can't get html to hide through PHP

[anevins]

I'm working on a contact form and I want the instructions to hide from view once the user submits successfully.

I've currently implemented this through the form; as the form disappears once submitted but am having trouble using the instruction html elements.

 

The variable $form_message holds the html elements I want to hide on successful submit:

<?php
$form_message = true;

if ($form_message){
?>
		<h1> Need to contact me? </h1>
		<p> Please fill out your details and press the submit button to email me. <span class="bold">All fields are required</span>, thank you.</p><br />

<?php
}
?>

 

This is the entire document:

		<div id="form">
<?php
$form_message = true;

if ($form_message){
?>

		<h1> Need to contact me? </h1>
		<p> Please fill out your details and press the submit button to email me. <span class="bold">All fields are required</span>, thank you.</p><br />


<?php
}
include_once('php/functions.php');

$firstname = $_POST['first_name'];
$lastname = $_POST['last_name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$reason = $_POST['reason'];
$form = true;



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

if (empty($firstname)){
	echo '	

	<script>		
		$("span.fn_error").slideDown("slow", function());
	</script>

	';
	echo '<span class="error">Please enter your First name.<br /></span>';
}

if (empty($lastname)){
	echo '<span class="error">Please enter your Last name.<br /></span>';
}

if (check_email_address($email)==false){
	echo '<span class="error">Please enter a valid email address.<br /></span>';
}

if (empty($reason)){
	echo '<span class="error">Please enter your reason to contact me.<br /></span>';
}

if (!empty($firstname) && !empty($lastname) && (check_email_address($email)) && !empty($reason)){
	$form = false;
	$form_message = false;
	echo '<p><span class="green">Thank you </span>'. $firstname .' '. $lastname . ' for taking the time to contact me.<br />I will try to get
	back to you through your email <span class="bold">'.$email.' </span>as soon as possible.</p><br />';
	echo '<p>In the mean time, feel free to look at my Flickr and Blogger feeds.</p><br />';
}

}

if ($form){
?>



	<form id="contact" method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>">
		<table>
			<tr><td>First name:</td><td><input type="text" name="first_name" value="<?php echo $firstname; ?>"/></td></tr>
			<tr><td></td><td><?php echo $firstname_error; ?></td></tr>
			<tr><td>Last name: </td><td><input type="text" name="last_name" value="<?php echo $lastname; ?>"/></td></tr>
			<tr><td></td><td><?php echo $lastname_error; ?></td></tr>
			<tr><td>Email Address: </td><td><input type="text" name="email" value="<?php echo $email; ?>"/></td></tr>
			<tr><td></td><td><?php echo $email_error; ?></td></tr>
			<tr><td>Reason: </td><td><textarea rows="5" cols="16" name="reason" ><?php echo $reason; ?></textarea></td></tr>
			<tr><td></td><td><?php echo $reason_error; ?></td></tr>
			<tr><td> </td><td class="submit"><input type="submit" name="submit" id="submit" value="submit" /></td></tr>
		</table>
	</form>
</div>
<?php
}
?>

 

[ryanfilard]

I use this:

<?php
$form_message = true;

if ($form_message)

echo '
		<h1> Need to contact me? </h1>
		<p> Please fill out your details and press the submit button to email me. <span class="bold">All fields are required</span>, thank you.</p><br />

';

?>

 

[anevins]

Thanks for your help Ryan, unfortunately that gives the same problem.

[KevinM1]

The HTML will always show because you're always setting $form_message as true.  What you need to do is check if the form has been submitted first, then set $form_message accordingly.

[anevins]

I thought that was what I was doing:

	if (!empty($firstname) && !empty($lastname) && (check_email_address($email)) && !empty($reason)){
	$form = false;
	$form_message = false;
}

 

$form = false; works and this is the same technique I'm trying to do with $form_message.

[KevinM1]

I thought that was what I was doing:

	if (!empty($firstname) && !empty($lastname) && (check_email_address($email)) && !empty($reason)){
	$form = false;
	$form_message = false;
}

 

$form = false; works and this is the same technique I'm trying to do with $form_message.

 

Remember, PHP scripts are executed from the top down.  Having:

 

$form_message = true;

if ($form_message)
{
   ?>
      <!-- html -->
   <?php
}

 

Will simply spit out the HTML where it is.

 

Why does it work for $form?  It works because you set $form as false before you check for it and try to output the form.  Again, top-down execution.

[cyberRobot]

I would recommend that you don't use of $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] in the form's action attribute. For more information on the security risks behind $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'], check out the following article:

http://www.mc2design.com/blog/php_self-safe-alternatives

 

 

Instead, you could use the actual page name or leave the action attribute blank.

[anevins]

Thank you Cyber Robot, I have taken your advice.

[anevins]

Nightslyer,

 

I don't know how to circumvent this problem you pointed out.

Could you please give me some advice to how to hide that html on successful form submit?

 

Your help so far has been appreciated.

[KevinM1]

The best solution would be to have all your form processing within the following conditional:

 

if (isset($_POST['submit'))
{
   $form_message = false;

   // more form processing
}

if (isset($form_message) && $form_message == true)
{
   // display HTML
}

[anevins]

Thank you so much, I have solved this problem from your help Nightslyer.

 

All I did was put the part I wanted to hide in with the other part of the form, that works.

 

...
if ($form){
?>
<!-- This is the bit I just moved inside the if($form), which originally just held the form but now the instructions.-->
		<h1> Need to contact me? </h1>
		<p> Please fill out your details and press the submit button to email me. <span class="bold">All fields are required</span>, thank you.</p><br />

	<form id="contact" method="post" action="contact.php">
		<table>
...