Forum Moderators: coopster
I have a Recommend page script written in PHP that requests the referer and allows a form to be filled in. It then stuffs the referer parameter into the email and then also into a hidden field. Trouble is that is submits to itself for validation etc, so the referer is the mailto.php page and not the original referer. Any suggestions.
I was trying to avoid the use of Java and i was using the _target to open a new window.
Cheers
Richard
By the way, that's what ww.php.net does for their comment form for the manual. When you click to "Add a comment" in the documentation, they pass the original URL (the man page your on) to the comment page as a GET param rather than depending on the referer var. I'm not sure why.
Tom
Another trick would be to store the URL in a different variable as soon as you get it the first time and pass that variable in a hidden text field.
Another idea would be to use a session variable to pass the URL around.
Another trick would be to store the URL in a different variable as soon as you get it the first time and pass that variable in a hidden text field.
I guess I wasn't very clear! That's what I meant. Oh well. A session's not a bad idea though. I'll have to think on that one.
I thought and tried about the session variable angle but I was unable to get it to work.
Monday, I will take on board your advice try again and see how it goes.
Cheers
if($url_of_referring_page != $PHP_SELF){
$url_of_referring_page = $HTTP_REFERER;
}
Won't that work?
Failing that:
if(!isset($url_of_referring_page)){
$url_of_referring_page = $HTTP_REFERER;
}
If you're having trouble with the sessions ukgimp, post the code. It should be relatively easy, you're probably just missing something obvious to everyone but you ;) Happens to me everyday!
Nick
Use this line in the form:
<input type=hidden name=recd value="<?=isset($recd) ? $recd : $HTTP_REFERER?>">
It'll pick up the referrer from the linked page and send it through the validation as $recd, then use it again if the visitor is sent back to the form.
It's a "ternary" operator.
CODE
<?PHP
# Edit variables below:
#
# Title of the "poped" page:
$GLOBALS["title"]="E-mail this page to a collegue";
# Path to mailto.php script:
$GLOBALS["path"]="mailto.php";
# Site name:
$GLOBALS["site_name"]="MY Site";
# webmaster's email:
$GLOBALS["your_email"]="my email";
$GLOBALS["url"]= "$HTTP_REFERER";
if($url_of_referring_page!= $PHP_SELF){
$url_of_referring_page = $HTTP_REFERER;
}
##############################################
function show_form() {
?>
<html>
<head>
<title><?PHP echo $GLOBALS["title"];?></title>
</head>
<body>
Recommend <b><?PHP echo $GLOBALS["url"];?></b> to a friend ...
<form method="post" action="<?PHP echo $GLOBALS["path"];?>">
<input type=hidden name="url" value="<?PHP echo $GLOBALS["url"];?>">
<table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr align="left" valign="top">
<td width="50%"> Your name: </td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="form[from]" size="30">
</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="top">
<td> <small>*</small> Your e-mail: </td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="form[from_email]" maxlength="40" size="30">
</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="top">
<td> <small>*</small> Friend's e-mail:</td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="form[to_email]" size="30">
</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="top">
<td> Short note about this page: </td>
<td>
<textarea name="form[comment]" rows="5" cols="30"></textarea>
</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="top">
<td>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Send">
<input type="reset" name="Reset" value="Reset">
</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</table>
<p><small>* - required!</small></p>
</form>
</body>
</html>
<?PHP
}
function error($string) {
print ("<div align=center valign=center><b>Warning:</b> $string<br><br>
[ <a href=\"javascript:history.go(-1)\">Back</a> ] ¦
[ <a href=\"javascript:window.close()\">Close this window</a> ]
</div>");
exit;
}
function check_email ($address) {
# this function was copied from PHP mailing list
return
//mod note: line breaks added for side scroll
(ereg('^[-!#$%&\'*+\\./0-9=?A-Z^_`a-z{¦}~]+'.'@'.' [-!#$%&\'*+\\/0-9=?A-Z^_`a-z{¦}~]+\.'.'[-!#$%&\'*+\\. /0-9=?A-Z^_`a-z{¦}~]+$',$address));
}
// end mod note: jatar_k
if ($submit) {
if (! check_email ($form["from_email"]) ¦¦! check_email ($form["to_email"]) ) error ("Invalid e-mail address!");
$date=date( "D, j M Y H:i:s -0600");
$to_email=$form["to_email"];
$from=$form["from"];
$from_email=$form["from_email"];
$comment=$form["comment"];
$site_name=$GLOBALS["site_name"];
$your_email=$GLOBALS["your_email"];
$message="Hi!\n\n$from ($from_email) invited you to visit $site_name!\nCheck out this URL: $url_of_referring_page";
if ($form["comment"]!= "") {
$message.="\n\n$from left you a note:\n$comment";
}
$message.="\n\n\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\n";
$subject="You were invited by $from to visit ".$GLOBALS["site_name"]."!";
$add="From: $site_name <$your_email>\nReply-To: $from_email\nDate: $date\n";
if (@mail ("$to_email","$subject","$message","$add")) {
echo "<center>Message sucessfully send!<br>Thank you!<br><br>[ <a href=\"javascript:window.close()\">Close this window</a> ]</center>";
} else error ("Internal server error. Cannot send email, please try later!");
} else show_form();
?>
[edited by: jatar_k at 10:52 pm (utc) on Mar. 19, 2003]
The email checker was throwing errors so I substituted a simple one for testing.
