Question

Validation

Asked by: adam_pedley

Hi

If i wanted to validate a form before submitting it how would i do this?

I have a lot of validation code already written in PHP so I would prefer not to use Javascript. Although i will definetely use it in the future (far easier) for form validation.

At the moment i have the form submit to itself, then it validates. But after the validation is complete how to i submit that form again to another webpage.

Thanks
Adam

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Asked On
2006-09-13 at 04:06:28ID21987594
Topic

PHP Scripting Language

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
11

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Answers

 

by: TeRReFPosted on 2006-09-13 at 04:10:12ID: 17510727

Can you show us the code?

Also, never rely on JS alone to do the validation, som eusers have JS disabled. Always use a combination of JS and PHP to validate

 

by: stormistPosted on 2006-09-13 at 04:39:53ID: 17510915

Your form validation should take place at the target web page of the form. So instead of submitting that form again to another webpage, move that webpage to the same page that you submit to again. There is an extra step there that is unnecessary. Say your name is formpage.php, and it checks for userid and password and if correct, logs the user in. The first part checks to see if the $_POST is set, if not, it shows the form that points to the same page, if so then it logs the user in and links to the rest of the site. Make sense? :)

 

by: adam_pedleyPosted on 2006-09-13 at 04:42:29ID: 17510925

so if it doesnt validate how do I go back to the previous page with all the data still there?

 

by: Julian_KPosted on 2006-09-13 at 05:08:30ID: 17511092

If it doesn't validate, then you should re-generate the html page with all the "default" values equal to the values of what you got in the $_POST.
this way the user will not have to reenter everything.

 

by: adam_pedleyPosted on 2006-09-13 at 05:21:53ID: 17511188

And how would you do this?

A code example would be helpful

 

by: Julian_KPosted on 2006-09-13 at 05:42:44ID: 17511360

I usually do it in the .php file where the form is originally generated.
For instance, if I have a form with a text field, then it may be written as:

<html>
.....
<form ....>
....
<?php
echo "<input type=text name="thisbox" value=\"{$_GET['thisbox']}\">
?>

</form>

This is just a quick example to give you the idea.

 

by: Julian_KPosted on 2006-09-13 at 05:43:32ID: 17511364

oops, forgot the ";" at the end of the php line ;-)

 

by: Julian_KPosted on 2006-09-13 at 05:45:45ID: 17511380

ooops and the quotes should be escaped ;-)
It should look like:

<?php
echo "<input type=text name=\"thisbox\" value=\"{$_GET['thisbox']}\">";
?>

anyway, this is just an example to see the idea.

 

by: adam_pedleyPosted on 2006-09-13 at 06:39:14ID: 17511819

what im wondering is I have two pages
First page is the form and the second is what will display the details.

I submit the form and the second page validates.
If its correct then the information is displayed, else an error comes up and the user must be taken back to the first page.

What I dont understand is how do I get back to the first page if validation fails.

 

by: ingwaPosted on 2006-09-13 at 09:10:30ID: 17513217

Okay try this:

<?php if(isset($_POST['hiddenvariable'])){
$valid = true; // Define valid as being true until something is found that is not right
if($_POST['name'] == ""){
$errormessage = "you need to enter a name";
$valid = false;
}

if($_POST['email'] == ""){
$errormessage .= "<br>you need to enter an email address";
$valid = false;
}

if($valid = true;){ //do the processing here }

}

?>
<?php if($valid == false;){?>
redisplay form here with form fields retrieving the data that has just been submitted and display the error message.  I.e.:

<?=$errormessage;?>
<form>

<input type="text" name="name" value="<?=$_POST['name'];?>">
<input type="text" name="email" value="<?=$_POST['email'];?>">

</form>

<? } ?>

Hope this helps.

 

by: ingwaPosted on 2006-09-13 at 09:12:53ID: 17513241

Sorry, last chunk of code should look like:

<?php if(($valid == false;)or(!isset($_POST['hiddenvariable'])){?>
redisplay form here with form fields retrieving the data that has just been submitted and display the error message.  I.e.:

<?=$errormessage;?>
<form>

<input type="text" name="name" value="<?php if(isset($_POST['name']){echo $_POST['name'];}?>">
<input type="text" name="email" value="<?php if(isset($_POST['email']){echo $_POST['email'];}?>">
<input type="hidden" name="hiddenvariable" value="1">
</form>

<? } ?>

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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