A very useful and simple script, commonly used by myself, is an automatic PHP mailer using a FOREACH loop to get all the POST data. This method is quick and easy to implement.

Why should I use a FOREACH loop in a PHP mailer?

The answer is simple, this script enables you to get all the field names and values from a form automatically. Lets have a look what I mean..

A very simple form using only 3 text fields

If I was to email the form results using PHP, on my confirm page I would have code very similar to the following…

Now, don’t get me wrong, this works great, and you do have ultimate control over what fields are displayed and how. But imagine a form with say 30+ fields? You don’t want to have to append the field name to the message 30+ times. For 3 immediate reasons:

1. It can be a complete waste of time
2. As there is more code, the chances for a syntax error greatly increase
3. It is repetitive and boring to write

The easiest way around it is to create a FOREACH loop for all the values in POST. An example of said code is as follows:

Basically this code grabs all the fields and values in POST and appends them to the variable $message, which is then mailed. You can take it a little bit further and exclude certain fields that you do not want to see in your email, such as the submit button.

You can download a working form using this PHP mailer here.