correct way to write this variable in a loop

[martincrumlish]

Hi,

I have a form with variables names that are created from a loop. This is easily done as the names of the variable are output to the name part of an input field.

however, i now am working on some error checking. I have made a loop that is supposed to loop through the submitted variables and check if each one has a value, if it doesnt have a value then an error message will be created. This is ok if I hard code the variable but i need to do something different.

here is the code I have:

for( $x = 1; $x < $number; $x++ ) {
	if(!$odds$x || !$odds$x."a" || !$stake)
	{
		$fail = "you did not complete all the required fields:<p>";
	}
}

Say for example the form I create has 3 rows, that means it will have dynamically created $odds1, $odds1a, $odds2, $odds2a, $odds3 and $odds3a. I now want my for loop to go through these submitted variables and check them. The problem I have is that the way I have written the variables in the code above isnt working, it isnt reading the variables so I am guessing that the problem lies with the $odds$x."a" part.

Can someone help me with this? Its probably something simple.

Thanks.

[jowatkins]

This function will check that every field that is posted is filled out. If you only want to check certain fields, you will need to make it more specific:

function filled_out($form_vars)
{
  // test that each variable has a value
  foreach ($form_vars as $key => $value)
  {
     if (!isset($key) || ($value == ""))
     {
       // echo "$key, $value";
       return false;
     }
  } 
  return true;
}

[Weedpacket]

$x=3;
$odds3='this';
$odds3a='that';
echo ${"odds".$x};
echo ${"odds".$x."a"};

And it would make sense to check $stake outside the loop, if it doesn't depend on the loop variable.

[martincrumlish]

thanks for the reply.

i now have this code

	for( $x = 1; $x <= $number; $x++ ) {
	$var1 = ${"odds".$x};
	$var2 = ${"odds" . $x . "a"};
    if(!isset($HTTP_POST_VARS[$var1]) || !isset($HTTP_POST_VARS[$var2]) || !isset($HTTP_POST_VARS["stake"]) || $HTTP_POST_VARS[$var1] == "" || $HTTP_POST_VARS[$var2] == "" || $HTTP_POST_VARS["stake"] == "") {
    $fail = "you did not complete all the required fields:<p>";
	}

However, this sint working. It picks up the error if there is an entry missing but even if I enter all the values required, it is still being caught as an error.

Maybe i am going about this the wrong way. All I want is simple php error checking that will output an error if there is one and not evaluate a certain chunk of code.

[Weedpacket]

Well, now you're wanting $var1 and $var2 to be the strings "odds1", "odds1a" etc., not the values of $odds1, $odds1a.

if(!isset($HTTP_POST_VARS["stake"]) || $HTTP_POST_VARS["stake"]=="")
	$fail = "you did not complete all the required fields:<p>";
else
{	for( $x = 1; $x <= $number; $x++ ) {
		$var1 = "odds".$x;
		$var2 = "odds" . $x . "a";
		if(!isset($HTTP_POST_VARS[$var1]) || !isset($HTTP_POST_VARS[$var2])
                  || $HTTP_POST_VARS[$var1] == "" || $HTTP_POST_VARS[$var2] == "")
		{	$fail = "you did not complete all the required fields:<p>";
		}
}

[martincrumlish]

mmm, I think maybe I have made a mistake in my variable types and using the " " or ' '

the values of odds$x, odds$x.1 and $stake are numbers

I used your changed code (with the stake outside the loop, good idea 🙂 but it is still catching the error regardless of input

[Weedpacket]

Not sure, but here's some leaner code anyway:

$checkthese = array('stake');
for($x=1; $x<=$number; ++$x)
{ $checkthese[]='odds'.$x;
  $checkthese[]='odds'.$x.'a';
}

foreach($checkthese as $checkthis)
{ if(!isset($HTTP_POST_VARS[$checkthis]
     || $HTTP_POST_VARS[$checkthis]=='')
//Temporary diagnostic line:
    echo "I'm failing because the $checkthis field is empty.";
  $fail="You did not complete all the required fields.<p>";
}

[martincrumlish]

hopefully that code works but first....theres a parse error I cant find:

$checkthese = array('stake');
for($x=1; $x<=$number; ++$x)
	{ 
	$checkthese[]='odds'.$x;
	$checkthese[]='odds'.$x.'a';
	}
foreach($checkthese as $checkthis)
	{ 
		if(!isset($HTTP_POST_VARS[$checkthis] || $HTTP_POST_VARS[$checkthis]==''))
		{
		//Temporary diagnostic line:
		echo "I'm failing because the $checkthis field is empty.";
		$fail="You did not complete all the required fields.<p>";
		}
	}

I made a few changes, I think there was a brakcte missing. The parse error is on line 34 in my code which is if(!isset($HTTP_POST_VARS[$checkthis] || $HTTP_POST_VARS[$checkthis]==''))
in the code snippet u gave me....

[Weedpacket]

Yeah, a ) came adrift and ended up at the end of the line. (That's what I get for writing code in this textbox. Ditto for the {} you spotted were missing.)

if(!isset($HTTP_POST_VARS[$checkthis])
|| $HTTP_POST_VARS[$checkthis]=='')

[martincrumlish]

you are a star! works perfectly! cheers mate!

i was about to give up and hard code them all like this:

if($calc == "Single")
	{
	if(!$odds1 || !$odds1a || !$stake)
		{
		$fail = "<font color=red><b>Error:</b></font><p>You must enter a value for ALL odds fields and the STAKE field.";
		}
	}

if($calc == "Double")
	{
	if(!$odds1 || !$odds1a || !$odds2 || !$odds2a || !$stake)
		{
		$fail = "<font color=red><b>Error:</b></font><p>You must enter a value for ALL odds fields and the STAKE field.";
		}
	}

etc...

Thanks again 🙂

[martincrumlish]

while I have your attention 🙂 heres a little addition I am making to your code for outputting the errors:

$checkthese = array('stake');
$number = $number -1;
for($x=1; $x<=$number; ++$x)
    { 
    $checkthese[]='odds'.$x;
    $checkthese[]='odds'.$x.'a';
    }
foreach($checkthese as $checkthis)
    { 
        if(!isset($HTTP_POST_VARS[$checkthis]) || $HTTP_POST_VARS[$checkthis]=='')

    {
    //Temporary diagnostic line:
    //echo "I'm failing because the $checkthis field is empty.";
    $fail="You did not complete all the required fields.<p>The following fields are missing:<ul>";
	$fail .= "<li>".$checkthis;
	$fail .= "</ul>";
    }
}

I am trying to make it output the text plus a HTML list of the missing fields.

Thanks.

[martincrumlish]

its ok, i worked this out myself.

thanks