Trying to call a PHP file hosted on my InfinityFree site

[shinyslowqueen]

https://vitamin-h.com/formSubmit_kamihai2024.php

(please specify the URL of the site on which you are experiencing the problem)

(Blank Screen)

(please share the FULL error message you see, if applicable)

Other Information

I have a weebly site with a form on it that calls a php file on my InfinityFree site, but instead of doing anything, it gives me a blank white screen with “?i=1” after the url. I’ve had several sites look at my code, and the general opinion is that the problem is on the server in how the php script is getting invoked when the form submits a post request to the server. It’s been suggested that I will likely need to involve the web hosting support to solve this.

Here is the code in question:

<?php
if(isset($_POST['email'])) {
     
    // CHANGE THE TWO LINES BELOW
    $email_to = "[email protected]";
    $email_toa = "[email protected]";
     
    $email_subject = "Kami-Con HAI 2024 - AMV Submission";
    $conf_subject = "Kami-Con HAI 2024 - AMV Contest Confirmation"; 
     
    function died($error) {
        // your error code can go here
        echo "We are very sorry, but there were error(s) found with the form you submitted. ";
        echo "These errors appear below.<br /><br />";
        echo $error."<br /><br />";
        echo "Please click BACK in your browser and fix these errors.<br /><br />";
        die();
    }
     
    // validation expected data exists
    if(!isset($_POST['handle']) ||
        !isset($_POST['amv_category']) ||
        !isset($_POST['youtube'])) {
        died('We are sorry, but there appears to be a problem with the form you submitted.');       
    }

if(!empty($_POST['first_name'])) {}
else{
died('First name is required.');
}
if(!empty($_POST['last_name'])) {}
else{
died('Last name is required.');
}
if(!empty($_POST['amv_title'])) {}
else{
died('Title of AMV is required.');
}
if(!empty($_POST['amv_song'])) {}
else{
died('Song Used is required.');
}
if(!empty($_POST['amv_artist'])) {}
else{
died('Song Artist is required.');
}
if(!empty($_POST['amv_anime'])) {}
else{
died('Animation sources are required.');
}
if(!empty($_POST['amv_link'])) {}
else{
died('AMV link is required.');
}
if(!empty($_POST['attending'])) {}
else{
died('Are you attending the convention?  This answer is required.');
}
if(!empty($_POST['email'])) {}
else{
died('Email address is required.');
}

if(!isset($_POST['consent'])) {
died('You must check that you have read and understand the AMV League Rules and Criteria to submit a video.');
}

function IsChecked($chkname,$value)
    {
        if(!empty($_POST[$chkname]))
        {
            foreach($_POST[$chkname] as $chkval)
            {
                if($chkval == $value)
                {
                    return true;
                }
            }
        }
        return false;
    }
    $first_name = $_POST['first_name']; // required
    $last_name = $_POST['last_name']; // required
    $handle = $_POST['handle']; // not required
    $amv_title = $_POST['amv_title']; // required
    $amv_category = $_POST['amv_category']; // required
    $amv_song = $_POST['amv_song']; // required
    $amv_artist = $_POST['amv_artist']; // required
    $amv_anime = $_POST['amv_anime']; // required
    $amv_link = $_POST['amv_link']; // required
    $email_from = $_POST['email']; // required    
    $attending = $_POST['attending']; // required
    $youtube = $_POST['youtube']; // not required
    $consent = $_POST['consent']; // required
     
    $error_message = "";
    $email_exp = '/^[A-Za-z0-9._%-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,4}$/';
  if(!preg_match($email_exp,$email_from)) {
    $error_message .= 'The Email Address you entered does not appear to be valid.<br />';
  }
    $string_exp = "/^[A-Za-z' .-]+$/";
  if(!preg_match($string_exp,$first_name)) {
    $error_message .= 'The First Name you entered does not appear to be valid.<br />';
  }
  if(!preg_match($string_exp,$last_name)) {
    $error_message .= 'The Last Name you entered does not appear to be valid.<br />';
  }
    if(strlen($error_message) > 0) {
    died($error_message);
  }
    $email_message = "Form details below.\n\n";
     
    function clean_string($string) {
      $bad = array("content-type","bcc:","to:","cc:","href");
      return str_replace($bad,"",$string);
    }
     
