Undefined Index Errors

blckspder

Hello,

My forms have been working great for months now..... all of the sudden today several of the self processing forms are giving undefined index errors.... What could cause this???

here is an example:
http://www.sono-tek.com/forms/webmaster.php

Ill post the script if needed.. but I have a feeling that maybe the hosting company changed something???? Please let me know

Thanks.

Installer

This sounds like a classic case of the hosting company changing "register_globals" from on to off.

blckspder

Thats what I was thinking too, I for the life of me dont know why they would do that either.... well thanks for confirming my suspicions.

crazychris

You should always assume and code for register globals to be off. Utilise the $POST $GET $REQUEST $SESSION variables, that way you are sure of where they came from, how they got there, and can be fairly sure you don't accidently reuse or overwrite a variable in the script

blckspder

I am using the $_POST to extract data from the forms.

Weedpacket

The error message is saying that you're looking up array elements that don't exist - they haven't been initialised yet. From what you say, it's most likely (the error message would point you in the right direction by saying where you're doing it and the element you're trying to use) you're trying to use the value of something in the $_POST array without first checking (with [man]isset[/man] or [man]empty[/man]) to see if it's even there.

blckspder

so if it worked before but now im getting those errors then the hosting company did change something... so if i put for example

if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {

   PHP code to validate and process form
}

that will fix the error?

Weedpacket

Yep; that will fix it. It's a change in the configuration file (the error reporting level). You should always do your developing with error reporting turned up to report all errors (including these Notice-level ones) so that you can fix them.

When you're done, and the site goes live, the error reporting level could be turned down a notch or two, but their display should be turned off (it's a security risk to have your error messages blatted across the page for all the world to see). Maybe that's what your hosting provider meant to do?

blckspder

maybe who knows... Im growing rather tired of the them Ive been looking for somewhere else.. It took them 6 months to finally open the port so I could connect to the MySQL database through PHP... :glare: lol, well anyways thanks for the help

blckspder

I got the errors to disappear for the most part however the date variable is still popping up as undefined index error... I have the date scripted in the form to show automatically using the date function with in the value attribute of the date text box..

http://www.sono-tek.com/forms/webmaster.php

here is my processing code.

<?PHP
//updated on 01/10/06 Antoni Sousa
session_start();

if(isset($_POST['sendform'])) {
//pull from form
$name = $_POST['name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$date = $_POST['date'];
$subject = $_POST['subject'];
$comments = $_POST['comments'];
}

//for email
$headers = "MIME-Version: 1.0\r\n";
$headers .= "Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1\r\n";
$headers = "From: $name <$email>";
$body = "$name\n$date\n$subject\n$email\n$comments";

//validation errors
$emailerror = "";
$validerror = "";
$commenterror = "";

//hold information entered into form if error reload occurs
session_register("name");
session_register("email");
session_register("date");
session_register("subject");
session_register("comments");

//validate form and random number
if (isset($_POST['txtNumber'])) {
$number = $_POST['txtNumber'];

if (empty($email)){
	$emailerror = "<tr>
						<td colspan=2 class=emptyfield>! Please provide an email address !</td>
			   	   </tr>";
	} else {
		$emailerror = NULL;
		}

if (empty($comments)) {
		$commenterror = "<tr>
							<td colspan=2 class=emptyfield>! Please describe your question or error !</td>
					 	</tr>";
   	} else {
		$commenterror = NULL;
		}

	//send mail out
if( ($emailerror == NULL && $commenterror == NULL) && (md5($number) == $_SESSION['image_random_value']) ) {
			mail('websupport@sono-tek.com',$subject,$body,$headers);
			header("location:http://www.sono-tek.com/contact/thanks.php");
		exit;
		} else {
		$validerror = "<tr>
							<td colspan=2 class=emptyfield>! You must enter the CORRECT Validation Number to continue !</td>
					   </tr>";	
		}
	} 
?>

blckspder

Ok It looks like i got it to work.. Thanks everyone