Develop Reference

Accessing Through PHP a Posted Javascript Variable

I realize that there are several similar questions that have been asked, but none of those have been able to get me over the top. Maybe what I wnat to do is just not possible?
I have a page on which there is an order form. The admin can create an order for any user in the database by selecting them in the dropdown menu and then fill out the form. But each user may have a PriceLevel that will give them a discount. So I need to be able to make a database call based on the username selected in the dropdown and display their price level and be able to use the username and pricelevel variables in my PHP.
I have the an add_order.php page on which the form resides, and an ajax.php which makes a quick DB call and returns the results in a json format.
The problem I am running into is actually getting the information from jQuery into the PHP. I have tried using the isset method, but it always comes back as false.
Here's what I have:
add_order.php
<?php
// $username = $_POST['orderUser']['Username'];
$username = isset($_POST['orderUser']) ? $_POST['orderUser']['Username'] : 'not here';
echo 'hello, ' . $username;
?>
...
$('#frm_Username').change(function() {
orderUser = $(this).val();
$.post('/admin/orders/ajax.php', {
action: 'fetchUser',
orderUser: orderUser
}
).success(function(data) {
if(data == 'error') {
alert('error');
} else {
console.log(data);
}
})
})
ajax.php
<?php
$action = $_POST['action'];
if($action == "fetchUser"):
$un = $_POST['orderUser'];
/*if($un):
echo $un;
exit;
endif;*/
// SET THE REST UP WITH MYSQL
if($un):
$qid = $DB->query("SELECT u.Username, u.PriceLevel FROM users as u WHERE u.Username = '" . $un . "'");
$row = $DB->fetchObject($qid);
// $row = jason_decode($row);
echo json_encode($row);
exit;
endif;
echo "error";
endif;
?>
I am logging to the console right now and getting this:
{"Username":"dev2","PriceLevel":"Tier 2"}
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

After calling $.post('/admin/orders/ajax.php', ...), the PHP code which sees your POSTed variable is ajax.php.
You need to check in there (inside ajax.php), whereas currently your isset check is in add_order.php, which does not see the POST request you send.
You do seem to have some logic in ajax.php, but whatever you've got in add_order.php is not going to see the data in question.

Why does my simple mail php form take a long time to load?

Good afternoon Stack! I'm currently working on a simple PHP mailing form and my previous version before I started editing it took less than a second to actually load the form, however with these new additions it's now taking over at least 5-10 seconds to load the form.
This is my current code now that takes pretty long to load and here is a LIVE LINK;
<?php
// We use the name2 field as bait for spambots. It's display is off,
// so humans wouldn't know to enter anything into it. Robots would,
// so we ignore submissions with info in name2.
$mail_sent = false;
if(sizeof($_POST) && $_POST["name2"] == "") // receiving a submission
{
// receiving a submission
$to = $_POST['department'];
// prep our data from the form info
$senderName = $_POST['name'];
$senderEmail = $_POST['email'];
$department = $_POST['department'];
$subject = "Visitor message in $department department";
$messageBody = $senderName . ' ('.$senderEmail.') wrote for '.$department.' department: ' . $_POST['message'];
if($department == 'customer') { //if customer was selected
$to = 'email#email.com';
}
else if($department == 'distribution') { //if distribution was selected
$to = 'email#email.com, email#email.com';
}
else if($department == 'press') { //if press was selected
$to = 'email#email.com';
}
else if($department == 'career') { //if career was selected
$to = 'email#email.com';
}
else if($department == 'other') { //if other was selected
$to = 'email#email.com';
}
// From
$header = "From: $senderName <$senderEmail>";
}
// Send it!
$send_contact = mail($to, $subject, $messageBody, $header);
if($send_contact){
$mail_sent = true;
}
else {
echo " ";
}
?>
One thing I did find weird though, making my changes to send to multiple reciepents started telling me ERROR even though it worked perfectly fine, so I changed..
if($send_contact){
$mail_sent = true;
}
else {
echo "ERROR";
}
to print nothing but a space, so users don't see it.. Maybe, this is what could cause it that something is actually going on which prolongs the delay of loading? But.. It works fantastic and perfectly fine.
Anyone have any clue why this form can take so long to be loading? It's definitely the code as I removed it or reverted back to my old version, it loads in less than a second with ySlow.
Here is the PREVIOUS version of my code that loads instantly and a LIVE LINK;
<?php
// We use the name2 field as bait for spambots. It's display is off,
// so humans wouldn't know to enter anything into it. Robots would,
// so we ignore submissions with info in name2.
$mail_sent = false;
if(sizeof($_POST) && $_POST["name2"] == "") // receiving a submission
{
define("SUBJECT", "Visitor Message from Domain.com");
// production recipient:
define("RECIPIENT", "email#email.com");
// prep our data from the form info
$senderName = $_POST['name'];
$senderEmail = $_POST['email'];
$subject = SUBJECT;
$messageBody = $senderName . ' ('.$senderEmail.') wrote:
' . $_POST['message'];
// From
$header = "from: $senderName <$senderEmail>";
// To
$to = RECIPIENT;
// Send it!
$send_contact = mail($to, $subject, $messageBody, $header);
// Check success of send attempt
if($send_contact){
// show thankyou screen
$mail_sent = true;
}
else {
// send failed.
echo "ERROR";
}
}
?>
Any help is kindly appreciated as I've been stuck on this for awhile, thank you for your time and efforts and have a wonderful weekend everyone.

