How to properly display form data using shortcode in a custom WordPress plugin?

Question

I'm creating a custom WordPress plugin that includes a contact form rendered using a shortcode.

Here's my current code:

function custom_contact_form() {
  ob_start();
  ?>
  <form method="post" action="">
    <input type="text" name="name" required>
    <input type="email" name="email" required>
    <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Send">
  </form>
  <?php
  return ob_get_clean();
}
add_shortcode('contact_form', 'custom_contact_form');

I tried:

Using $_POST to capture form data inside the function
Adding action="<?php echo esc_url($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']); ?>" to the form
Checking if the shortcode runs correctly in a page

But I’m not sure how to process the form submission inside the shortcode, or how to show the submitted data.

what I frequently use is sending the form to admin-post.php like in this code : wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/428472/…. if you need more details about how to process the data, you can edit your question to add more details and add the code you tried. — mmm
– mmm, Commented Jul 30 at 6:23
How did using $_POST not work? That's what you'll have to do, but only in the appropriate context - if the form was actually submitted. You could simply check, what $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] contains - but that could go wrong, if for some reason something else causes a POST request to that same page. Giving the submit button a more unique name, and then checking for that explicitly in $_POST, might be a bit safer. — C3roe
– C3roe, Commented Jul 30 at 6:24

vimuth · Accepted Answer · 2025-07-30 12:32:02Z

Check this code. Try adding $_POST like this.

if (isset($_POST['ccf_submit']) && isset($_POST['ccf_nonce_field']) && wp_verify_nonce($_POST['ccf_nonce_field'], 'ccf_nonce_action')) {
        $name = sanitize_text_field($_POST['name']);
        $email = sanitize_email($_POST['email']);


        $output .= '<div class="ccf-success">Thank you, ' . esc_html($name) . '. We have received your email: ' . esc_html($email) . '.</div>';
    }

Here is the full code.

function custom_contact_form() {
    $output = '';
    $name = '';
    $email = '';


    if (isset($_POST['ccf_submit']) && isset($_POST['ccf_nonce_field']) && wp_verify_nonce($_POST['ccf_nonce_field'], 'ccf_nonce_action')) {
        $name = sanitize_text_field($_POST['name']);
        $email = sanitize_email($_POST['email']);


        $output .= '<div class="ccf-success">Thank you, ' . esc_html($name) . '. We have received your email: ' . esc_html($email) . '.</div>';
    }

    $output .= '
        <form method="post" action="' . esc_url($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '">
            ' . wp_nonce_field('ccf_nonce_action', 'ccf_nonce_field', true, false) . '
            <input type="text" name="name" value="' . esc_attr($name) . '" placeholder="Your Name" required>
            <input type="email" name="email" value="' . esc_attr($email) . '" placeholder="Your Email" required>
            <input type="submit" name="ccf_submit" value="Send">
        </form>
    ';

    return $output;
}
add_shortcode('contact_form', 'custom_contact_form');

Here I have added the form submission also inside custom plugin. And also added a validation part.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How to properly display form data using shortcode in a custom WordPress plugin?

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related