I am trying to add a simple "request for information" on a website. The user inputs fort, last name, and email address they get a message back with a link to information they can download. I have been going through some w3school tutorials and have this so far


PHP Code:
<?php
// define variables and set to empty values
$fname $lname $email "";

if (
$_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
  if (empty(
$_POST["fname"])) {
    
$fnameErr "First Name is required";
  } else {
    
$fname test_input($_POST["fname"]);
    
// check if name only contains letters and whitespace
    
if (!preg_match("/^[a-zA-Z-' ]*$/",$fname)) {
      
$fnameErr "Only letters and white space allowed";
    }
  }

if (empty(
$_POST["lname"])) {
    
$lnameErr "Last Name is required";
  } else {
    
$lname test_input($_POST["lname"]);
    
// check if name only contains letters and whitespace
    
if (!preg_match("/^[a-zA-Z-' ]*$/",$lname)) {
      
$lnameErr "Only letters and white space allowed";
    }
  }

  if (empty(
$_POST["email"])) {
    
$emailErr "Email is required";
  } else {
    
$email test_input($_POST["email"]);
// check if e-mail address is well-formed
    
if (!filter_var($emailFILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
      
$emailErr "Invalid email format";
    }
  }

}

function 
test_input($data) {
  
$data trim($data);
  
$data stripslashes($data);
  
$data htmlspecialchars($data);
  return 
$data;
}

?>

<div class="container" align="center">
<h2>Get the "Guide to Understanding Your Credit"</h2>
<p><span class="error">* required field</span></p>
<form method="post" action="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]);?>">  
  First Name: <input type="text" name="fname">
  <span class="error">* <?php echo $fnameErr;?></span>
  <br><br>
  Last Name: <input type="text" name="lname">
  <span class="error">* <?php echo $lnameErr;?></span>
  <br><br>
  E-mail: <input type="text" name="email">
  <span class="error">* <?php echo $emailErr;?></span>
  <br><br>
  <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit">  
</form>

<?php
echo "<h2>Your Input:</h2>";
echo 
$fname;
echo 
"<br>";
echo 
$lname;
echo 
"<br>";
echo 
$email;
echo 
"<br>";

?>


</div>

</body>
</html>
Since the form is using the action to perform htmlspecialchars I don't know how to activate the action that inserts the user data to my database ?