general form validation advice

irishgirl2004

Hi,
I have a number of forms ( 4 ), each must be completed one after the other. I am looking for advice on how do validate these forms. For example, form1 had aprox 10 text boxes that need to be filled. If a user misses one item , or type invalid data, i want to reload the form, and display the text of this box in red.

Only when all the items on the form are filled can i display the next form, does anybody have an example of such ?

many thanks

Roger_Ramjet

If you want to make sure that all fields have an entry then use a javascript validation function on the page. Waste of everyones time submitting bad data to the server for this. If course if the actual content need more complex validation then you still do that in the target script, but make sure that there is something to validate in the first place.

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/JavaScript">
<!--
function validate()
{
	if (document.form.text1.value == "")
		{ alert ("Please enter your text1");
		document.form.text1.focus();
		return false;
	}
	else 
	if (document.form.test2.value == "")
		{ alert ("Please enter your text");
		document.form.text2.focus();
		return false;
		}
		else
		if (document.form.amount.value == "")
			{ alert ("Please enter the Amount");
			document.form.amount.focus();
			return false;
			}
			else
			if (document.form.currency.value == "Select Currency")
				{ alert ("Please select a Currency");
				document.form.currency.focus();
				return false;
			} 
	else return true;
}
//-->
</script>

// and in the form tag itself you code

<form name="form1" action="validate1.php" method="post" onSubmit="return validate();">

You can use the javascript function to check things like email addr format, content is numeric, etc.

Roger_Ramjet

PS this function goes in the <head>. Search any javascript forum or resource and you'll find dizens of validation functions.

irishgirl2004

i am using the following php code

<?php

if(isset($_POST["submit"])) { // If the form submitted.

$name = isset($POST["name"]) ? $POST["name"] : "";
$phone = isset($POST["phone"]) ? $POST["phone"] : "";
$country = isset($POST["country"]) ? $POST["country"] : "";

if(trim($phone) != "" && trim($name) != "" && trim($country) != "") {

$link = mysql_connect('your_host', 'username', 'password') or die("DB Connection error : " . mysql_error());
mysql_select_db('db_name', $link) or die("DB Selection error : " . mysql_error());

$query = "INSERT INTO your_table(name, phone) VALUES('".mysql_real_escape_string($name)."','".mysql_real_escape_string($phone)."')";
$mysql_query($query) or die("Insert query error : " . mysql_error());
header("Location : redirect_page.php");
exit();

}

if(trim($name) == "" ) {
$nameError = true;
echo "<b> Please fill out the name field. </b> <br>";
}
if(trim($phone) == "" ) {
$phoneError = true;
echo "<b> Please fill out the phone field. </b> <br>";
}
if(trim($countryError) == "" ) {
$countryError = true;
echo "<b> Please fill out the country field. </b> <br>";
}
// similarly other fields

}

<html>
<body>
<form name="myform" action="<?=$PHP_SELF?>" method="POST">
<table border='1' width='50%'>
<tr bgcolor='<?=($nameError) ? "GREY" :""?>'>
<td>Enter your name :</td>
<td><input type="text" name="name" /></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor='<?=($phoneError) ? "GREY" :""?>'>
<td>Enter your phone :</td>
<td><input type="text" name="phone" /></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor='<?=($countryError) ? "GREY" :""?>'>
<td>Enter your Country :</td>
<td><input type="text" name="country" /></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td colspan='2'><input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
</body>
</html>

so, is there a way to get this to go to another page when all the input is correct?

many thanks

Roger_Ramjet

As I said, do the tests for empty fields in a simple javascript function on the input page before posting the data.

Simple input validation like testing for required fields should be done on the client before passing a call to the server. That is the correct way to do it in any client-server environment.

To redirect to another page use the header function so if { invalid } else { header }

Personally, I'd use one general-purpose script that includes the relevent page in the if-else

if invalid { include input error script }
else valid { include new target script }