$send_contact = mail($to, $subject, $messageBody, $header);
if($send_contact){
$mail_sent = true;
}
else {
echo " ";
}
This part of the code was left out of the if block that handles your form submission in your new version. So it gets executed every time the page gets loaded. That will slow down the loading because the mail() function tries to send an email and gives an error every time you load the page. Your intention was to send an email only when the form gets correctly submitted. Turning on php notices would be a good idea since. It would make catching errors like this easier.

PHP script unable to gather filename of calling html page

I'm trying to have the mail.php script identify the page that called the script, and return the user to that page and if the form didn't validate, was empty, etc. When I click on submit, it just 404's.
<?php
/*
This first bit sets the email address that you want the form to be submitted to.
You will need to change this value to a valid email address that you can access.
*/
$webmaster_email = "email#email.com";
/*
This next bit loads the form field data into variables.
If you add a form field, you will need to add it here.
*/
$email_address = $_REQUEST['email'];
$comments = $_REQUEST['comment'];
$fname = $_REQUEST['first-name'];
$lname = $_REQUEST['last-name'];
$filename = debug_backtrace();
$page = $filename[0]['file'];
/*
The following function checks for email injection.
Specifically, it checks for carriage returns - typically used by spammers to inject a CC list.
*/
function isInjected($str) {
$injections = array('(\n+)',
'(\r+)',
'(\t+)',
'(%0A+)',
'(%0D+)',
'(%08+)',
'(%09+)'
);
$inject = join('|', $injections);
$inject = "/$inject/i";
if(preg_match($inject,$str)) {
return true;
}
else {
return false;
}
}
// If the user tries to access this script directly, redirect them to the feedback form,
if (!isset($_REQUEST['email_address'])) {
header( "Location: $page" );
}
// If the form fields are empty, redirect to the error page.
elseif (empty($email_address) || empty($comments) || empty($fname)) {
echo "<script type=\"text/javascript\">window.alert('Please fill in the required fields.');
window.location.href = $page;</script>";
exit;
}
// If email injection is detected, redirect to the error page.
elseif (isInjected($email_address)){
echo "<script type=\"text/javascript\">window.alert('Please, Try Again.');
window.location.href = $page;</script>";
exit;
}
// If we passed all previous tests, send the email then redirect to the thank you page.
else {
mail("$webmaster_email", "Feedback Form Results", $comments, "From: $email_address");
echo "<script type=\"text/javascript\">window.alert('Thank You for contacting us!');
window.location.href = $page;</script>";
exit;
}
?>

No need for debug_backtrace(). To get the referring page, you could replace this:
$filename = debug_backtrace();
$page = $filename[0]['file'];
With this:
$page = $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'];
However, $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] is unreliable according to the PHP docs:
This is set by the user agent. Not all user agents will set this, and some provide the ability to modify HTTP_REFERER as a feature. In short, it cannot really be trusted.
So another solution is to add an additional field in the referring form and retrieve it in the PHP script e.g.
<input name="referrer" type="hidden" value="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];?>"/>
Then:
$page = $_REQUEST['referrer'];

Registration Form (HTML, PHP & MySQL) redirect after error or missing values

I am new to development with HTML, PHP, CSS etc.
I need to do this small Registration and Login Form. I haven't gone into detail in Object-Oriented PHP and I'm working in the simplest manner as this task needs to be done in a short time and I've only been coding and experimenting with these languages these past two days.
What I already have is a working Registration and Login forms that when they are submitted the information is posted to another php file. Than it verifies that the data has been entered and that the e-mail isn't already used. What i need is that when either the e-mail is already used and when a field is left empty that it automatically goes back to Registration/Login forms and displays a message with their respective errors.
I know this might have been done in a different way but the deadline is really close and so i need a solution that works with what I already have.
I'm sorry if a similar question is already available, but i might be using incorrect keywords to search for the solution.
Keywords currently that I'm using are Redirection, "Going back to previous page".
If JavaScript is more suitable for this kind of operation it is also excepted and would like this to be pointed out, although a php solution would be appreciated a bit more as i currently obtain more knowledge on PHP than on JavaScript.
Thanks, any help or directions to suitable solutions would be mostly appreciated.

