Search Requirements

[usernot]

Hello,

I have a search.php page that searches my database and shows the results in a separate page called results.php. The form works great as I can type in a business name or key words/letters and it finds the matching information in the MySQL database and echoes the results. My question...is there a way to set a minimum requirement of two characters in the search form text box before it will search the database? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

[LarsLai]

one possibility is to use javascript, something like:

<script>
function checkFormular()
{
 if (document.yourForm.yourField.value.length < 2)
  {
   alert("You have to type in at least two characters");
   document.yourForm.yourField.focus();
   return false;
  }
}
</script>
[...]
<form  action="yourAction" method="post" onSubmit="return checkFormular()"> 
[...]

[jonno946]

if(strlen($_POST['$search_term'] < 3) {

echo "too short";

exit;

}

// database query here

[usernot]

Thanks LarsLai and jonno946. I tried both but couldn't get them working just right. I tried jonno946's suggestion:

if(strlen($_POST['$search_term'] < 3) {
echo "too short";
exit;
}

and if I entered in a word over 3 characters in length it never would show the results in the results.php page. I think the "exit" just stopped the script whether I have less or more than three character. However, it only showed the text "Your Keyword Must Be Longer Than 3 Characters" if there were less than 3. So I tried this:

//
if(!$search)
{
echo("Please Input Something To Search For");
}
else
{
if(strlen($_GET['search']) <= 3){
print "<p><b>Your Keyword Must Be Longer Than 3 Characters</b><br>";
}
//

It works but not like it should. When I type a single character, say "A" in the search field, it prompts me that "Keyword Must Be Longer Than 3 Characters" (which it should) but it continues to show the results that have the letter "A" in thier business name without stopping the script.

I need to have a script that:

1) Checks for an empty search field
-If it is empty, it prompts "Please Input Something To Search For"
-If it is not empty then it continues

2) Then check to see if the field has more than 3 characters
-If it doesn't, it prompts "Keyword Must Be Longer Than 3 Characters"
-If it does, then it continues with the rest of the script, eventually showing the results

Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[jonno946]

A basic if/else statement.

Information on how to do this is in the manual, so check that out next time, but give this a try;

if(empty($_POST['$search_term'])) {

echo "no term entered";

} elseif (strlen($_POST['$search_term'] < 3)) {

echo "too short";

} else {

// query database and display results here.

}

Jonno

[usernot]

jonno946,

Thanks for the input. I am a newbie and wasn't sure what to look for in the manual.

Here is what I have now:

$search=$_GET["search"];

if (empty($GET["search"]))
{
echo "Please Input Something To Search For";
}
else if (strlen($GET["search"] < 3))
{
echo "Too Short";
}
else {

Which is basically what you told me. I had to change the POST to GET and also the script didn't seem to work with "$search" so I changed to "search."

When the script is run and I don't enter anything in the search text box it prompts "Please Input Something To Search For" and when I type in 1, 2 or 3 characters it prompts "Too Short." That is all correct, however, when I type any amount of characters above 3, it still prompts "Too Short" so it never displays any information for the database. Any ideas?