[RESOLVED] force user to enter characters into a form field?

blckspder

hello,
I have a form that our visitors need to use to sign up for our newsletter... Country is a required field on this form.. and I have it set up for PHP to check and make sure some thing was entered but what I am finding is that lot of visitors are just putting in several spaces. I have it validating to make sure something was put it in and to make sure that it wasnt just one space.. but if they enter multiple spaces the form processes. Is there any way or built in function that anyone knows about that will make sure that characters are entered and just not a series of spaces? or will I have to look to javascript for that?? please let me know and thanks.

NogDog

I usually [man]trim/man all the leading/trailing white-spaces from the inputs. You can simply clean up all the inputs with:

array_walk_recursive($_POST, create_function('&$val, $key', '$val = trim($val);')

digital_skwerl

blckspdr,

Have you considered using a menu so the user can Select the country instead of type it? You will have to generate and maintain a countries array but you will definitely collect much more accurate data (and solve your problem).

Here's a nice sticky menu using states instead of countries. Have a look...

$states = array ( 
'AL'=>'ALABAMA', 
'AK'=>'ALASKA', 
'AZ'=>'ARIZONA', 
'AR'=>'ARKANSAS', 
'CA'=>'CALIFORNIA', 
'CO'=>'COLORADO', 
'CT'=>'CONNECTICUT', 
'DE'=>'DELAWARE', 
'DC'=>'DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA', 
'FL'=>'FLORIDA', 
'GA'=>'GEORGIA', 
'HA'=>'HAWAII', 
'ID'=>'IDAHO', 
'IL'=>'ILLINOIS', 
'IN'=>'INDIANA', 
'IA'=>'IOWA', 
'KS'=>'KANSAS', 
'KY'=>'KENTUCKY', 
'LA'=>'LOUISIANA', 
'ME'=>'MAINE', 
'MD'=>'MARYLAND', 
'MA'=>'MASSACHUSETTS', 
'MI'=>'MICHIGAN', 
'MN'=>'MINNESOTA', 
'MS'=>'MISSISSIPPI', 
'MO'=>'MISSOURI', 
'MT'=>'MONTANA', 
'NE'=>'NEBRASKA', 
'NV'=>'NEVADA', 
'NH'=>'NEW HAMPSHIRE', 
'NJ'=>'NEW JERSEY', 
'NM'=>'NEW MEXICO', 
'NY'=>'NEW YORK', 
'NC'=>'NORTH CAROLINA', 
'ND'=>'NORTH DAKOTA', 
'OH'=>'OHIO', 
'OK'=>'OKLAHOMA', 
'OR'=>'OREGON', 
'PA'=>'PENNSYLVANIA', 
'RI'=>'RHODE ISLAND', 
'SC'=>'SOUTH CAROLINA', 
'SD'=>'SOUTH DAKOTA', 
'TN'=>'TENNESSEE', 
'TX'=>'TEXAS', 
'UT'=>'UTAH', 
'VT'=>'VERMONT', 
'VA'=>'VIRGINIA', 
'WA'=>'WASHINGTON', 
'WV'=>'WEST VIRGINIA', 
'WI'=>'WISCONSIN', 
'WY'=>'WYOMING');

<select name="state" id="state">
<option value="">-</option>

foreach($states as $key => $value) { 
echo "<option value=\"$key\""; if(isset($_POST['state']) && $_POST['state'] == $key){ echo 'selected';} echo ">$value</option>"; 
}

</select>

blckspder

I have considered providing the country in a drop down list.. but the company I work for sells to all sorts of countries.. so (by managements call) they prefer to have the user enter the country themselves. Thanks for the tips I will try them out.