Am I doing something wrong here..?

mak-uk

Hi all

Having worked on various tutorials I am trying to build a mock-dating site to cover learning aspects of PHP including: basics, database manipulation, string handling, forms, validation and sessions.

I have gotten quite far in that I have written a basic script where I can enter various details about a user, eg. forename, surname etc., and have them submitted to a database.

Now I am at my second stage where I have written some validation in PHP (for the form), and want the form to be submitted in the first instance. If there are any errors, to then display the form again for the user to correct their errors and re-submit.

What I have is as follows:

<?php 
	if(!isset($_POST['_SubmitForm'])) {
	// FORM NOT SUBMITTED SO DISPLAY FORM

// Drop-down box queries

// START FORM

<FORM TYPE="SUBMIT" NAME="_SubmitForm_" ACTION="<?php echo($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']); ?>" METHOD="POST">
... etc
</FORM>	

// END FORM

else {

	// FORM SUBMITTED

	// Get user inputs from $_POST
	# FORM has been sent so need to look at values
	$Forename 		= (string) $_POST['Forename'];
	$Surname 		= (string) $_POST['Surname'];
	... etc

	// Create ErrorArray Variable
	$ErrorArray = array();

	// Check each input form user

	// START FORM VALIDATION

	if (!ereg ("[a-zA-Z]{1,}", $_POST["Forename"])) {
			$ErrorArray[] = "Please enter a Forename consisting of alphabetical characters.";
	}
	// Validate Surname
	if (!ereg ("[a-zA-Z]{1,}", $_POST["Surname"])) {
			$ErrorArray[] = "Please enter a Surname consisting of alphabetical characters.";
	}
	... etc

	// END FORM VALIDATION

	// Test to see if ErrorArray has any values
	if(empty($ErrorArray)) {
		# no errors so log user in....
		# this is where sessions come in!!!

		// Enter record into database
	}

	else {
		// Found one or more errors
		$nerrors = count($ErrorArray);
		foreach($nerrors as $error) {
			echo('You have this error:'.$error.' Please correct it.');
		}

	// Now same FORM here again
	?>
	<FORM TYPE="SUBMIT" NAME="_SubmitForm_" ACTION="<?php echo($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']); ?>" METHOD="POST">
	... etc
	</FORM>

 <! ------------------- END FORM  ------------------- >
<?php			

	}
}
?>

This actually works in that the form displays and I can press 'Submit'. However, nothing else happens. i.e. if I submit a blank form, no messages are displayed in regards to validation.

I think I am on the right track more or less but just need a helping hand.

Thanks.

Mak 🙂

kevinsequeira

the first else has a } missing

else {

change to

}else{

and could you post the form cause thats where the problem might be

EDIT : if the form name is SubmitForm you cannot check if its submitted by using this condition

if(!isset($_POST['SubmitForm']))

unless you have a hidden variable called SubmitForm in your form
<input type=hidden name=SubmitForm
value=yes>

reg
kevin

mak-uk

Yes, I realised I was missing the ending curly brace before the else.. Thanks.

Secondly, I have the FORM in two places, so in which one of the two (or both) should:

<input type=hidden name="_SubmitForm_" value=yes>

be placed? Also, does it matter where (beginning or end etc) it is placed in the FORM? 😕

Thanks.

Mak 🙂

p.s. If correcting this doesn't work then I shall post the FORM.

tsinka

Hi,

you set the name of the form to SubmitForm but you check for _SubmitForm

if(!isset($_POST['_SubmitForm'])) {

What if you change it to

if(!isset($_POST['_SubmitForm_'])) {

or still better name the form just SubmitForm and check for that ?

mak-uk

Thanks for spotting that. I have corrected that and named them all to 'SubmitForm'. However, still nothing. i.e. when I submit a blank form, nothing happens.. no validation error messages or anything.

Do I still need to add:

<input type=hidden name="SubmitForm" value=yes>

to the FORM?

If so, to which of the two FORMs or both?

Thanks.

Mak 🙂

tsinka

Hi,

hard to suggest ... can you post the complete code ?

mak-uk

There is a bit too much to post of the complete code but I would be happy to mail it to you (or PM it) if you are happy to help?

Thanks.

Mak 🙂

tsinka

Ok,

send it. If the file isn't too big you could attach it to a post to this thread (rename it to ???.txt because else it would be blocked)

mak-uk

PM'd you a link to the file.

