milinpatel17 on "WordPress stops executing code after the require() method. How to fix it?"

I'm trying to set up SMTP for my custom contact form.

I have placed the latest PHPMailer folder in my theme folder.

I created a page template for Contact Form and added the code for the contact form in it and below it I added the SMTP code like below,

<?php
                require("PHPMailer/class.PHPMailer.php");
                require 'PHPMailer/PHPMailerAutoload.php';
                $mail = new PHPMailer;
                //$mail->SMTPDebug = 3; // Enable verbose debug output
                $mail->isSMTP(); // Set mailer to use SMTP
                $mail->Host = 'localhost'; // Specify main and backup SMTP servers
                $mail->SMTPAuth = false; // Enable SMTP authentication
                //$mail->Username = ''; // SMTP username
                //$mail->Password = ''; // SMTP password
                //$mail->SMTPSecure = 'tls'; // Enable TLS encryption, <code>ssl</code> also accepted
                $mail->Port = 25; // TCP port to connect to
                $mail->setFrom($email, $sendername);
                $mail->addAddress('test@gmail.com', 'Joe User'); // Add a recipient
                //$mail->addAddress('ellen@example.com'); // Name is optional
                $mail->addReplyTo($email, $sendername);
                $mail->addCC('test@testmail.com');
                //$mail->addBCC('bcc@example.com');
                //$mail->addAttachment('/var/tmp/file.tar.gz'); // Add attachments
                //$mail->addAttachment('/tmp/image.jpg', 'new.jpg'); // Optional name
                $mail->isHTML(true); // Set email format to HTML
                $mail->Subject = 'Test Mail';
                $comment = $comment . "\r\n<br/>" . "<br/>\r\nIP Address: " . $id . "<br/>\r\nUser Agent: " . $browser . "<br/>\r\nUser Agent: " . "<br/>\r\nReferrer: " . $referrer . "<br/>\r\nCity: " . $city . "<br/>\r\nRegion: " . $region . "<br/>\r\nCountry: " . $country . "<br/>\r\nLatitude: " . $latitude . "<br/>\r\nLongitude: " . $longitude;
                $mail->Body    = $comment;
                $mail->AltBody = $comment;
                if($sendernameErrFlag == 0 && $emailErrFlag == 0 && $subjectErrFlag == 0 && $commentErrFlag == 0) {
                    $mail->send();
                    echo "hi";
                    $pagelink = the_permalink();
                    echo '<div id="popup1" class="overlay">
                        <div class="popup">
                            <a class="close" href="' . $pagelink . '">&times;</a>
                            <div class="content">
                                Message sent successfully!!!
                            </div>
                        </div>
                    </div>';
                    //echo '<script>alert("Message sent successfully!!!");</script>';
                } else {
                    $sendernameErrFlag = $emailErrFlag = $subjectErrFlag = $commentErrFlag = 2;
                }
            ?>

But when I submit the contact form, wordpress stops executing code when it reaches the line with the require() is written. Any and all code writting below it is not executed.

If I place the require() above the form then the form also doesn't display in the page. If I place it in the header the whole page doesn't display.

What seems to be the problem here? Why is WordPress not accepting and executing the require()?