Help with Contact Form security question choices

[Chrisj]

I realize this is old code (that I didn't write) but works well for a temporary 'under construction' page.

After filling in the simple Form fields the simple Security question is presented : Is fire Hot or Cold?

When I enter text into the answer field it works successfully, except, of course on a mobile device. In order for it to work on a mobile device, I believe I need to present a choice, rather than entering text - correct?

So, I'm looking for a possible simple tweak on this code, so that it will work for a mobile device, please. I don't really want to re-write all of it, and I know it's not super-secure, but it will do for now.

 

Here's the last part of the Form:

 

<div>
<p>Security Question:<br> Is Fire Hot Or Cold?:
<input type="text" name="ans"/></p><br>
<p><input class="btn btn-action" type='submit' value="Send message"></p>
</div>
</form>

And

 

<?php
// create an empty error array to hold any error messages\
$error = array();
$mailto     = 'someone@somewhere.com';
$mailsubj   = "ContactForm Submission";
$mailhead   = "From:SomehereForm\n";
$mailbody   = "--- Contact form results ---\n";
foreach($_REQUEST as $key => $value)
{
if($key != 'PHPSESSID')
{
$mailbody .= $key.": ".$value."\n";
}
}
if(isset($_POST['ans']) && $_POST['ans']!='hot')
{
// add error to error array
$error[] = header('Location: ww.somesite.com/WrongAnswer.html');
exit;
}
// if no errors are set, continue
if(empty($error))
{
header('Location: ww.somesite.com/ThankYou.html');
exit;
}
?>

Is it possible to add something like:

<option value="ans">hot</option>
<option value="">cold</option>

and then change this somehow:

$error['anything other than hot'] = header('Location: ww.somesite.com/WrongAnswer.html');
exit;

Any tweak help will be appreciated.

Edited February 19, 2017 by Chrisj

[ginerjm]

Entering text on a mobile is no different than a fixed desktop. What makes you think not? YOu have a text input field, no?

[Chrisj]

Thanks so much for your reply.

Yes, I have this input field:

<input type="text" name="ans"/>

which works successfully from my windows desktop. After entering 'hot' and select 'Send Message' I am successfully directed to the page(I've changed the url for this posting) listed here"

// if no errors are set, continue
if(empty($error))
{
header('Location: ww.somesite.com/ThankYou.html');
exit;
}

And also, from my desktop if I enter anything other than 'hot', and select 'Send Message', I'm successfully directed to the page listed here:

$error[] = header('Location: ww.somesite.com/WrongAnswer.html');
exit;

But from my iPhone when I enter 'hot' (or anything else) and select either 'Send Message", Done(on the phone) and then 'Send Message', or 'Go'(on the phone), no matter what, I'm directed to this page:

ww.somesite.com/WrongAnswer.html

So, if it's true that "Entering text on a mobile is no different than a fixed desktop", than obviously and not surprisingly, my code needs some type of correction/modification.

 

Any ideas/suggestions will be appreciated.

Much thanks again

[ginerjm]

Are you running different scripts? Show us the code - don't tell us what happens. I don't believe this can happen so I want to see this code.

 

Can you assign a header call to a variable? Never saw that before.

[Barand]

Can you assign a header call to a variable? Never saw that before.

 

No. header() returns no value.

[ginerjm]

"No. header() returns no value"

 

Thanks - I thought I knew that. Hoped I was making that point clear to the OP.

[Chrisj]

Thanks for your replies.

 

Regarding "show us the code", I have showed the php in the intial posting, and here is the Form:

<form action='../ContactForm.php' method='post' name='myform' onSubmit="return checkemail()">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<input class="form-control" type="text" name='contact_name' placeholder="Name">
</div>
<div class="col-sm-4">
<input class="form-control" type="text" name='email_address' placeholder="Email">
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-sm-12">
<textarea name='Description' placeholder="Type your message here..." class="form-control" rows="9"></textarea>
</div>
</div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<p style="color:grey; font-size:15px;"><b>Security Question:<br> Is Fire Hot Or Cold?:</p>
<input type="text" name="ans"/><br>
<div>
<div class="row">
<div class="col-sm-4">
<input class="btn btn-action" type='submit' value="Send message">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</form>

Regarding "Can you assign a header call to a variable?", I'm not clear on that. Is my url(s) the variable?

Any clarification, and/or code tweak suggestion will be greatly appreciated.

Edited February 20, 2017 by Chrisj

[ginerjm]

As we said earlier you cannot assign a header to a var. The header transfers control to another script so what's the point of the assignment to the variable in the current script?

 

I still don't see how you can distinguish where the form comes from and get a different result from this code. Could it have something to do with the JS you are executing upon submit?

Edited February 20, 2017 by ginerjm

[kicken]

Phones typically auto-capitalize the first letter of text you enter into a field. That may be what is causing your problem. Comparisons in PHP are case sensitive, 'Hot' is not the same as 'hot'.

 

You could use strtolower to force the value entered to lowercase prior to your comparison to resolve the issue. If that doesn't fix things then var_dump the value and test each device to compare the results.