I’m using a fairly simple php script to process a contact form. The web page the form is on is coded in UTF-8. The problem is when someone from another country that has special characters fills out the form it comes in al jumbed like this:
Bitte Rückmeldung bezüglich Pektine
I’m sure there’s some um lauds etc missing in there. How can I prevent this? I googled around but any solutions seemed to be geared toward PHP developers. I’m a noob so I need it dumbed down.
Thanks!!!
Here is my form processor code:
<?php
// ###########################################################################
// #### CONFIGURE FROM: ADDRESS ##############################################
// THIS AREA IS OPTIONAL. ONLY TOUCH THESE SETTINGS IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE
// DOING. PLEASE READ README.TXT FOR MORE INFORMATION.
// If you would like to specify the From: address of emails sent by DynaForm,
// enter it between the double quotes below. If you leave this blank, the
// server will assign the default email address.
$from_address = "contact@website.com";
// ###########################################################################
// ###########################################################################
// ###########################################################################
// #### ACTIVATE REQUIRED FIELDS? ############################################
// THIS AREA IS OPTIONAL. ONLY TOUCH THESE SETTINGS IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE
// DOING. PLEASE READ README.TXT FOR MORE INFORMATION.
//
// If you would like to make some fields of your form required, change "no" to
// "yes" below.
$required_on = "yes";
// If you have set $required_on to "yes" above, you can make fields required
// by beginning their name with "r_". For example, if you want to require
// a user to enter their name, use the following HTML:
//
// <input type='text' name='r_Name'>
//
// If a user fails to enter a required field, they will be taken to a page
// where a message such as "You have not completed all the required fields."
// will be displayed. Please specify the URL to this file below:
$required_errorpage = "../../contact-error.html";
// ###########################################################################
// ###########################################################################
// ###########################################################################
// #### OVERRIDE REQUIRED VARIABLES? #########################################
// THIS AREA IS OPTIONAL. ONLY TOUCH THESE SETTINGS IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE
// DOING. PLEASE READ README.TXT FOR MORE INFORMATION. NOTE: THIS WILL NOT
// AFFECT YOUR 'TURN ON REQUIRED FIELDS?' SECTION SETTINGS ABOVE.
//
// If you would like to override the three required variables in
// order to hide your email address, email subject, and thank you page
// URL from your email form, change "no" to "yes" below.
$override = "yes";
// If override is set to "yes", the hidden variables on your HTML
// email form named "rec_mailto", "rec_subject", and "rec_thanks" will be
// overridden and can therefore be removed from the form.
// If you have set override to "yes" above, you must specify new values for
// each of these variables below.
// Enter the email address(es) to send the email to.
$incoming_mailto = "HIDDEN";
// Enter the email subject.
$incoming_subject = "Contact Form submission from HIDDEN";
// Enter the thank you page URL.
$incoming_thanks = "../../contact-thanks.html";
// ###########################################################################
// ###########################################################################
// ###########################################################################
// #### BAN IP ADDRESSES? ####################################################
// THIS AREA IS OPTIONAL. ONLY TOUCH THESE SETTINGS IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE
// DOING. PLEASE READ README.TXT FOR MORE INFORMATION.
//
// If you would like to ban certain IP addresses from submitting your form,
// change "no" to "yes" below.
$ban_ip_on = "no";
// If you have set $ban_ip_on to "yes" above, please enter a list of the
// IP addresses you would like to ban, seperated only by commas.
// An example has been provided below:
$ban_ip_list = "111.222.33.55,11.33.777.99";
// ###########################################################################
// ###########################################################################
// ###########################################################################
// #### ACTIVATE DOMAIN SECURITY? ############################################
//
// THIS AREA IS OPTIONAL. ONLY TOUCH THESE SETTINGS IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE
// DOING. PLEASE READ README.TXT FOR MORE INFORMATION.
//
// This setting, when set to "yes" (default), will check to make sure other
// people are not submitting data to your dynaform.php file from their
// external domains. This means that if your domain name is "www.mysite.com",
// only forms on "www.mysite.com" will be able to use this dynaform.php.
// IF YOU ARE RECEIVING ERRORS SUCH AS "INVALID DOMAIN" FOR NO REASON, PLEASE
// CHANGE "yes" TO "no" BELOW.
$secure_domain_on = "no";
// ###########################################################################
// ###########################################################################
// ###########################################################################
// #### ACTIVATE AUTO-RESPONSE? ##############################################
//
// THIS AREA IS OPTIONAL. ONLY TOUCH THESE SETTINGS IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE
// DOING. PLEASE READ README.TXT FOR MORE INFORMATION.
//
// This setting, when set to "yes", will make DynaForm automatically reply to
// the user who submitted your form with an email message. If you would like
// to use this feature, change "no" to "yes" below.
$autorespond_on = "no";
// If you have set $autorespond_on to "yes" above, you must specify a subject,
// from-address, and message to include in the auto-response email.
// The following setting is the subject of the auto-response email:
$autorespond_subject = "Your Form Submission";
// The following setting is the from-address of the auto-respond email:
$autorespond_from = "youremail@yoursite.com";
// The following setting is the message of your auto-response email:
$autorespond_contents = "Your submission from our website has been received. Thank you!";
// DynaForm also needs to know how to retrieve the user's email address.
// You must specify the name of the field into which the user will enter
// their email address. For example, if your email form contains an input
// field like "<input type='text' name='Email'>" you would set the
// following setting to "Email".
$autorespond_mailto_field = "Email";
// ###########################################################################
// ###########################################################################
// MAKE SURE DYNAFORM IS NOT BEING LOADED FROM THE URL
if($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == "GET") {
echo "
<html>
<head><title>Webligo PHP DynaForm is installed correctly.</title></head>
<body>
<font style='font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 9pt;'>
<b>DynaForm is installed correctly.</b></font><br>
<font style='font-family: verdana, arial; font-size: 8pt;'>
DynaForm Easy PHP Form Mailer was created by <a href='http://www.webligo.com'>Webligo Developments</a>.
