medtechsimulation

Contact form backend

The contact form on contact-us.html now submits to api/contact.php.

• The frontend auto-detects the API URL, so the same code works on localhost and Hostinger.

• Supported deployment styles: domain root (for example /api/contact.php) and subfolder installs (for example /your-folder/api/contact.php).

• Every valid submission is saved to data/contact_submissions.jsonl.

• An admin email notification is sent for each submission.

Server requirements

• PHP must be enabled on the hosting server.
• PHP mail() must be configured (SMTP/sendmail on the server).
• Optional: set ADMIN_EMAIL environment variable on the server to override the default recipient (info@medtechsimulation.com).
• The website must be served through IIS/Apache/Nginx with PHP enabled (opening HTML files directly from disk will not execute api/contact.php).

Functional requirements checklist

• Contact page can POST to api/contact.php from both /contact-us and /contact-us.html routes.
• Backend validates required fields (name, email, message) and email format.
• Honeypot field (website) blocks basic bot submissions.
• Valid submissions are appended to data/contact_submissions.jsonl.
• Backend returns JSON for all responses.
• Optional email notification is attempted using PHP mail().

Troubleshooting

• If form status shows "Contact service is not configured correctly on this server", PHP is not executing or endpoint response is not JSON.
• If submissions fail with storage errors, grant write permission to the project folder so PHP can create and write to data/.
• If file logging works but no emails arrive, SMTP/mail settings are not configured correctly for PHP.

Windows/IIS setup steps

1. Enable PHP in IIS (FastCGI)

   • Install PHP for Windows.
   • In IIS Manager, open Handler Mappings and ensure *.php is mapped to php-cgi.exe.
   • In IIS Manager, open FastCGI Settings and confirm PHP is registered.

2. Configure PHP mail in php.ini

   • Edit your active php.ini and set SMTP values, for example:

[mail function]
SMTP = smtp.your-provider.com
smtp_port = 587
sendmail_from = no-reply@yourdomain.com

3. Set admin recipient email for this app
   • Add ADMIN_EMAIL as a Windows environment variable (System Properties -> Environment Variables), or set it for the IIS Application Pool identity environment.
   • Example value:

ADMIN_EMAIL=admin@yourdomain.com

4. Restart IIS after changes

iisreset

5. Test
   • Submit the contact form from contact-us.html.
   • Confirm new entries are saved in data/contact_submissions.jsonl.
   • Confirm admin inbox receives the notification email.

Localhost quick start (Windows)

• Double-click start-php-local.bat in the project root.
• It starts PHP at http://127.0.0.1:8000 and opens contact-us automatically.
• Keep that terminal window open while testing the contact form.
• Press Ctrl + C in that window to stop the local server.