Php > E-Mail

Email a user with out exposing email address

Email a user with out exposing email address

Keeping emails hidden is an increasing concern with all the spam floating around. Here is a way using MySQL and a contact form to allow a group of users on a site to contact each other safely... 

Bastien 

<?php 

//select the email address' from your db 

/* 
CREATE TABLE `contacts` ( 
  `id` int(10) NOT NULL auto_increment, 
  `first_name` varchar(30) NOT NULL default '', 
  `last_name` varchar(50) NOT NULL default '', 
  `email` varchar(75) default NULL, 
  `contact_status` tinyint(1) NOT NULL default '0', 
  PRIMARY KEY  (`id`) 
) TYPE=MyISAM AUTO_INCREMENT=2 ; 
*/ 

if (isset($_POST['submit'])) 
{ 
//submit button pushed call the send_email function 
send_email(); 

}else{ 
//nothing has been pushed so show the form 
show_form(); 

}//end if 

/*
send_mail function 
*/ 
function send_email() 
{ 
        //default values for elements 
        $subject    = ''; 
        $id         = ''; 
        $message    = ''; 
        $your_name  = ''; 
        $your_email = ''; 
        $err_msg    = ''; 
        $headers    = ''; 
         
     
        //get the values from the form handle any errors 
        if(isset($_POST['subject'])) 
        { 
          $subject = $_POST['subject']; 
        } 
        if(isset($_POST['email'])) 
        { 
          $id = $_POST['email']; 
        } 
        if(isset($_POST['message'])) 
        { 
          $message = $_POST['message']; 
        } 
        if(isset($_POST['your_name'])) 
        { 
          $your_name = $_POST['your_name']; 
        } 
        if(isset($_POST['your_email'])) 
        { 
          $your_email = $_POST['your_email']; 
        } 

    if ($id == "" ) 
    { 
      $err_msg = "No person chosen."; 
    } 
         
        //sender's email 
        if(!eregi("^[_a-z0-9-]+(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*@[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,3})$", $your_email)) 
        { 
          $err_msg .= "Your email is not valid. Please re-enter it<br />"; 
          $your_email = ''; 
        } 
         
        //check to see if the other elements have values 
        if(empty($message)) 
        { 
          $err_msg .= "No message set. Please enter a message.<br />"; 
        } 
        if(empty($subject)) 
        { 
          $err_msg .= "No subject set. Please enter a subject.<br />"; 
        } 
        if(empty($your_name)) 
        { 
          $err_msg .= "No sender name set. Please enter a your name.<br />"; 
        } 
         
        //check the err_msg to see if there are any messages 
        if ($err_msg != ''){ 
        //there is an error so build the data into a pipe delimited string and pass it back to the form 
        $data = "$id|$subject|$message|$your_email|$your_name"; 
         
        show_form($data,$err_msg); 
        die(); 
         
        }//end if 
         
        //get the email from the db and send it 
        $sql = "select email from contacts where id = $id"; 
         
        $result = conn($sql); 
         
        if(mysql_num_rows($result)==1) 
        { 
          $row   = mysql_fetch_array($result); 
          $email = $row['email']; 
        } 
         
        //send the email 
        //build the headers 
        $headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0\n"; 
        $headers .= "Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1\n"; 
        $headers .= "X-Priority: 1\n"; 
        $headers .= "X-MSMail-Priority: High\n"; 
        $headers .= "X-Mailer: PHP\n"; 
        $headers .= "From: \"".$your_name."\" <".$your_email.">\n"; 
         
        if (!mail($email, $subject, $message, $headers)) 
        { 
          echo "Email failed!\nTry again"; 
          show_form(); 
        }else{ 
          echo "<script language='javascript'>alert('Mail sent');</script>"; 
          echo "<script language='javascript'>window.location='thankyou.htm';</script>"; 
        }//end if 

}//end function 

/* 
show_form function 
*/ 
function show_form($data='',$msg='') 
{ 
        //show the form for the email 
         
        //the $data='' and $msg='' constructs allow for no information to be passed to the function 
         