<?PHP
# CHANGES - lines 16-19; 32,33; 58,59; 70,71. Removed show_form function and moved html (ll. 62-108)
# CAUTION - line 37
# Edit variables below:
#
# Title of the "poped" page:
$GLOBALS["title"]="E-mail this page to a collegue";
# Path to mailto.php script:
$GLOBALS["path"]="mailto.php";
# Site name:
$GLOBALS["site_name"]="MY Site";
# webmaster's email:
$GLOBALS["your_email"]="my email";
$GLOBALS["url"]= "$HTTP_REFERER";
# added this; removed the other conditional
if (empty($url_of_referring_page)){
$url_of_referring_page = $HTTP_REFERER;
}
############################################################
function error($string) {
print ("<div align=center valign=center><b>Warning:</b> $string<br><br>
[ <a href=\"javascript:history.go(-1)\">Back</a> ] ¦
[ <a href=\"javascript:window.close()\">Close this window</a> ]
</div>");
exit;
}
function check_email ($address) {
# this function you copied from PHP mailing list was returning errors so I threw in this simple one for testing purposes
return (ereg("^.+@.+\\..+$",$address));
}
if ($submit) {
/*** re-enter the "pipes' below after copying ***/
if (! check_email ($form["from_email"]) ¦¦! check_email ($form["to_email"]) ) error ("Invalid e-mail address!");
$date=date( "D, j M Y H:i:s -0600");
$to_email=$form["to_email"];
$from=$form["from"];
$from_email=$form["from_email"];
$comment=$form["comment"];
$site_name=$GLOBALS["site_name"];
$your_email=$GLOBALS["your_email"];
$message="Hi!\n\n$from ($from_email) invited you to visit $site_name!\nCheck out this URL: $url_of_referring_page";
if ($form["comment"]!= "") {
$message.="\n\n$from left you a note:\n$comment";
}
$message.="\n\n\n-------------------------------
$subject="You were invited by $from to visit ".$GLOBALS["site_name"]."!";
$add="From: $site_name <$your_email>\nReply-To: $from_email\nDate: $date\n";
/*
if (@mail ("$to_email","$subject","$message","$add")) {
echo "<center>Message sucessfully send!<br>Thank you!<br><br>[ <a href=\"javascript:window.close()\">Close this window</a> ]</center>";
} else error ("Internal server error. Cannot send email, please try later!");
*/
# the following line for testing purposes; remove and uncomment above
echo "$to_email<br>$subject<br>$message<br>$add";
} else {
?>
<html>
<head>
<title><?PHP echo $GLOBALS["title"];?></title>
</head>
<body>
Recommend <b><?PHP echo $GLOBALS["url"];?></b> to a friend ...
<form method="post" action="<?PHP echo $GLOBALS["path"];?>">
<input type=hidden name="url" value="<?PHP echo $GLOBALS["url"];?>">
<!-- added the following line -->
<input type=hidden name=url_of_referring_page value="<?=$url_of_referring_page?>">
<table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tr align="left" valign="top">
<td width="50%"> Your name: </td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="form[from]" size="30">
</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="top">
<td> <small>*</small> Your e-mail: </td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="form[from_email]" maxlength="40" size="30">
</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="top">
<td> <small>*</small> Friend's e-mail:</td>
<td>
<input type="text" name="form[to_email]" size="30">
</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="top">
<td> Short note about this page: </td>
<td>
<textarea name="form[comment]" rows="5" cols="30"></textarea>
</td>
</tr>
<tr align="left" valign="top">
<td>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Send">
<input type="reset" name="Reset" value="Reset">
</td>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</table>
<p><small>* - required!</small></p>
</form>
</body>
</html>
<?
}
?>
[edited by: jatar_k at 10:51 pm (utc) on Mar. 19, 2003]
[edit reason] sidescroll [/edit]
I have been trying this for some time now, I did not get it to work with the sessions as mentioned above. Thanks to all of you that helped especially rewboss and toadhall. I will keep trying the ternary operators and sessions as this is something I need to get to grips with.
I did come up with another solution that for those that are intersted.
Append the url of the linking page to the link by using :
$url = $HTTP_SERVER_VARS["HTTP_HOST"] . $HTTP_SERVER_VARS["REQUEST_URI"]
and then adding the $url to the href
<a href="page.php?url=<?php print ("$url") ?>" target="_blank ">Email link </a>
Then use the original code above.
Cheers
The problem stems from here (in the top section of the code):
if($url_of_referring_page != $PHP_SELF){
$url_of_referring_page = $HTTP_REFERER;
}
Two parter:
1) Variable scope. You need to set the $url_of_referring_page variable as global too.
2) As it stands the conditional will return the url of the mailto script each time the form is submitted ($url_of_referring_page would not equal the url of the script therefore $url_of_referring_page would now become $HTTP_REFERER, the url of the script).
Use this (if I may be so bold):
if (empty($GLOBALS["url_of_referring_page"])){
$GLOBALS["url_of_referring_page"] = $GLOBALS["url"];
}
...and this new hidden field in your form (substitute it for the one there):
<input type=hidden name=url_of_referring_page value="<?=$GLOBALS["url_of_referring_page"]?>">
...at line 97 you'll need to change the variable reference:
$message="Hi!\n\n$from ($from_email) invited you to visit $site_name!\nCheck out this URL:" . $GLOBALS["url_of_referring_page"];
check_mail() function errors:
If you've copied this script and pasted it you may have bad pipes. Sounds gruesome. Often a copied pipe will, when pasted, end up as two short lines in a vertical stack rather than one unbroken pipe, ¦ (bad pipe). Pipes are used in your check_mail() function and in a conditional statement just below it. In the function they appear between curly braces thus {¦}, and in the conditional they're used as a logical OR (¦¦). Just overwrite them with fresh pipes from your keyboard. Otherwise the function throws errors. (There's another one in the javascript of your error() function, but it's not crucial).
T
