Javascript - Php contact form

I want to add "required fields" alert to my php code,
my code is;

<?php
$field_name = $_POST['cf_name'];
$field_email = $_POST['cf_email'];
$field_message = $_POST['cf_message'];

$mail_to = '_';
$subject = 'Message from a site visitor '.$field_name;

$body_message = 'From: '.$field_name."\n";
$body_message .= 'E-mail: '.$field_email."\n";
$body_message .= 'Message: '.$field_message;

$headers = 'From: '.$field_email."\r\n";
$headers .= 'Reply-To: '.$field_email."\r\n";

$mail_status = mail($mail_to, $subject, $body_message, $headers);

if ($mail_status) { ?>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
alert('Your message has been sent. We will contact you shortly.');
window.location = 'contact1.html';
</script>
<?php
}
else { ?>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
alert('Your message could not be delivered. You can contact us at(_)');
window.location = 'contact1.html';
</script>
<?php
}
?>

any help will be appreciated...

also tried adding a js. code but it still gives "required fields alert" even though all the fields are filled in...I also wanna add "valid mail address" alert in case...

<?php
$field_name = $_POST['cf_name'];
$field_email = $_POST['cf_email'];
$field_message = $_POST['cf_message'];

// that's the code I've recently added...
if( (empty($field_name)) || (empty($field_email)) || ($field_message) )
{
echo '<script>alert("The name and address fields are required.");</script>';
echo '<script>history.back(1);</script>';
exit;
}
//

$mail_to = '_';
$subject = 'Message from a site visitor '.$field_name;

$body_message = 'From: '.$field_name."\n";
$body_message .= 'E-mail: '.$field_email."\n";
$body_message .= 'Message: '.$field_message;

$headers = 'From: '.$field_email."\r\n";
$headers .= 'Reply-To: '.$field_email."\r\n";

$mail_status = mail($mail_to, $subject, $body_message, $headers);

if ($mail_status) { ?>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
alert('Your message has been sent. We will contact you shortly.');
window.location = 'contact1.html';
</script>
<?php
}
else { ?>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
alert('Your message could not be delivered. You can contact us at(_)');
window.location = 'contact1.html';
</script>
<?php
}
?>

would it not be better to check on form submit?



where checkForm() is your function to validate.
It would return false until valid fields are entered.

Thx for help! so where should I put that code then? also want the "mail address alert" to pop up unless the correct type is entered including "@",".com" and so on..

on the page where the form is where you would put it. can you show the form page?

here's the php code;

<?php
$field_name = $_POST['cf_name'];
$field_email = $_POST['cf_email'];
$field_message = $_POST['cf_message'];

$mail_to = '--@--.com';
$subject = 'Message from a site visitor '.$field_name;

$body_message = 'From: '.$field_name."\n";
$body_message .= 'E-mail: '.$field_email."\n";
$body_message .= 'Message: '.$field_message;

$headers = 'From: '.$field_email."\r\n";
$headers .= 'Reply-To: '.$field_email."\r\n";

$mail_status = mail($mail_to, $subject, $body_message, $headers);

if ($mail_status) { ?>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
alert('Your message has been sent. We will contact you shortly.');
window.location = 'contact1.html';
</script>
<?php
}
else { ?>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
alert('Your message could not be delivered. You can contact us at --@--.com');
window.location = 'contact1.html';
</script>
<?php
}
?>

and the code in html ;

<form action="contact1.php" method="post">
Your Name :<br>
<input name="cf_name" type="text" size="25"><br>
Your e-mail address :<br>
<input name="cf_email" type="text" size="25"><br>
Message :<br>
<textarea name="cf_message" cols="30" rows="3"></textarea><br>
<input type="submit" value="Send">
<input type="reset" value="Clear">
</form>

that worked perfect! thanks!

hi i'm new to PHP, could any one tell me how to get the data of a particular column from database of mysql and display it in a listbox on a web page.


Thanks in advance.

you would normally use a sql statement and mssql or mysql not anything client side (unless you use ajax which would be overkill)