        //set defaults for function 
        $subject     = ''; 
        $email       = ''; 
        $message     = ''; 
        $your_name   = ''; 
        $your_email  = ''; 
         
        //explode the string passed back from the send_mail function if there is an error 
        if (($data !="" )&&($msg != "")) 
        { 
                $elements    = explode("|",$data); 
                $email       = $elements[0]; 
                $subject     = $elements[1]; 
                $message     = $elements[2]; 
                $your_email  = $elements[3]; 
                $your_name   = $elements[4]; 
        }//end if 
         
         
        /* 
        optional where clauses could include: 
        1. only active users 
        2. check to see if the user wants to allow contact from others on the site 
        3. only new users (signed up within a certain date) 
        */ 
        $sql = "SELECT * FROM contacts";//[optional where clause to show only people who choose to allow contact] 


    $result = conn($sql); 

        echo "<head><title>Make A Friend</title></head><body>\n"; 
        echo "<table width='100%' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0'>\n"; 
        echo "<form name='email' action='".$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']."' method='post'>\n"; 
        echo "<tr><td colspan='2' align='center'><h2>Email A Friend</h2></td></tr>\n"; 
        echo "<tr><td colspan='2' align='center'> </td></tr>\n"; 
        echo "<tr><td colspan='2' align='center' style='color:red; font-weight:bold;'>$msg</td></tr>\n"; 
         
        //produce the email drop down 
        if (mysql_num_rows($result)>0){ 
          //produce the drop down list 
          echo "<tr><td width='50%' align='right'>Name: </td><td><select name='email'>\n"; //optionally add MULTIPLE to allow sending to multiple addresses 
          echo "<option value=''>Choose One</option>\n"; 
          while ($rows = mysql_fetch_array($result)){ 
            echo "<option value='".$rows['id']."'>".$rows['first_name'].' '.$rows['last_name']."</option>\n"; 
          }//end while 
          echo "</select></td></tr>"; 
        }else{ 
        //if there is a problem, have the user manually enter the email address 
        echo "<tr><td colspan='2' align='center' style='color:red; font-weight:bold;'><br />Currently unable to locate email addresses. There maybe a problem with the database.</td></tr>"; 
        echo "<tr><td colspan='2'> </td></tr>"; 
        echo "<tr><td colspan='2' align='center' style='color:red; font-weight:bold;'>Please enter the email address manually</td></tr>\n"; 
        echo "<tr><td width='40%' align='right'>Email Address: </td><td><input type='text' name='email' size='50' value='$email'></td></tr>\n"; 
        }//end if 
         
        echo "<tr><td align='right'>Subject: </td> <td><input type='text' name='subject' size='50' value='$subject'></td></tr>\n"; 
        echo "<tr><td align='right' valign='top'>Message: </td> <td><textarea name='message' cols='25' rows='10'>$message</txtarea></td></tr>\n"; 
        echo "<tr><td align='right'>Your name: </td> <td><input type='text' name='your_name' cols='25' rows='10' value='$your_name' ></td></tr>\n"; 
        echo "<tr><td align='right'>Your Email: </td> <td><input type='text' name='your_email' cols='25' rows='10' value='$your_email'></td></tr>\n"; 
        echo "<tr><td colspan='2' align='center'><input type='submit' value='Send Email' name='submit'><input type='reset' value='Reset'></td></tr>\n"; 
        echo "</form></table></body>\n"; 

}//end function 
/*
               db connection function 
*/ 
function conn($sql) 
{     
$host = "localhost"; 
$user = "user"; 
$pass = "pass"; 
$db     = "my_db"; 

    //echo "commnecing connection to local db<br>"; 
     
    if (!($conn=mysql_connect($host, $user, $pass)))  { 
        printf("error connecting to DB by user = $user and pwd=$pass"); 
        exit; 
    } 
    $db3=mysql_select_db($db,$conn) or die("Unable to connect to local database"); 

    $result = mysql_query($sql) or die ("Can't run query because ". mysql_error()); 
     
    return $result; 
     
}//end function      

?>