Email Notification on new MySQL database entry.

Question

I've been creating a blog using tutorials around the web and I have a working comments system but what I would like is if when the user adds a comment that I get an email. I'd really love if you could explain how exactly I could go about implementing a notification. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Current Form:

<form id="commentform" method="post" action="process.php">

<p><input type="hidden" name="entry" id="entry" value="<?php echo $id; ?>" />

<input type="hidden" name="timestamp" id="timestamp" value="<?php echo $commenttimestamp; ?>">

<input type="text" name="name" id="name" title="Name (required)" /><br />

<input type="text" name="email" id="email" title="Mail (will not be published) (required)" /><br />

<input type="text" name="url" id="url" title="Website" value="http://" /><br />

<br />
<textarea  title="Your Comment Goes Here" name="comment" id="comment"></textarea></p>

<p><input type="submit" name="submit_comment" id="submit_comment" value="Add Comment" /></p>

</form>

Process.php:

<?php
if (isset($_POST['submit_comment'])) {

    if (empty($_POST['name']) || empty($_POST['email']) || empty($_POST['comment'])) {
        die("You have forgotten to fill in one of the required fields! Please make sure you submit a name, e-mail address and comment.");
    }

    $entry = htmlspecialchars(strip_tags($_POST['entry']));
    $timestamp = htmlspecialchars(strip_tags($_POST['timestamp']));
    $name = htmlspecialchars(strip_tags($_POST['name']));
    $email = htmlspecialchars(strip_tags($_POST['email']));
    $url = htmlspecialchars(strip_tags($_POST['url']));
    $comment = htmlspecialchars(strip_tags($_POST['comment']));
    $comment = nl2br($comment);

    if (!get_magic_quotes_gpc()) {
        $name = addslashes($name);
        $url = addslashes($url);
        $comment = addslashes($comment);
    }

    if (!eregi("^([_a-z0-9-]+)(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*@([a-z0-9-]+)(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,4})$", $email)) {
         die("The e-mail address you submitted does not appear to be valid. Please go back and correct it.");
    }

    mysql_connect ('localhost', 'root', 'root') ;
    mysql_select_db ('ultankc');

    $result = mysql_query("INSERT INTO php_blog_comments (entry, timestamp, name, email, url, comment) VALUES ('$entry','$timestamp','$name','$email','$url','$comment')");

    header("Location: post.php?id=" . $entry);
}
else {
    die("Error: you cannot access this page directly.");
}
?>

Answer 1

If what you are looking for code in PHP that can send an email, below is one from here for you to look at. Insert the code to send email just before or after you INSERT the comment into your database.

<?php
//define the receiver of the email
$to = '[email protected]';
//define the subject of the email
$subject = 'Test email'; 
//define the message to be sent. Each line should be separated with \n
$message = "Hello World!\n\nThis is my first mail."; 
//define the headers we want passed. Note that they are separated with \r\n
$headers = "From: [email protected]\r\nReply-To: [email protected]";
//send the email
$mail_sent = @mail( $to, $subject, $message, $headers );
//if the message is sent successfully print "Mail sent". Otherwise print "Mail failed" 
echo $mail_sent ? "Mail sent" : "Mail failed";
?>

Requirements:

For the Mail functions to be available, PHP must have access to the sendmail binary on your system during compile time. If you use another mail program, such as qmail or postfix, be sure to use the appropriate sendmail wrappers that come with them. PHP will first look for sendmail in your PATH, and then in the following: /usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/etc:/etc:/usr/ucblib:/usr/lib. It's highly recommended to have sendmail available from your PATH. Also, the user that compiled PHP must have permission to access the sendmail binary.