    $email_message .= "Name: ".clean_string($first_name)." ".clean_string($last_name)."\n";
    $email_message .= "Handle: ".clean_string($handle)."\n";
    $email_message .= "Email: ".clean_string($email_from)."\n";
    $email_message .= "Title of AMV: ".clean_string($amv_title)."\n";    
$email_message .= "Category: ".clean_string($amv_category)."\n";
$email_message .= "Song: ".clean_string($amv_song)." by ".clean_string($amv_artist)."\n";
$email_message .= "Anime Used: ".clean_string($amv_anime)."\n\n";
$email_message .= "Youtube: ".clean_string($youtube)."\n\n";
$email_message .= clean_string($amv_link)."\n\n\n"; 

$amv_category = strtoupper($amv_category);
$email_message .= clean_string($amv_category)."\n";
$email_message .= clean_string($amv_title)."\n";
$email_message .= "\"".clean_string($amv_song)."\""."\n";
$email_message .= clean_string($amv_artist)."\n";
$email_message .= clean_string($amv_anime)."\n";
$email_message .= "Editor: ".clean_string($handle)."\n\n";

$email_message .= "Attending? ".clean_string($attending)."\n\n";

$email_message .= "Full Name: ".clean_string($first_name)." ".clean_string($last_name)."\n";    
$email_message .= "Email: ".clean_string($email_from)."\n\n";

$email_message .= "Download: ".clean_string($amv_link)."\n";  
$email_message .= "Streaming: ".clean_string($youtube)."\n\n";  





$conf_message .="Thank you for your interest.  We have received the following submission from you: \n\n";
$amv_category = strtoupper($amv_category);
$conf_message .= clean_string($amv_category)."\n";
$conf_message .= clean_string($amv_title)."\n";
$conf_message .= "\"".clean_string($amv_song)."\""."\n";
$conf_message .= clean_string($amv_artist)."\n";
$conf_message .= clean_string($amv_anime)."\n";
$conf_message .= "Editor: ".clean_string($handle)."\n\n";


$conf_message .= "Full Name: ".clean_string($first_name)." ".clean_string($last_name)."\n";    
$conf_message .= "Email: ".clean_string($email_from)."\n\n";

$conf_message .= "Download: ".clean_string($amv_link)."\n";  
$conf_message .= "Streaming: ".clean_string($youtube)."\n\n";
$conf_message .= "We will review this submission at our earliest convenience and contact you if there are any further issues.\n\n";
$conf_message .= "Regards,\n";
$conf_message .= "Annie Bowyer\n";
$conf_message .= "Vitamin H Productions\n";  



$conf_headers = 'From: '.$email_toa."\r\n".
'Reply-To: '.$email_toa."\r\n" .
'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion();
// create email headers
$headers = 'From: '.$email_from."\r\n".
'Reply-To: '.$email_from."\r\n" .
'X-Mailer: PHP/' . phpversion();
mail($email_to, $email_subject, $email_message, $headers);  
mail($email_from, $conf_subject, $conf_message, $conf_headers); 

 header( 'Location: https://vitaminh.weebly.com/thankyou.html' ) ; 

}
die();
?>```

If there's any other information you need, let me know.

[Frank419]

@shinyslowqueen

?i=1

Why do I see ?i=1 at the end of a URL

When you first open your website, you may see the extra characters like ?i=1 at the end of your URL. This article explains more about what causes it, and what you can do about it. What causes the ?i=1 suffix? This extra URL parameter is caused by a security system we use to protect your website. This security system ensures that your website can only be accessed through regular web browsers. What does the ?i=1 suffix do? The ?i=1 suffix is a counter. When you first load your website, some Ja…

The system do mess up with request some times, but most of the times it doesn’t.

---

@shinyslowqueen

mail

BTW, mail() won’t work here.

[EdwardHamHam]

Since you’re calling it from another website, the request is likely being blocked by the security system.

