Simple Form Problem...suggestions?

programguy28

Ok, this is how I usually set up a form -

if(isset($submit))
{

//Process form in this block

}

else
{

//Print out form in this block

}

Now I have a problem though. I want to do form validation a bit differently now. I want to display the form again if the data they entered is not valid. At first, I was thinking - a loop. But I don't think that will work. Anyone have any suggestions?

By the way - I do not want to use Javascript to validate the form (just in case someone wants to suggest it).

thanks

drew010

a practice i use quite frequently is to put the form in a function so its very easy to call it...


if (!isset($_POST['submit'])) {
  registerForm();
} else { //form submitted
  //process data, check for errors.....

  if ($errors) {
    registerForm();
  } else {
    //handle data
  }
}

function registerForm()
{
  echo<<<EOD
<form method="POST" action="{$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']}">
......
......
</form>
EOD;
} //end function

there are ways you can get clever and access the errors within the form so that an error message could be displayed near the form field.

anyway, thats one way of doing it easily.

programguy28

I do have the form in a function as well, actually the class I am building has the form function in it.

I am wondering though, with that set-up what if they entered invalid data as second time? I want the form to re-display until they get it right.

drew010

the code i used above, will re-show the form as long as they have errors, even if its 100 submissions later.

basically, the steps is that it first checks to see if the form is submitted, if it is, it then checks for errors, then if errors are present it redisplays the form.

IF form_not_submitted
  display form
ELSE
  check for errors

  IF there_are_errors  // doesnt know or care how many times submitted
    show form
  ELSE
    process data
  END IF
END IF

programguy28

Yeah, I don't know why I thought it would not work, you are right, it should do just fine - thanks, I appreaciate it.

drew010

no problem. i might be able to find a few forms from sites ive done in the past i could post if you get stuck on implementing it, so just post back if you need more help.