Notice: Undefined index message

[stealthmode666]

New to .php so need script help.
I want to know how to stop this being displayed when I click submit.

Notice: Undefined index: homeowner in E:\domains\r\...\user\htdocs\...\form.php on line 166

I have an array which takes filled in fields and blank fields and sends them via email.
I DON'T need the user to fill in all the fields which is resulting in this notice on every field that is not filled in. I do need the fields to be sent tho' even if blank.
I have posted the scipt i have managed to piece together if this will help.
somehow I need the blank fields not to show me this notice.
I have started my .php script with this

<?php 
$to = $_REQUEST['sendto'] ; 
$from = $_REQUEST['Email'] ;
$name = $_REQUEST['Member_Name'] ; 
$headers = "From: $from"; 
$subject = "......"; 
 
$fields = array(); //I HAVE ABOUT 100 FIELDS
 
$body = ".........:\n\n"; foreach($fields as $a => $b){ $body .= sprintf("%20s: %s\n",$b,$_REQUEST[$a]); } 
 
$headers2 = "From: .......@....."; 
$subject2 = "Thank-you ......."; 
$autoreply = "Somebody.......";
 
if($from == '') {print "You have not ....";} 
else { 
if($name == '') {print "You have not .......";} 
else { 
$send = mail($to, $subject, $body, $headers); 
$send2 = mail($from, $subject2, $autoreply, $headers2); 
if($send) 
{header( "Location: http.....com/.../thankyou.html" );} 
else 
{print "We encountered an error sending your mail, please notify ...@...."; } 
 }
 }
?>

Sorry, but completey new to .php so I have no idea what i have to do to stop this notice from displaying, or how to script it into the above.
Any help will be appreciated.

[Markus]

Stealthmode666,

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Thanks,
Moderator.

[Markus]

You should check with isset() that the array index exists - or you could use ternary operator to set a default value if it doesn't exist.

Consider the following:

// This will give an index warning because the index doesn't exist.
$Oh_Crap = $_GET['this_index_doesnt_exist'];
 
// This helps
if( isset ($_GET['imaginary_index'] ) )
{
    // index exists; play with it.
}
else
{
    // index doesn't exist; shout at it!
}
 
// or this:
$This_is_better = ($_GET['imaginary_index'] ? $_GET['imaginary_index'] : "Index doesn't exist");
 

Any questions?

Thanks,
Markus.

[stealthmode666]

Thanks for that, but I have no idea where to insert this?
I am trying to learn as fast as I can and understand very simple things. I can code in html, css etc but beyond that i'm really struggling, 3 days ago I managed to create a webform, upload it to a webhost, and get the form data to be sent back to me via email and the script above. I am trying to cram in as many tutorials as I can but to be honest a lot of them are incomplete and I need to see them from beginning to end - maybe i'm looking at the wrong websites? sorry for being so dumb but I have to start somewhere.

[Markus]

@stealthmode666
Ok, the best sites for learning PHP:

• Tizag.com
• W3schools.com
• PHP.net

Be sure to use them!

Ok, so what I was saying before was: you need to check the the array index actually has a value. To do that, we can use a few things, but mainly we use isset(). However, I think that'll fatten your code up a bit. Instead, use the ternary operator to assign a default value to your variable if there is no value at the array index. Like follows:

$to = ( isset ($_REQUEST['sendto']) ? $_REQUEST['sendto'] : "default 'to' email goes here" ); 
$from = ( isset ($_REQUEST['Email']) ? $_REQUEST['sendto'] : "default 'from' email goes here' ) ;
$name = ( isset ($_REQUEST['Member_Name']) ? $_REQUEST['Member_Name'] : "Default member name goes here' ) ; 
 

Basically, the warning is saying that the form was not filled out so there are no values in the $_POST, $_GET or $_COOKIE arrays.

[stealthmode666]

Thank-you so much for your help.
I have used your script but 2 out of 3 have some problems my end.

I have dragged all my script into dreamweaver to allow me to see the colors which are helping me by showing different tags and types.

The $to script I have put in place and commented out my old one.
Sucess, it works great.
I do not get any notices as long as I fill in the email field.

Then I introduced the next script which is the $from script.
This one has caused all code under it including comments to show all in red.

The $name script has the same effect and problem.
Do you need to see what i've done and where I've put all this?

[Markus]

@stealthmode666
Ah, that's my fault. Sorry. I've mismatched the quotes, so they aren't closing properly.

Here's the last 2 lines revised:

$from = ( isset ($_REQUEST['Email']) ? $_REQUEST['sendto'] : "default 'from' email goes here" ) ;
$name = ( isset ($_REQUEST['Member_Name']) ? $_REQUEST['Member_Name'] : "Default member name goes here" ) ; 
 

I must've been half asleep when I wrote that...

My apologies.

Markus.

[stealthmode666]

I never expected a reply so quickly, so went looking and discovered the single quote instead of double.


Dreamweaver has helped me with the colours in the sense it caused me to investigate why, so down this long and wonderful road I guess I am starting to learn something.

You know I will be back. I will mark this thread as solved.

[Markus]

@stealthmode666
Aha, well you got it! And good job.


@stealthmode666
Syntax highlighting is one of the beautiful luxuries in life.

@stealthmode666
Great stuff.

See you around,
Markus.

[stealthmode666]

Back again, Still got a page of notices. The last one on the page is the actual field that has not been filled in. I need the user to fill in 2 fields min. then they can hit submit. There are about 100 or so fields and if they don't fill in the 2 required fields or just hit the submit button I'm still getting the page of notices.
As long as the 2 fields are filled in then all is fine.
i just want it to throw an error to tell them to go back and do what was asked as i need the field information

[stealthmode666]

This is one of two scripts i'm using. Both are the same with the data fields in an array and the first script with about 10 fields on the page works no problem. If the user hits the submit it shows the field that needs to be filled in (I display text to tell them to go back and fill-in the required field) without all the notices appearing about undefined indexes.
I don't understand why one works perfectly and the other one shows all the unfilled fields?

[stealthmode666]

Solved the notice:Undefined index in /....... 128
I used .js to insert a space in blank fields left by the user.