How do I debug a form which does not send an email? - kohana

Question

I have a form build from the kohana framework which should send an email.
when I press the "send" button, everything seems to work fine...no error messages...but no email turns up!
If I can´t see anything in firebug..where can I look?
the application logs state
"error: Missing i18n entry contact.captcha.valid for language en_US"
but I don´t know how to get to the bottom of the problem..any help welcome..
yours,
Rob
Ill try and find out which version im using.....the application is the latest version of Ushahidi (2.2.1) www.ushahidi.com
<?php defined('SYSPATH') OR die('No direct access allowed.');
/**
* Captcha library.
*
* $Id: Captcha.php 3917 2009-01-21 03:06:22Z zombor $
*
* #package Captcha
* #author Kohana Team
* #copyright (c) 2007-2008 Kohana Team
* #license http://kohanaphp.com/license.html
*/
class Captcha_Core {
// Captcha singleton
protected static $instance;
// Style-dependent Captcha driver
protected $driver;
// Config values
public static $config = array
(
'style' => 'basic',
'width' => 150,
'height' => 50,
'complexity' => 4,
'background' => '',
'fontpath' => '',
'fonts' => array(),
'promote' => FALSE,
);
/**
* Singleton instance of Captcha.
*
* #return object
*/
public static function instance()
{
// Create the instance if it does not exist
empty(self::$instance) and new Captcha;
return self::$instance;
}
/**
* Constructs and returns a new Captcha object.
*
* #param string config group name
* #return object
*/
public static function factory($group = NULL)
{
return new Captcha($group);
}
/**
* Constructs a new Captcha object.
*
* #throws Kohana_Exception
* #param string config group name
* #return void
*/
public function __construct($group = NULL)
{
// Create a singleton instance once
empty(self::$instance) and self::$instance = $this;
// No config group name given
if ( ! is_string($group))
{
$group = 'default';
}
// Load and validate config group
if ( ! is_array($config = Kohana::config('captcha.'.$group)))
throw new Kohana_Exception('captcha.undefined_group', $group);
// All captcha config groups inherit default config group
if ($group !== 'default')
{
// Load and validate default config group
if ( ! is_array($default = Kohana::config('captcha.default')))
throw new Kohana_Exception('captcha.undefined_group', 'default');
// Merge config group with default config group
$config += $default;
}
// Assign config values to the object
foreach ($config as $key => $value)
{
if (array_key_exists($key, self::$config))
{
self::$config[$key] = $value;
}
}
// Store the config group name as well, so the drivers can access it
self::$config['group'] = $group;
// If using a background image, check if it exists
if ( ! empty($config['background']))
{
self::$config['background'] = str_replace('\\', '/', realpath($config['background']));
if ( ! is_file(self::$config['background']))
throw new Kohana_Exception('captcha.file_not_found', self::$config['background']);
}
// If using any fonts, check if they exist
if ( ! empty($config['fonts']))
{
self::$config['fontpath'] = str_replace('\\', '/', realpath($config['fontpath'])).'/';
foreach ($config['fonts'] as $font)
{
if ( ! is_file(self::$config['fontpath'].$font))
throw new Kohana_Exception('captcha.file_not_found', self::$config['fontpath'].$font);
}
}
// Set driver name
$driver = 'Captcha_'.ucfirst($config['style']).'_Driver';
// Load the driver
if ( ! Kohana::auto_load($driver))
throw new Kohana_Exception('core.driver_not_found', $config['style'], get_class($this));
// Initialize the driver
$this->driver = new $driver;
// Validate the driver
if ( ! ($this->driver instanceof Captcha_Driver))
throw new Kohana_Exception('core.driver_implements', $config['style'], get_class($this), 'Captcha_Driver');
Kohana::log('debug', 'Captcha Library initialized');
}
/**
* Validates a Captcha response and updates response counter.
*
* #param string captcha response
* #return boolean
*/
public static function valid($response)
{
// Maximum one count per page load
static $counted;
// User has been promoted, always TRUE and don't count anymore
if (self::instance()->promoted())
return TRUE;
// Challenge result
$result = (bool) self::instance()->driver->valid($response);
// Increment response counter
if ($counted !== TRUE)
{
$counted = TRUE;
// Valid response
if ($result === TRUE)
{
self::instance()->valid_count(Session::instance()->get('captcha_valid_count') + 1);
}
// Invalid response
else
{
self::instance()->invalid_count(Session::instance()->get('captcha_invalid_count') + 1);
}
}
return $result;
}
/**
* Gets or sets the number of valid Captcha responses for this session.
*
* #param integer new counter value
* #param boolean trigger invalid counter (for internal use only)
* #return integer counter value
*/
public function valid_count($new_count = NULL, $invalid = FALSE)
{
// Pick the right session to use
$session = ($invalid === TRUE) ? 'captcha_invalid_count' : 'captcha_valid_count';
// Update counter
if ($new_count !== NULL)
{
$new_count = (int) $new_count;
// Reset counter = delete session
if ($new_count < 1)
{
Session::instance()->delete($session);
}
// Set counter to new value
else
{
Session::instance()->set($session, (int) $new_count);
}
// Return new count
return (int) $new_count;
}
// Return current count
return (int) Session::instance()->get($session);
}
/**
* Gets or sets the number of invalid Captcha responses for this session.
*
* #param integer new counter value
* #return integer counter value
*/
public function invalid_count($new_count = NULL)
{
return $this->valid_count($new_count, TRUE);
}
/**
* Resets the Captcha response counters and removes the count sessions.
*
* #return void
*/
public function reset_count()
{
$this->valid_count(0);
$this->valid_count(0, TRUE);
}
/**
* Checks whether user has been promoted after having given enough valid responses.
*
* #param integer valid response count threshold
* #return boolean
*/
public function promoted($threshold = NULL)
{
// Promotion has been disabled
if (self::$config['promote'] === FALSE)
return FALSE;
// Use the config threshold
if ($threshold === NULL)
{
$threshold = self::$config['promote'];
}
// Compare the valid response count to the threshold
return ($this->valid_count() >= $threshold);
}
/**
* Returns or outputs the Captcha challenge.
*
* #param boolean TRUE to output html, e.g. <img src="#" />
* #return mixed html string or void
*/
public function render($html = TRUE)
{
return $this->driver->render($html);
}
/**
* Magically outputs the Captcha challenge.
*
* #return mixed
*/
public function __toString()
{
return $this->render();
}
} // End Captcha Class