Ensuring only web browsers can access your website

InfinityFree is a website hosting service. That means that the hosting accounts we provided are intended for hosting websites. Websites contain pages that are accessed through web browsers. InfinityFree is not intended to be used for file sharing, API hosting, database hosting or background tasks/tools. To help enforce this, free hosting enforces a security system that makes sure that anyone trying to access your website is using a normal web browser. This is done by checking whether the web br…

If you want a seamless experience you could export your site from Weebly and host it on InfinityFree instead.

[shinyslowqueen]

@Frank419

BTW, mail() won’t work here.

It won’t? How come? Is there any other way to make PHP generate an email?

[Greenreader9]

@EdwardHamHam

Since you’re calling it from another website, the request is likely being blocked by the security system.

Probably not. The OP said it was a form, and the code is looking for a POST request, so that means the user is getting redirected to the website, meaning the security system does not have an affect.

[Greenreader9]

Yes, use STMP SMTP. It does not work here due to past abuse of the function.

[shinyslowqueen]

What is STMP, and are there any easy guides as to how to use it?

[Frank419]

There’s PHPMailer.

GitHub - PHPMailer/PHPMailer: The classic email sending library for PHP

You’ll need SMTP from it.

@shinyslowqueen

STMP

This is typo

---

@Greenreader9

the user is getting redirected to the website

Yes, this was the issue! When the ?i=1 thing happen, it strips out every other request parameter. The security system is very indeed in effect.

In order for your form to work, please host your site directly here as @EdwardHamHam suggests.

[Greenreader9]

@Frank419

When the ?i=1 thing happen, it strips out every other request parameter. The security system is very indeed in effect.

No. The initial POST request that is sent still reaches the server, the security system is a JS thing, the browser takes care of that, not the server.

[Frank419]

Well, I just did a quick test and you are wrong. The security system indeed affected the POST parameters, although I don’t exactly know why.

Here are the codes for reference:

form.php (On domain A):

<?php

if( isset( $_POST['param'] ) )
{
    echo $_POST['param'];
} else {
    echo 'Nothing recieved!';
}

form.html (On domain B):

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
</head>

<body>
    <form action="http://domain-a.tld/form.php" method="post">
        <label for="param">Param:</label>
        <input type="text" name="param" id="param" placeholder="Enter the parameter here...">
        <input type="submit" value="Submit">
    </form>
</body>

</html>

Result:

Note that the domain-a.tld in the screenshot is just censorship. I don’t feel like to expose the domain.

[shinyslowqueen]

Is there any way y’all can give me a quick rundown on how to use PHP Mailer and SMTP with my InfinityFree site to generate mail? I’m really kind of clueless here.

[Greenreader9]

@Frank419

I just did a quick test and you are wrong.

Your test did not actually test what I posted.

I said:

@Greenreader9

The initial POST request that is sent still reaches the server

Key word being “initial”. The first POST request reaches the server. The server sees that POST request and responds to the browser. The browser runs the security system and redirects you via a GET request with the ‘i’ parameter. If you told PHP to save the value of your request to a file, SESSION, or database, you would see that the PHP code does in fact run.

---

@shinyslowqueen

Is there any way y’all can give me a quick rundown on how to use PHP Mailer and SMTP

Did you click on the GitHub link? There is an example right there in the README, it even tells you how to install it and set it up.

[shinyslowqueen]

@Greenreader9

Did you click on the GitHub link? There is an example right there in the README, it even tells you how to install it and set it up.

I did and a lot of it went over my head. I downloaded Composer and got as far as “Choose the command line PHP you want to use” and I had no idea what to put there, so I downloaded the zip file and now I can’t figure out what to do with that. Do I just upload all the files to my site? I’m really clueless here.

[Frank419]

@shinyslowqueen

Do I just upload all the files to my site?

You upload these files to your site. You don’t just upload these files to your site, you have to implement these files into your code. Just upload these files have the same effect of not uploading anything.

Proper documentation is also just inside README, including how to use the zip file instead of composer.

[Admin]

You could also start by taking our contact form example and editing it to suit your purpose. There is a readme with some setup instructions. You can download the file and strip the contact form specific parts and only use the useful parts.

GitHub - InfinityFreeHosting/contactform: Simple contact form with PHPMailer