display error message

Tiger99

Hi
I am wondering how can I display my data validation error message without erasing the data that the user has already entered in the form?
(eg. I have 2 files(mail.php and mailing.php). mail.php has all the html code that creates a user form interface. mailing.php has the php code to check user data validation and do all the other functions. So, how can I write the code in mail.php or mailing.php to display the error message in the user interface if the user entered the wrong data

Please help

Thanks in advance

rrrsr

This is a copy of what I am using to accomplish the task. Of course, you will need to edit the if and the else conditions to suit your data requirements.

This code, in the if condition case, prints the message you see below for the if condition and likewise for the elseif condition.

The code below including the table must be placed in your file you named mailing php.

I have only my standard page header and then these lines of code and then the email send code and then my standard page footer.

The appropriate output appears in the small table in the top center of the page. And the form is not on the page.

For example, the user has entered unqualified data into the form and clicks Send or Submit (whatever value you gave to your form's action button) then the user follows the instruction "Please use your back button and complete all of the required form fields, then resubmit." The form reappears on the screen with all of the data that was previously entered - if any.

I hope this or some part of it is what you are lacking in your code.
If You need more instruction or comments, I will again attempt to help.

<?php if ($action == ("Send the emails") && ($vstor == "") || ($vstormal == "") || ($recp1 == "") || ($recpmal1 == "")) echo "Please use your back button and complete all of the required form fields, then resubmit." ;

elseif ($action == ("Send the emails") && ($vstor != "") || ($vstormal != "") || ($recp1 != "") || ($recpmal1 != "")) echo "Thank you, $vstor for recommending the URL. You have a dynamite day!" ; ?>

</font></b></td></tr></table>

BTW The html code above is: html 4.01 Transtional

And BTW I validate all of my html, htm and php pages, If you want more info on validation I,ll seend you the URL via email.

Good Luck with your project,

MrAlaska

You have two choices. Either you can redirect back to the form passing the elements in the GET, or you can include all the code on the same page. I prefer the second method.

Since you already have your validation set up, and it seems you already have an error message you want to display on failure, it would be pretty simple to combine the pages employing in 'if' condition. After you validate the posted data and if it passes, you send the form, thank the user, and exit the script so the form does not display.

if (form is posted)
..do validation
..if(no error message)
......send the form
......include confirmation
......exit

display error message if it exists
display form.. populate it with post elements if they exist

EDIT: The above code is the simplest way, but if you have the page wrapped inside a template it will mess with your closing tags, footers, and stuff. Instead of exiting, in that case, you would put the form inside it's own conditional statement.

if (form is posted)
..do validation
..if(no error message)
......send the form
......include confirmation

if((form is not posted) or (error message exists))
..display error message if it exists
..display form.. populate it with post elements if they exist