如何获取输入按钮php的值

I am trying to get the value of an input-button, because I am trying to set up a "system" where the user can decide between different options and based on what he have chosen an e-mail get sent with the information. Since I am new to php I am trying to keep it simple.

This is how the input buttons looks like:

<input name="form-thema" class="fwd_btn ipt_btn" type="button" value="VALUE1" />
<input name="form-thema" class="fwd_btn ipt_btn" type="button" value="VALUE2" />  
<input name="form-thema" class="fwd_btn ipt_btn" type="button" value="VALUE3" />

They have the same name but different values, I need to get the VALUE attribute and storage it in a php variable. Since I want to send the information per e-mail.

via PHP

Wrap the buttons inside a form and change the type into type=submit

<form action="handle.php" method="POST">
<input name="form-thema" class="fwd_btn ipt_btn" type="submit" value="VALUE1" />
<input name="form-thema" class="fwd_btn ipt_btn" type="submit" value="VALUE2" />  
<input name="form-thema" class="fwd_btn ipt_btn" type="submit" value="VALUE3" />
</form>

handle.php

<?php

echo $_POST['form-thema'];

?>

via Javascript

I would add an onclick event on each button like so:

HTML

<input name="form-thema" class="fwd_btn ipt_btn" type="button" value="VALUE1" onclick="choose_value('VALUE1')" />
<input name="form-thema" class="fwd_btn ipt_btn" type="button" value="VALUE2" onclick="choose_value('VALUE2')" />  
<input name="form-thema" class="fwd_btn ipt_btn" type="button" value="VALUE3" onclick="choose_value('VALUE3')" />

Javascript

function choose_value(val) {
    alert(val);
    // You probably need to send this to a php file via ajax

}