Answer 1

From the little details provided I think your site uses the I18n library from Kohana for internationalization of the site. The other option is your site use Kohana messages for showing form errors.
The Validation class uses the __() function internally when generation validation errors. I think you don't have a message for key valid specified in APPPATH/messages/contact/captcha.php.
You should try to investigate more on how the form is processed and whether some validation errors are being generated. There might be an error in the captcha validation and despite it seem there is no error, there might be and just the error message could not be shown.

Answer 2

class Contact_Controller extends Main_Controller
{
function __construct()
{
parent::__construct();
}
public function index()
{
$this->template->header->this_page = 'contact';
$this->template->content = new View('contact');
$this->template->header->page_title .= Kohana::lang('ui_main.contact').Kohana::config('settings.title_delimiter');
// Setup and initialize form field names
$form = array (
'contact_name' => '',
'contact_email' => '',
'contact_phone' => '',
'contact_subject' => '',
'contact_message' => '',
'captcha' => ''
);
// Copy the form as errors, so the errors will be stored with keys
// corresponding to the form field names
$captcha = Captcha::factory();
$errors = $form;
$form_error = FALSE;
$form_sent = FALSE;
// Check, has the form been submitted, if so, setup validation
if ($_POST)
{
// Instantiate Validation, use $post, so we don't overwrite $_POST fields with our own things
$post = Validation::factory($_POST);
// Add some filters
$post->pre_filter('trim', TRUE);
// Add some rules, the input field, followed by a list of checks, carried out in order
$post->add_rules('contact_name', 'required', 'length[3,100]');
$post->add_rules('contact_email', 'required','email', 'length[4,100]');
$post->add_rules('contact_subject', 'required', 'length[3,100]');
$post->add_rules('contact_message', 'required');
$post->add_rules('captcha', 'required', 'Captcha::valid');
// Test to see if things passed the rule checks
if ($post->validate())
{
// Yes! everything is valid - Send email
$site_email = Kohana::config('settings.site_email');
$message = Kohana::lang('ui_admin.sender').": " . $post->contact_name . "\n";
$message .= Kohana::lang('ui_admin.email').": " . $post->contact_email . "\n";
$message .= Kohana::lang('ui_admin.phone').": " . $post->contact_phone . "\n\n";
$message .= Kohana::lang('ui_admin.message').": \n" . $post->contact_message . "\n\n\n";
$message .= "~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\n";
$message .= Kohana::lang('ui_admin.sent_from_website'). url::base();
// Send Admin Message
email::send( $site_email, $post->contact_email, $post->contact_subject, $message, FALSE );
$form_sent = TRUE;
}
// No! We have validation errors, we need to show the form again, with the errors
else
{
// repopulate the form fields
$form = arr::overwrite($form, $post->as_array());
// populate the error fields, if any
$errors = arr::overwrite($errors, $post->errors('contact'));
$form_error = TRUE;
}
}
$this->template->content->form = $form;
$this->template->content->errors = $errors;
$this->template->content->form_error = $form_error;
$this->template->content->form_sent = $form_sent;
$this->template->content->captcha = $captcha;
// Rebuild Header Block
$this->template->header->header_block = $this->themes->header_block();
$this->template->footer->footer_block = $this->themes->footer_block();
}
}

Answer 3

My problem has been solved!
My Email server was not set up properly. I resolved the postfix issue and now the comments form is working as it should,
thanks to all who answered,
Rob