You can use
A) PHP header() function
B) echo a META HTTP - EQUIV=" refresh "
CONTENT=" seconds; URL = \the-other-url">
C) Use JS like this but you
will need to set a timeout
Example:
if (empty ($_POST ['username']) || empty ($_POST ['password']))
{
echo "Please enter a username, or password";
header ("refresh:5; url=back.php");
exit;
}

There are many different ways to do this. If when the form is submitted your executing the code on a different php file then you could have an IF statement there which redirects the headers back to the form page if there are errors with the users input such as:
if($username == "")
{
header("Location: YOUR_FORM_PAGE.php");
}
Hope this helps.
To add the execution to the same page you can do this.
add these buttons;
<input type="hidden" id="submitted" name="submitted" value="1">
<span class="label"></span><input type="submit" class="submit" value="Submit"><input type="reset" class="submit" value="Clear">
set the form action to the form page. Add this to the top of the page and add any PHP you want to it;
if(isset($_POST["submitted"]) && $_POST["submitted"] == 1)
{
for example;
if($from_fullname == "")
{
$submission_status = '<div class="vpb_info" align="left">Please enter your fullname in the required field to proceed. Thanks.</div>';
}
and add this to the page where you want the error displayed;
<p> <?php echo $submission_status; ?></p>

Sounds like http-redirect (http://php.net/manual/en/function.http-redirect.php) should help you out. You can redirect on your error conditions with that.
Update
With redirect you can attatch QueryString Parameters so you could redirect back to the login.php page with an errror code and/or message as a query string perameter.

These will get you started, a registration or signup php file and a login php file I made once
(personal info is faked).
SignUp.php
<?php
session_start();
$name = $_REQUEST['name'] ;
$userpassword = hash('sha512',$_REQUEST['password'] );
$signature = $_REQUEST['signature'] ;
$image = $_REQUEST['image'];
$email = $_REQUEST['email'] ;
$emailreplies = $_REQUEST['emailreplies'] ;
if (!isset($_REQUEST['name'])) {
header( "Location: MotesBlog.php" );
}else{
$username="root";
$password="root";
$database="MotesBlog";
mysql_connect("localhost",$username,$password);
#mysql_select_db($database) or die( "Unable to select database");
$query=sprintf("SELECT Name FROM users WHERE Name LIKE '%s';",
mysql_real_escape_string($name));
$query=mysql_query($query);
if(mysql_num_rows($query)){
$query = sprintf("SELECT Email FROM users WHERE Name='%s';",
mysql_real_escape_string($name));
$query=mysql_query($query);
$_SESSION['NameTaken'] = true;
$_SESSION['UsedName'] = $name;
$_SESSION['UsedEmail'] = mysql_result($query,0);
header("Location: SignUp.html");
}else{
$query=sprintf("SELECT Email FROM users WHERE Email LIKE '%s';",
mysql_real_escape_string($email));
$query=mysql_query($query);
if(mysql_num_rows($query)){
$_SESSION['EmailTaken'] = true;
$_SESSION['UsedEmail'] = $email;
header("Location: SignUp.html");
}else{
$query = sprintf(" INSERT INTO users VALUES (
NULL , '%s', '%s' , '%s', '%s', '%s', CURRENT_TIMESTAMP , 0, $emailreplies);",
mysql_real_escape_string($name),
$userpassword,
mysql_real_escape_string($signature),
mysql_real_escape_string($image),
mysql_real_escape_string($email));
mysql_query($query);
$query = sprintf("SELECT JoinDate FROM users WHERE Name='%s';",
mysql_real_escape_string($name));
$vcode=md5(mysql_result(mysql_query($query),0));
mysql_close();
require_once "Mail.php";
$from = "PocketWoods Hunting Hall<pwoods#email.com>";
$to = $email;
$subject = "Welcome to Motes Blog";
$body = "<html>
<body>Thank you for your time. <br/>
To ensure a human made this account and not an
automated process please click the link below:<br>
<a href=\"http://site.com/MotesBlog/verifyaccount.php?vcode=".$vcode."&name=".$name."\">
Activate Account
</a>
</body>
</html>";
$host = "mail.root.com";
$username = "root#root.com";
$password = "root";
$headers = array ( 'From' => $from,
'To' => $to,
'Subject' => $subject,
'MIME-Version' => "1.0",
'Content-type' => "text/html; charset=iso-8859-1");
$smtp = Mail::factory('smtp',
array ( 'host' => $host,
'auth' => false,
'username' => $username,
'password' => $password));
$mail = $smtp->send($to, $headers, $body);
header("Location: success.html");
}
}
}
?>
Login.php
<?php
session_start();
$username="root";
$password="root";
$database="MotesBlog";
mysql_connect("localhost",$username,$password);
#mysql_select_db($database) or die( "Unable to select database");
$user_name = $_REQUEST['name'];
$user_password = $_REQUEST['password'];
if (!isset($_REQUEST['name'])) {
header( "Location: MotesBlog.php" );
}else{
if(isset($_SESSION['User'])){
if( ($_SESSION['CreatedTime'] + 3600) < time() ){
$_SESSION['Expired'] = true;
}
unset($_SESSION['User']);
}
$query = sprintf("SELECT Password FROM users WHERE Name='%s';",
mysql_real_escape_string($user_name));
$query=mysql_query($query);
if(mysql_num_rows($query)){
$real_password=mysql_result($query,0);
$query = sprintf("SELECT Email FROM users WHERE Name='%s';",
mysql_real_escape_string($user_name));
$query=mysql_query($query);
$email = mysql_result($query,0);
if($real_password == hash('sha512',$user_password)){
$query = sprintf("SELECT Validated FROM users WHERE Name='%s';",
mysql_real_escape_string($user_name));
$query=mysql_query($query);
mysql_close();
if(mysql_result($query,0)){
$_SESSION['User'] = $user_name;
$_SESSION['CreatedTime'] = time();
setcookie("User", $_REQUEST['name'], time() + 60*60*24*365);
header( "Location: MotesBlog.php" );
}else{
$_SESSION['resend_name'] = $user_name;
$_SESSION['resend_email'] = $email;
$_SESSION['NotValidated'] = true;
header( "Location: MotesBlog.php" );
}
}else{
$_SESSION['WrongPW'] = true;
$_SESSION['UsedEmail'] = $email;
header( "Location: MotesBlog.php" );
}
}else{
$_SESSION['WrongName'] = true;
header( "Location: MotesBlog.php" );
}
}
?>

