HTML but don't know how to do it. I want to keep the php and html as separate pages.

<?php
if(isset($_POST['email'])) {

// EDIT THE 2 LINES BELOW AS REQUIRED
$email_to = "email@email.com";
$email_subject = "Express Travel Booking";

$Name = $_POST['Name']; // required
$email_from = $_POST['email']; // required
$Telephone = $_POST['Telephone']; // not required
$PickUp = $_POST['PickUp']; // required
$DropOff = $_POST['DropOff']; // required
$Passengers = $_POST['Passengers']; // required
$Date = $_POST['Date']; // required
$Time = $_POST['Time']; // required
$Comments = $_POST['Comments']; // required

$email_message = "Form details below.\n\n";

function clean_string($string) {
$bad = array("content-type","bcc:","to:","cc:","href");
return str_replace($bad,"",$string);
}

$email_message .= "Name : ".clean_string($Name)."\n";
$email_message .= "email address : ".clean_string($email_from)."\n";
$email_message .= "Telephone : ".clean_string($Telephone)."\n";
$email_message .= "Pick Up : ".clean_string($PickUp)."\n";
$email_message .= "Drop Off : ".clean_string($DropOff)."\n";
$email_message .= "Passengers : ".clean_string($Passengers)."\n";
$email_message .= "Date : ".clean_string($Date)."\n";
$email_message .= "Time : ".clean_string($Time)."\n\n";
$email_message .= "Comments : \n\n".clean_string($Comments)."\n";
// create email headers
$headers = 'From: '.$email_from."\r\n".
'Reply-To: '.$email_from."\r\n" .
'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion();
@mail($email_to, $email_subject, $email_message, $headers);
?>

<!-- include your own success html here -->

Thank you for your enquiry. We will be in touch soon.

<?php
}
?>


<form method="post" action="sendmail.php">

<fieldset>
<legend>Contact Form</legend>

<div class="Form">
<label for="Name">Name</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="Name" id="Name" accesskey="1" title="enter name" />
<label for="email">email address</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="email" id="email" accesskey="2" title="enter email address" />
<label for="Telephone">Telephone</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="Telephone" id="Telephone" accesskey="3" title="enter Telephone Number" />
<label for="PickUp">Pick Up</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="PickUp" id="PickUp" accesskey="4" title="enter Pick Up Destination" />
<label for="DropOff">Drop Off</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="DropOff" id="DropOff" accesskey="5" title="enter Drop Off Destination" />
<label for="Passengers">Passengers</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="Passengers" id="Passengers" accesskey="5" title="enter number of Passengers" />
<label for="Date">Date</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="Date" id="Date" accesskey="6" title="enter Date" />
<label for="Time">Time</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="Time" id="Time" accesskey="7" title="enter Time" />
<label for="Comments">Comments</label>
<textarea id="Comments" name="Comments" class="comment"></textarea>

<div class="submit"><input name="Submit" type="submit" class="postc" value="Send"></div>
<div class="submit"><input name="Reset" type="reset" class="reset" value="Reset"/></div>
</div>
</fieldset>
</form>

To keep the PHP and HTML pages separate is easy. Just use the require_once (http://williamthedev.co.cc/?p=49) or include_once (http://williamthedev.co.cc/?p=49) PHP function and convert the file to a .php file. It will be one script, but different files.

