{"id":117235,"date":"2014-06-23T10:54:01","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T08:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/designmodo.com\/?p=117235"},"modified":"2025-11-11T10:13:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T10:13:35","slug":"wordpress-contact-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/strictthemes.com\/articles\/wordpress-contact-form\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Build a WordPress Contact Form"},"content":{"rendered":"

One feature common to almost every website in the world is the contact form.<\/strong> It can be used to collect feedback, complaints or useful information from website clients and users.<\/p>\n

A typical contact form consists of the following fields – sender name, sender email address, email subject and the message.<\/p>\n

\"Create<\/p>\n

In this tutorial, you will learn to build a simple contact form with a WordPress plugin.<\/p>\n

Contact Form PHP Class Synopsis<\/h3>\n

The contact form<\/strong> PHP class will consist of a property and six methods (known as “functions” in procedural programming).<\/p>\n

[php]
\n&lt;?php
\nclass Designmodo_contact_form {
\nprivate $form_errors = array();<\/p>\n

function __construct() {
\n\/\/ …
\n}<\/p>\n

static public function form() {
\n\/\/ …
\n}<\/p>\n

public function validate_form() {
\n\/\/ …
\n}<\/p>\n

public function send_email() {
\n\/\/ …
\n}<\/p>\n

public function process_functions() {
\n\/\/ …
\n}<\/p>\n

public function shortcode() {
\n\/\/ …
\n}<\/p>\n

}
\n[\/php]<\/p>\n

The private property $form_errors<\/code> is an array that will store all the errors that will be generated by the contact form. I will explain what each class method does as we walk through the coding of the contact form plugin.<\/p>\n

Coding the Contact Form Plugin<\/h3>\n

Like other WordPress plugins, the header is the first thing to go into the plugin file. Below is our contact form header followed by the class declaration and property.<\/p>\n

[php]
\n&amp;amp;lt;?php<\/p>\n

\/*
\n Plugin Name: Designmodo Contact Form
\n Plugin URI: https:\/\/designmodo.com
\n Description: Simple Contact form plugin that just work
\n Version: 1.0
\n Author: Agbonghama Collins
\n Author URI:
\n *\/<\/p>\n

class Designmodo_contact_form {<\/p>\n

private $form_errors = array();
\n[\/php]<\/p>\n

The contact form will be embedded in WordPress via shortcode [contact_form_dm]<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The magic __construct()<\/code> method handles the registration of the shortcode so it is recognizable by WordPress.<\/p>\n

[php]
\nfunction __construct() {
\n\/\/ Register a new shortcode
\nadd_shortcode(‘contact_form_dm’, array($this, ‘shortcode’));
\n}
\n[\/php]<\/p>\n

The contact form HTML code will be in the static form()<\/code> method.<\/p>\n

[php]
\nstatic public function form() {
\n echo ‘&lt;form action=&quot;’ . $_SERVER[‘REQUEST_URI’] . ‘&quot; method=&quot;post&quot;&gt;’;
\n echo ‘&lt;p&gt;’;
\n echo ‘Your Name (required) &lt;br\/&gt;’;
\n echo ‘&lt;input type=&quot;text&quot; name=&quot;your-name&quot; value=&quot;’ . $_POST[&quot;your-name&quot;] . ‘&quot; size=&quot;40&quot; \/&gt;’;
\n echo ‘&lt;\/p&gt;’;
\n echo ‘&lt;p&gt;’;
\n echo ‘Your Email (required) &lt;br\/&gt;’;
\n echo ‘&lt;input type=&quot;text&quot; name=&quot;your-email&quot; value=&quot;’ . $_POST[&quot;your-email&quot;] . ‘&quot; size=&quot;40&quot; \/&gt;’;
\n echo ‘&lt;\/p&gt;’;
\n echo ‘&lt;p&gt;’;
\n echo ‘Subject (required) &lt;br\/&gt;’;
\n echo ‘&lt;input type=&quot;text&quot; name=&quot;your-subject&quot; value=&quot;’ . $_POST[&quot;your-subject&quot;] . ‘&quot; size=&quot;40&quot; \/&gt;’;
\n echo ‘&lt;\/p&gt;’;
\n echo ‘&lt;p&gt;’;
\n echo ‘Your Message (required) &lt;br\/&gt;’;
\n echo ‘&lt;textarea rows=&quot;10&quot; cols=&quot;35&quot; name=&quot;your-message&quot;&gt;’ . $_POST[&quot;your-message&quot;] . ‘&lt;\/textarea&gt;’;
\n echo ‘&lt;\/p&gt;’;
\n echo ‘&lt;p&gt;&lt;input type=&quot;submit&quot; name=&quot;form-submitted&quot; value=&quot;Send&quot;&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;’;
\n\t\techo ‘&lt;\/form&gt;’;
\n }
\n[\/php]<\/p>\n

The validate_form<\/code> method which accept the contact form values as it argument, will validate and ensure that:<\/p>\n