</font>
</body></html>
";
exit();
}
// SET VARIABLES
$incoming_fields = array_keys($_POST);
$incoming_values = array_values($_POST);
if($override == "no") {
$incoming_mailto = $_POST['rec_mailto'];
$incoming_subject = $_POST['rec_subject'];
$incoming_thanks = $_POST['rec_thanks'];
}
$incoming_mailto_cc = $_POST['opt_mailto_cc'];
$incoming_mailto_bcc = $_POST['opt_mailto_bcc'];
$form_url = $_POST[HTTP_REFERER];
// MAKE SURE DYNAFORM IS BEING RUN FROM THE RIGHT DOMAIN
if($secure_domain_on == "yes") {
$form_url_array = parse_url($form_url);
$form_domain = $form_url_array[host];
if($form_domain != $_SERVER[HTTP_HOST]) {
echo "<h2>DynaForm Error - Invalid Domain</h2>
You have accessed DynaForm from an external domain - this is not allowed.<br>
You may only submit forms to a DynaForm file that exists on the same domain name.<br>
If you believe to be receiving this message in error, please refer to your readme.txt file.
<br><br>";
$error = "yes";
}
}
// CHECK IF MAILTO IS SET
if($incoming_mailto == "") {
echo "<h2>DynaForm Error - Missing Field</h2>
Your form located at <a href='$form_url'>$form_url</a> does not work because you forgot to include
the required \\"<b>rec_mailto</b>\\" field within the form. This field specifies who the email will
be sent to.
<br><br>
This should look like:<br>
<input type=\\"hidden\\" name=\\"rec_mailto\\" value=\\"youremail@yoursite.com\\">
<br><br>
If you are still confused, please refer to the readme.txt for more information and examples.<br><br><br><br>
";
$error = "yes";
}
// CHECK IF SUBJECT IS SET
if($incoming_subject == "") {
echo "<h2>DynaForm Error - Missing Field</h2>
Your form located at <a href='$form_url'>$form_url</a> does not work because you forgot to include
the required \\"<b>rec_subject</b>\\" field within the form. This field specifies the subject of
the email that will be sent.
<br><br>
This should look like:<br>
<input type=\\"hidden\\" name=\\"rec_subject\\" value=\\"New DynaForm Email\\">
<br><br>
If you are still confused, please refer to the readme.txt for more information and examples.<br><br><br><br>
";
$error = "yes";
}
// CHECK IF THANKS IS SET
if($incoming_thanks == "") {
echo "<h2>DynaForm Error - Missing Field</h2>
Your form located at <a href='$form_url'>$form_url</a> does not work because you forgot to include
the required \\"<b>rec_thanks</b>\\" field within the form. This field specifies what page the user
will be taken to after they submit the form.
<br><br>
This should look like:<br>
<input type=\\"hidden\\" name=\\"rec_thanks\\" value=\\"thanks.html\\">
<br><br>
If you are still confused, please refer to the readme.txt for more information and examples.<br><br><br><br>
";
$error = "yes";
}
// CHECK IF IP ADDRESS IS BANNED
if($ban_ip_on == "yes") {
if(strstr($ban_ip_list, $_SERVER[REMOTE_ADDR])) {
echo "<h2>DynaForm Error - Banned IP</h2>
You cannot use this form because your IP address has been banned by the administrator.<br>
";
$error = "yes";
}
}
if($error == "yes") {
exit();
}
// SET EMAIL INTRODUCTION
$message = "This email was received from your Contact Form located at HIDDEN \
\
";
// LOAD EMAIL CONTENTS
for ($i = 0; $i < count($incoming_fields); $i++) {
if($incoming_fields[$i] != "rec_mailto") {
if($incoming_fields[$i] != "rec_subject") {
if($incoming_fields[$i] != "rec_thanks") {
if($incoming_fields[$i] != "opt_mailto_cc") {
if($incoming_fields[$i] != "opt_mailto_bcc") {
// CHECK FOR REQUIRED FIELDS IF ACTIVATED
if($required_on == "yes") {
$sub = substr($incoming_fields[$i], 0, 2);
if($sub == "r_") {
if($incoming_values[$i] == "" OR !isset($incoming_values[$i]) OR $incoming_values[$i] == " ") {
header("Location: $required_errorpage");
exit();
}}}
// ADD FIELD TO OUTGOING MESSAGE
$message .= "$incoming_fields[$i]:\
$incoming_values[$i]\
\
";
}}}}}}
// SET EMAIL FOOTER
$message .= "\
\
";
// CLEAR HEADERS
$headers = "";
// ADD FROM ADDRESS
if($from_address != "") {
$headers .= "From: $from_address\\r\
";
}
// CHECK FOR CC OR BCC
if($incoming_mailto_cc != "") {
$headers .= "Cc: $incoming_mailto_cc\\r\
";
}
if($incoming_mailto_bcc != "") {
$headers .= "Bcc: $incoming_mailto_bcc\\r\
";
}
// SEND EMAIL
mail($incoming_mailto, $incoming_subject, $message, $headers);
// SEND AUTO-RESPONSE IF ACTIVATED
if($autorespond_on == "yes") {
$autorespond_mailto = $_POST[$autorespond_mailto_field];
$autorespond_headers = "From: $autorespond_from";
mail($autorespond_mailto, $autorespond_subject, $autorespond_contents, $autorespond_headers);
}
// FORWARD TO THANK YOU PAGE
header("Location: $incoming_thanks");
?>