Sendmail.php


<?php
if(isset($_POST['email'])) {

// EDIT THE 2 LINES BELOW AS REQUIRED
$email_to = "email@email.com";
$email_subject = "Express Travel Booking";

$Name = $_POST['Name']; // required
$email_from = $_POST['email']; // required
$Telephone = $_POST['Telephone']; // not required
$PickUp = $_POST['PickUp']; // required
$DropOff = $_POST['DropOff']; // required
$Passengers = $_POST['Passengers']; // required
$Date = $_POST['Date']; // required
$Time = $_POST['Time']; // required
$Comments = $_POST['Comments']; // required

$email_message = "Form details below.\n\n";

function clean_string($string) {
$bad = array("content-type","bcc:","to:","cc:","href");
return str_replace($bad,"",$string);
}

$email_message .= "Name : ".clean_string($Name)."\n";
$email_message .= "email address : ".clean_string($email_from)."\n";
$email_message .= "Telephone : ".clean_string($Telephone)."\n";
$email_message .= "Pick Up : ".clean_string($PickUp)."\n";
$email_message .= "Drop Off : ".clean_string($DropOff)."\n";
$email_message .= "Passengers : ".clean_string($Passengers)."\n";
$email_message .= "Date : ".clean_string($Date)."\n";
$email_message .= "Time : ".clean_string($Time)."\n\n";
$email_message .= "Comments : \n\n".clean_string($Comments)."\n";
// create email headers
$headers = 'From: '.$email_from."\r\n".
'Reply-To: '.$email_from."\r\n" .
'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion();
if(@mail($email_to, $email_subject, $email_message, $headers))
{
//if email sending is successful
//Note the below message variable. It will be echoed at the bottom of the form
$complete_message = 'Thank you for your enquiry. We will be in touch soon.';
}
}
?>


So, form.php will be :


<?php

require_once('sendmail.php');
//Same as copy-pasting sendmail.php code at this point

?>
<form method="post">

<fieldset>
<legend>Contact Form</legend>

<div class="Form">
<label for="Name">Name</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="Name" id="Name" accesskey="1" title="enter name" />
<label for="email">email address</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="email" id="email" accesskey="2" title="enter email address" />
<label for="Telephone">Telephone</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="Telephone" id="Telephone" accesskey="3" title="enter Telephone Number" />
<label for="PickUp">Pick Up</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="PickUp" id="PickUp" accesskey="4" title="enter Pick Up Destination" />
<label for="DropOff">Drop Off</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="DropOff" id="DropOff" accesskey="5" title="enter Drop Off Destination" />
<label for="Passengers">Passengers</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="Passengers" id="Passengers" accesskey="5" title="enter number of Passengers" />
<label for="Date">Date</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="Date" id="Date" accesskey="6" title="enter Date" />
<label for="Time">Time</label><input type="text" class="inset" name="Time" id="Time" accesskey="7" title="enter Time" />
<label for="Comments">Comments</label>
<textarea id="Comments" name="Comments" class="comment"></textarea>

<div class="submit"><input name="Submit" type="submit" class="postc" value="Send"></div>
<div class="submit"><input name="Reset" type="reset" class="reset" value="Reset"/></div>
</div>
</fieldset>
</form>
<?php
echo $complete_message; //The thank you message will be echoed if the emailing is successful in sendmail.php
?>


By leaving out the form action attribute completely (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1131781/is-it-a-good-practice-to-use-an-empty-url-for-a-html-forms-action-attribute-a), the form will be submitted to the same page where it will be processed by the sendmail.php code.

Thanks for the reply. Sorted!

Change the action of the form from:


<form method="post" action="sendmail.php">


To:


<form method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>">

Or:


<form method="post" action ="<?= $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']; ?>" >


Or:


<form method="post" action="">


The above different code types will make it refer to this script(same script).

Correcting my earlier comment. Do not delete the action attribute. It is a mandatory attribute.

You should move the require_once to the top of the PHP script to prevent confusion in case you expand your script later.

I've put the action attribute back in although the form was sending data without it. It works and validates! I have another unrelated php issue but will post another thread.

Thanks for the help. If you need a HTML5 or CSS3 template or any help with SEO let me know.

I've put the action attribute back in although the form was sending data without it. It works and validates! I have another unrelated php issue but will post another thread.

Thanks for the help. If you need a HTML5 or CSS3 template or any help with SEO let me know.

Sure. Glad I could help.

:thumbsup: