Sessions and validation

NottaGuru

Here is the problem...

I a using a form with and when I go to validate the page at w3.org, I keep getting an error. Here is the error message...

Line 143, Column 130: document type does not allow element "input" here; missing one of "p", "h1", "h2", "h3", "h4", "h5", "h6", "div", "pre", "address", "fieldset", "ins", "del" start-tag .
…="2220e2191459ffd5fe7147301a0cdd77" />
The mentioned element is not allowed to appear in the context in which you've placed it; the other mentioned elements are the only ones that are both allowed there and can contain the element mentioned. This might mean that you need a containing element, or possibly that you've forgotten to close a previous element.

One possible cause for this message is that you have attempted to put a block-level element (such as "<p>" or "<table>") inside an inline element (such as "<a>", "<span>", or "<font>").

And the error code...

<form id='ContactForm' action=' ' method='post'><input type="hidden" name="PHPSESSID" value="2220e2191459ffd5fe7147301a0cdd77" />

The actual code is...

<form id='ContactForm' action='<?php $PHP_SELF; ?>' method='post'>
<table id='DepartmentTable' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' width='600px' border='0'>

I have tried echo-ing the form tag, changing the $PHP_SELF to contactus.php, putting the form inside the table. I am at a total loss here.....

And some links...
To the live page - http://www.yuchniuk.com/contactus.php

The validator - http://validator.w3.org

MY coding - http://www.yuchniuk.com/contactus.txt

And finally the form - http://www.yuchniuk.com/contactusform.txt

Thanks in advance.

NogDog

A couple options:

<?php
ini_set('url_rewriter.tags', 'a=href,area=href,frame=src,input=src,fieldset=');
session_start();
?>
...
<form action="foobar.php" method="post">
<fieldset>
...rest of form...
</fieldset>
</form>

<?php
ini_set('session.use_only_cookies', 1);
session_start();

Option #2 has the slight disadvantage of requiring that the user have cookies enabled, but it also has the advantage of adding a little security as it prevents hackers from trying to send session IDs via a URL query string.

NottaGuru

I fixed it somehow...

First I put the form inside the table... No go.
Then I tried the url.rewriter thing but set it to form=action... No go.
Then I tried form=fakeentry... No go.
Then I put it back to ''... No go.
Then I took out all my tables... No go.
And presto... It works now. Don't ask why. I have no clue.

ini_set('url_rewriter.tags', '');

Then I put the same one as in the txt file back in with the form outside table and each section having it's own table and it still works... I have absolutely no idea why it is working now and not before...

Gee. I can't wait till I add the log in/log out part.

NogDog

NottaGuru wrote:
I fixed it somehow...

First I put the form inside the table... No go.
Then I tried the url.rewriter thing but set it to form=action... No go.
Then I tried form=fakeentry... No go.

You'll note that in my previously reply I purposely omitted "form=..." from the element list and added fieldset. This allows URL rewriting to occur in cases where the user does not have cookies enabled.

Then I put it back to ''... No go.
Then I took out all my tables... No go.
And presto... It works now. Don't ask why. I have no clue.
ini_set('url_rewriter.tags', '');
...

That prevents any url rewriting from occurring. This is essentially equivalent to the session.use_only_cookies option being turned on. (Nothing strictly wrong or right, I just wanted you to be aware of what's going on.)

NottaGuru

I kept the trans_id and used the coding you gave on all my pages. They all validate good now, even the contact us and register pages. Thanks for all the help.