[RESOLVED] form validation help please

[lozza1978]

Hi All,

I have a form, which I need to validate before the contents are stored into a mysql database,

At the moment I am using $_POST to grab the names from the form,.

form1.php is posting to validate.php.
This all works and is not a problem,

The prolem is, I would like the form to validate on its own without using validate.php,

If a user mis-types a field and hits submit, the form will fail, I am using HTTP_REFERER to send the user back to the form, but when the user goes back to the form,

The form is empty and they have to input all the details again, If the user pushes back in the browser instead of the back link then the form is still filled out and the user can fill in the missing input,

What im asking for is some way to validate the page and if it fails to go back to the form and just enter the missing field and not all there details again

Does anyone have any good sugestions?

Thanks alot for reading

Lozza1978

[devinemke]

a simple example:

<?php
function form()
{
	global $name, $email;

echo '
<form action="" method="POST">
name: <input type="text" name="name" value="'; if (isset($name)) {echo $name;} echo '"><br>
email: <input type="text" name="email" value="'; if (isset($email)) {echo $email;} echo '"><br>
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit">
</form>
';
}

if (!isset($_POST['submit']))
{
	form();
}
else
{
	$form_check = true;
	foreach ($_POST as $key => $value)
	{
		$value = trim($value);
		$value = stripslashes($value);
		$$key = $value;

	if (!$value)
	{
		$errors[] = $key;
		$form_check = false;
	}
}

if (!$form_check)
{
	echo 'the following fields were not filled in:<br>';
	foreach ($errors as $value) {echo '- ' . $value . '<br>';}
	echo 'please fix these errors and resubmit<br>';
	form();
}
else
{
	// db INSERT here

	echo 'thank you';
}
}
?>

[lozza1978]

Im sorry bud, Im pretty new to php and im not quite sure how your function works, do you mind helping me and writing an idots guide to how the functions works?,

Or can anyone else think of an easier way ?

thanks again

lozza

[lozza1978]

Hi All,

this is my form validation.php, can someone help me add these checks (not very good i know) to the function above,

?>
$error_msg=''; 
      if(trim($_POST['name'])=='' || strlen(trim($_POST['name'])) < 4) { 
           $error_msg.="Please enter a name between 4 to 15 characters long<br><a href='{$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']}'>Go Back!</a>"; 
		 } 
if(trim($_POST['sname'])=='' || strlen(trim($_POST['name'])) < 4) { 
           $error_msg.="Please enter a surname between 4 to 15 characters long<br><a href='{$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']}'>Go Back!</a>"; 
		 } 
          // check if email address have been included / if not lsts error
if(trim($_POST['email'])=='') { 
           $error_msg.="Please enter an email<br><a href='{$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']}'>Go Back!</a>"; 
		 } else { 

	// check if email is a valid address in this format [e-mail]
if(!ereg("[0-9a-z]([-_.]?[0-9a-z])*@[0-9a-z]([-.]?[0-9a-z])*\\.[a-z]", $_POST['email'])) $error_msg.="Please enter a valid email address<br><a href='{$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']}'>Go Back!</a>";
	   	}

   // Now check that all the characters are digits
 if (!ereg('^[0-9]{10,20}$',$_POST['phonen'])) {
 		   $error_msg.="Telephone numbers should contain 10 to 20 digits, Please return to the form and enter you phone number with Country & OR STD code<br><a href='{$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']}'>Go Back!</a>"; 
 		}
if(empty($_POST['topic'])){
			$error_msg.="Please return to the form and enter a Topic!<br><a href='{$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']}'>Go Back!</a>";
		} 

	// display error message if any, if not, proceed to other processing 
if($error_msg==''){ 
           // other process here 
      	} else { 
           echo "<font color=red>$error_msg</font>"; 
		    exit();
} 
?>

I know how to send the info to another page for checking but this is no good, becasue if the form fails validation the user goes back, and the form is empty

i would like to know, how to send the info to the same page and run the validation on the fields?,

any help would be greatly apprecaited,

lozza

[Rodney_H_]

Try this. Instead of using: <a href='{$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']}'>Go Back!</a>";

use this: <a href=\"javascript:history.go(-1)\">Go Back</a>";

It works for me ; - )

[titach]

Hi Lozza,

You haven't to go back to your form after checking it. Here is what you can do in your form1.php :

myFirstData = '';
msgMyFirstData = '';

1) Is this page send by hitself with data ? (Yes, it seems to be crazy to begin with that)
if (isset($REQUEST['submit'])) { // $REQUEST get data send by POST or GET

// get data
myFirstData = $_REQUEST['myfirstdata'];

// check data
if (Data = OK) {
fill in MySql table;
echo 'Your data have been saved !';
myFirstData = '';
} else {
// An error occured !
msgMyFirstData = 'Invalid myFirstData<br>';
}
}
2) Display the form

// form1.php call form1.php. That's why you can check your data at the first step.
<form action="form1.php">

// Displaying the error message or '' if no error
<?php $msgMyFirstData ?>

// Displaying the form field with its value
<input name="myFirstData" value="<?php $myFirstData ?>">
<input type="submit" name="submit">
</form>

You can also modify your data. For this, introduce a status variable to know where do you come from and what you have to do : create (insert statement) or modify data (update statement)

[lozza1978]

Hi there thanks for all the help,

took me ages to work out how devinemke's function worked, But at last I feel as tough I have progressed in my php skills,

The function works great,

thanks again (Y)

[Rodney_H_]

lozza1978 wrote:

The function works great,

Cool. Don't forget to mark the thread "resolved". 😃

Edit: Oh, you did! :o