Thanks.

Mak 🙂

kevinsequeira

put
<input type=hidden name="SubmitForm" value=yes>

to both the forms or to avoid confusion add this to both the forms instead

and do the check for

if(!isset($_POST['is_submitted'])) {

instead of

if(!isset($POST['SubmitForm_'])) {

reg
kevin

mak-uk

I have tried that but to no avail.

I think it must be the FORM itself or the script as a whole. I have PM'd the script to tsinka as it is too large to post here. I can PM it to you if you don't mind having a quick look?

Thanks.

Mak 🙂

tsinka

Hi,

I think the erro is here:

            // Found one or more errors
            $nerrors = count($ErrorArray);
            foreach($nerrors as $error) {
                echo('You have this error:'.$error.' Please correct it.');
            }

foreach takes an array as first argument but you give it a number.

Try:

            // Found one or more errors
            $nerrors = count($ErrorArray);
            foreach($ErrorArray as $error) {
                echo('You have this error:'.$error.' Please correct it.<br>');
            }

Thomas

mak-uk

Okay, excellent! 😃 That now works - by changing the counting errors code AND adding the hidden field, as suggest by you guys.

What I was wondering now is, when the FORM is re-displayed (i.e. if it initially contained errors), how do I make it so that fields that are actually 'ok', i.e. correct, do not get erased and are still 'filled in' (where-as, the incorrect fields are blank and ready to be filled in again) ?

Thanks.

Mak 🙂

tsinka

Hi,

first of all:

You select the rows of the database inside the if (!isset($_POST[...])) part of your code (when the form is first loaded. But you use mysql_fetch_array inside the else block (where those queries are missing). Does that work ?

I would suggest to use the form in your code only once since the form seems to be the same.

The form field validation can be put in front of that form by checking the hidden input field to see if the form has been submitted.

You already have a list of strings that represent the posted values like $Forename

In the form validation block you can reset them if they are wrong.
Then simply echo them in the appropriate input tags.

<INPUT TYPE="text" class="forminput" NAME="Forename" maxlength="20" value="<?=$Forename ?>" />

In selects you might have to check if the current value in the record set matches the selected value and add a checked to the option. Nearly the same for radiobuttons.

You might also want to put a red star in front of the form elements that are invalid.

mak-uk

Okay Firstly:

<?php 
	if(!isset($_POST['is_submitted'])) { 

        // START drop down box queries

        // END drop down box queries

        // START FORM

       ?>
<FORM TYPE="SUBMIT" NAME="is_submitted" ACTION="<?php echo($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']); ?>" METHOD="POST">
... etc
</FORM>

<?php
} else {

So do I do the the mysql_fetch_array queries here after the else? Should they be the SAME as the drop-down box queries?

Thanks.

Mak 🙂

mak-uk

Help! 🙁

Thanks.

Mak 🙂

mo0ness

Hey..I haven't read through this whole thread lol, so im not sure if anyone has already said this; but I am going to suggest...

That instead of doing one form, and then another in two seperate places - why don't you use a function holding the HTML that makes the form and then call it in your script when you need it..which is twice for you. It wont make much difference to your result relating to the form; but you want good programming practice - maybe you should concider doing this instead of you having to repeat yourself when printing html.

Eg:

<?php
function DoForm()
{
# Print your form html and anything else that regards this section here
?>

<FORM TYPE="SUBMIT" NAME="is_submitted" ACTION="<?php echo($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']); ?>" METHOD="POST">
</FORM>

<?
}
?>

Then to call the function and print the html you would just do:

<?php
DoForm();
?>

Thats just an example btw 🙂

tsinka

Hi mak-uk,

I had some busy days 🙂

I'd suggest to use just one form without the else echoing the form again.

Something like (in short):

1) fetch the records
2) check If the form has been submitted, validate the elements and reset the invalid ones
3) print the form and set the values of the form elements like I suggested in my last post


// set your variables like Forename to default/empty values to initialize them

// fetch records

// check if form has been submitted and set the variables by the validation process

// print the form and set the values (select the options, select the radio buttons ...)

mak-uk

No problem in regards to you being busy tsinka.

I do understand what you are saying in terms of the pseudo-code/logic but I'm just not sure how to express it in code 😕

Thanks.

Mak 🙂