Create a web-based chat box using AJAX, PHP, and SQL Long Polling?

I'm creating an online chat box for me and my friends at college to use online. In the current configuration, the chat messages are stored in a plain text file on the host machine (mine) and are fetched via AJAX every second, however, sometimes it is slow and glitchy and doesn't always work.
To send a message, it passes the message to a JavaScript function which passes the value to a PHP script, writing it to the file along with the user's unique color (stored in a local cookie). Here's the functions.js file (pastebin): http://pastebin.com/CpGxj5cP
Here's the php file to send the message:
<?php
session_start();
require_once('mysql_connect.php');
date_default_timezone_set("EST");
//Format the message
$date = date('n/j g:i A');
$username = $_SESSION['username'];
$color = $_COOKIE[$username];
$message = "<font color='" . $color . "'>" . $username . "</font> (" . $date . "): ";
$message .= $_GET['m'] . "\n";
$file = '../messages.txt';
$handle = fopen($file, 'a');
fputs($handle, $message);
fclose($handle);
//Reset timeout
//$_SESSION['timeout'] = 300;
?>
As I said above, the issue is that it's very very slow. If there's a way to do it better than a textfile/AJAX, please let me know!

Yes there is a better way if you are using a browser that supports HTML 5
Web Sockets
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/html5/html5_websocket.htm

Check this out for a full code of a chat box using PHP. Download the source code or see the live demo in this site.
Moderator note: This link is no longer alive, and archive.org does not seem to have a copy, either.
http://purpledesign.in/blog/?p=19
function getLoginBox() {
ob_start();
require_once('login_form.html');
$sLoginForm = ob_get_clean();
$sLogoutForm = 'logout';
if ((int)$_REQUEST['logout'] == 1) {
if (isset($_COOKIE['member_name']) && isset($_COOKIE['member_pass']))
$this->simple_logout();
}
if ($_REQUEST['username'] && $_REQUEST['password']) {
if ($this->check_login($_REQUEST['username'], MD5($_REQUEST['password']))) {
$this->simple_login($_REQUEST['username'], $_REQUEST['password']);
return 'Hello ' . $_REQUEST['username'] . '! ' . $sLogoutForm;
} else {
return 'Username or Password is incorrect' . $sLoginForm;
}
} else {
if ($_COOKIE['member_name'] && $_COOKIE['member_pass']) {
if ($this->check_login($_COOKIE['member_name'], $_COOKIE['member_pass'])) {
return 'Hello ' . $_COOKIE['member_name'] . '! ' . $sLogoutForm;
}
}
return $sLoginForm;
}
}
Of course you will need to create a log in box. Kindly check the link I have shared. It has all the details