undefined index and undefined variable

Question

Been having an issue with PHP, I'm building a form with valdiation but I keep getting this error:

The specified value "\u003Cbr /\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ENotice\u003C/b\u003E: Undefined index: email in \u003Cb\u003EC:\xampp\htdocs\navigation.php\u003C/b\u003E on line \u003Cb\u003E120\u003C/b\u003E\u003Cbr /\u003E\n" is not a valid email address.

More error information:

<form class="form-horizontal" role="form" method="post" action="navigation.tphp">
                                      <div class="form-group">
                                          <label for="name" class="col-sm-2 control-label">Name</label>
                                          <div class="col-sm-10">
                                              <input type="text" class="form-control" id="name" name="name" placeholder="First & Last Name" value="<br />
<b>Notice</b>:  Undefined index: name in <b>C:\xampp\htdocs\navigation.php</b> on line <b>113</b><br />
">
                                              <br />
<b>Notice</b>:  Undefined variable: errName in <b>C:\xampp\htdocs\navigation.php</b> on line <b>114</b><br />
<p class='text-danger'></p>                                          </div>
                                      </div>
                                      <div class="form-group">
                                          <label for="email" class="col-sm-2 control label">Email</label>
                                          <div class="col-sm-10">
                                              <input type="email" class="form-control" id="email" name="email" placeholder="example@domain.com" value="<br />
<b>Notice</b>:  Undefined index: email in <b>C:\xampp\htdocs\navigation.php</b> on line <b>120</b><br />
">
                                              <br />
<b>Notice</b>:  Undefined variable: errEmail in <b>C:\xampp\htdocs\navigation.php</b> on line <b>121</b><br />
<p class='text-danger'></p>                                          </div>
                                      </div>
                                      <div class="form-group">
                                          <label for="message" class="col-sm-2 control-label">Message</label>
                                          <div class="col-sm-10">
                                              <textarea class="form-control" rows="4" name="message"><br />
<b>Notice</b>:  Undefined index: message in <b>C:\xampp\htdocs\navigation.php</b> on line <b>127</b><br />
</textarea>
                                              <br />
<b>Notice</b>:  Undefined variable: errMessage in <b>C:\xampp\htdocs\navigation.php</b> on line <b>128</b><br />
<p class='text-danger'></p>                                          </div>
                                      </div>
                                      <div class="form-group">
                                          <label for="human" class="col-sm-2 control-label">2 + 3 = ?</label>
                                          <div class="col-sm-10">
                                              <input type="text" class="form-control" id="human" name="human" placeholder="Your Answer" value="<br />
<b>Notice</b>:  Undefined index: human in <b>C:\xampp\htdocs\navigation.php</b> on line <b>134</b><br />
">
                                              <br />
<b>Notice</b>:  Undefined variable: errHuman in <b>C:\xampp\htdocs\navigation.php</b> on line <b>135</b><br />
<p class='text-danger'></p>                                          </div>
                                      </div>
                                      <div class="form-group">
                                          <div class="col-sm-10 col-sm-offset-2">
                                              <!-- Will be used to display an alert to the user -->
                                          <br />
<b>Notice</b>:  Undefined variable: result in <b>C:\xampp\htdocs\navigation.php</b> on line <b>141</b><br />
                                          </div>
                                      </div>
                                 </form>

The code it's referring too:

<form class="form-horizontal" role="form" method="post" action="navigation.tphp">
                                      <div class="form-group">
                                          <label for="name" class="col-sm-2 control-label">Name</label>
                                          <div class="col-sm-10">
                                              <input type="text" class="form-control" id="name" name="name" placeholder="First & Last Name" value="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_POST['name']); ?>">
                                              <?php echo "<p class='text-danger'>$errName</p>"; ?>
                                          </div>
                                      </div>
                                      <div class="form-group">
                                          <label for="email" class="col-sm-2 control label">Email</label>
                                          <div class="col-sm-10">
                                              <input type="email" class="form-control" id="email" name="email" placeholder="example@domain.com" value="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_POST['email']); ?>">
                                              <?php echo "<p class='text-danger'>$errEmail</p>"; ?>
                                          </div>
                                      </div>
                                      <div class="form-group">
                                          <label for="message" class="col-sm-2 control-label">Message</label>
                                          <div class="col-sm-10">
                                              <textarea class="form-control" rows="4" name="message"><?php echo htmlspecialchars($_POST['message']); ?></textarea>
                                              <?php echo "<p class='text-danger'>$errMessage</p>"; ?>
                                          </div>
                                      </div>
                                      <div class="form-group">
                                          <label for="human" class="col-sm-2 control-label">2 + 3 = ?</label>
                                          <div class="col-sm-10">
                                              <input type="text" class="form-control" id="human" name="human" placeholder="Your Answer" value="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_POST['human']); ?>">
                                              <?php echo "<p class='text-danger'>$errHuman</p>"; ?>
                                          </div>
                                      </div>
                                      <div class="form-group">
                                          <div class="col-sm-10 col-sm-offset-2">
                                              <!-- Will be used to display an alert to the user -->
                                          <?php echo $result; ?>
                                          </div>
                                      </div>
                                 </form>

The validation code:

if(!empty($_POST["submit"])) {
$name = $_POST['name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$message = $_POST['message'];
$human = intval($_POST['human']);
$from = 'Contact Form';
$to = 'schlitzws@gmail.com';
$subject = 'New Contact Message';

$body = "From: $name\n E-mail: $email\n Message:\n $message";


//Check if name has been entered
if(!$_POST['name']) {
    $errName = 'This Form requires a Name';
}

//Check if email has been entered and is valid
if(!$_POST['email'] || !filter_var($_POST['email'], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
    $errEmail =   'This Form requires a valid Email';
}


//Check if message has been entered
if(!$_POST['message']) {
    $errMessage = 'This Form requires a Message';
}
//Check if simple anti-spam is incorrect
if($human !== 5) {
    $errHuman = 'Your Answer is in-correct';
}

//If there are no errors, send the email
if(!$errName && !$errEmail && !$errMessage && !$errHuman) {
    if(mail ($to, $subject, $body, $from)) {
        $result='<div class="alert alert-success">Thank You! I will be in touch</div>';
    } else {
        $result='<div class="alert alert-danger">Sorry there was an error sending your message. Please try again later</div>';    
    }
}
    }

Also the code is being included if that has something to do with it thank you in advance!

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered May 13 '16 at 11:43

You should use isset() to check if the variable exist:

<?php

if (!empty($_POST["submit"])) {
    $name = $_POST['name'];
    $email = $_POST['email'];
    $message = $_POST['message'];
    $human = intval($_POST['human']);
    $from = 'Contact Form';
    $to = 'schlitzws@gmail.com';
    $subject = 'New Contact Message';

    $body = "From: $name\n E-mail: $email\n Message:\n $message";


//Check if name has been entered
    if (!isset($_POST['name'])) {
        $errName = 'This Form requires a Name';
    }

//Check if email has been entered and is valid
    if (!isset($_POST['email']) || !filter_var($_POST['email'], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
        $errEmail = 'This Form requires a valid Email';
    }


//Check if message has been entered
    if (!isset($_POST['message'])) {
        $errMessage = 'This Form requires a Message';
    }
//Check if simple anti-spam is incorrect
    if (isset($human) && $human !== 5) {
        $errHuman = 'Your Answer is in-correct';
    }

//If there are no errors, send the email
    if (!isset($errName) && !isset($errEmail) && !isset($errMessage) && !isset($errHuman)) {
        if (mail($to, $subject, $body, $from)) {
            $result = '<div class="alert alert-success">Thank You! I will be in touch</div>';
        } else {
            $result = '<div class="alert alert-danger">Sorry there was an error sending your message. Please try again later</div>';
        }
    }
}

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered May 13 '16 at 11:44

0

The problem is that you are trying to access a value in the POST super-global which doesn't exist. To fix this you will need to run an isset() check to see if the value exists.

eg.

if (isset($_POST["answer"])) { echo $_POST["answer"] }

answered May 13 '16 at 11:44

Dominic Carrington

97
9

undefined index and undefined variable

2 Answers2