Required Fields in a form

EMU08

I've been trying to find an answer to this question of mine, but I've not been able to find anything, so I've decided to just post here and ask for help.

I have a forum on my web site, that emails all the fields filled out in the form, to my email address. The problem is, I can't get it to make the fields be required to be filled in, so people can send blank forms.

Could someone please give me a hand on how to make the fields mandatory to be filled, or possibly link me somewhere that can tell me how I would do this?

EMU08

If it helps any, I've included my html form code below & my php code.

<form method="POST" action="./Reg.php">
    <p>&nbsp;</p>
    <table width="381" border="0">
      <tr>
        <td width="160">Your name</td>
        <td width="211"><label>
          <input type="text" name="name" >
        </label></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Your child's name</td>
        <td><label>
          <input type="text" name="child_name" >
        </label></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Address</td>
        <td><label>
          <input type="text" name="address" >
        </label></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>City</td>
        <td><label>
          <input type="text" name="city" >
        </label></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>State</td>
        <td><label>
          <input type="text" name="state" >
        </label></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Zip Code</td>
        <td><label>
          <input type="text" name="zip" >
        </label></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Home phone</td>
        <td><label>
          <input type="text" name="home_phone" >
        </label></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>Cell phone</td>
        <td><label>
          <input type="text" name="cell_phone" >
        </label></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>E-Mail Address </td>
        <td><input type="text" name="email"></td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
        <td>
          <div align="center">
            <input type="submit" name="Sendit" id="button" value="Submit" />
            </div></td>
        <td>
          <div align="left">
            <input type = "reset" value="Reset" name="B2" />
            </div></td></tr>
    </table>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>
  </form>

<?php

$email_address = "email@email.com";
$email_subject = "Subject Of Email";
$from_email_name = "from@website.com";

$mailTo = "$email_address";
$mailSubject = "$email_subject";


foreach($HTTP_POST_VARS as $key=>$value)
{

$mailBody .= "$key = $value\n";

}

$fromHeader = "From: $from_email_name\n";


if(mail($mailTo, $mailSubject, $mailBody, $fromHeader)) 
{

print ('<div align="center">
  <p><br />
    <br />
    <B>Your registration has been sent!</b></p>
  <p><B>Thank you<br>
      </b>
    </p>
</div>');

}


?>

The form works as intended, I just can't figure out how to make all the fields required.

intenz

Just put the following at the top of Reg.php...

if( empty( $_POST['name'] ) )
{
     die( 'Name cannot be empty!' );
}

There you go. Now name can't be empty. You can add the other ones.

HalfaBee

You can also do it with Javascript, I am sure you can find examples in the forum, try searching for validation.

Quadodo

wow old code :S but yeah it's better to do the validation through PHP than JavaScript, because JavaScript can be disabled 😛

<?php

$email_address = 'email@email.com';
$email_subject = 'Subject Of Email';
$from_email_name = 'from@website.com';

$mailTo = $email_address;
$mailSubject = $email_subject;


foreach($_POST as $key => $value) {
  if (strlen($value) == 0) {
  die('There was a problem with <b>' . $key . '</b>. Please try again.');
  }
  else {
  $mailBody .= "$key = $value\n";
  }
}

$fromHeader = "From: {$from_email_name}\n";


if (mail($mailTo, $mailSubject, $mailBody, $fromHeader)) {
?>
<div align="center">
  <p><br />
    <br />
    <B>Your registration has been sent!</b></p>
  <p><B>Thank you<br>
      </b>
    </p>
</div>
<?php
}
?>

phpnewbiedublin

heres some of my regisration script that i use take no notice of the javascript as it splits the form into smallers sections and uses ajax validation on the client side.
Ive had to cut code but you should be able to understand it.

<body>
<form id="contactform" action="register.php" method="post"> 
<div id="partOne" style="width:640px">
<fieldset><legend>Personal Details-All fields Required</legend>
<table  width="600" align="center" cellpadding="2px">
        <tr>
        	<td width="300" align="right" class="inside"><label>First Name: <input type="text" name="firstName" id="firstName"  onchange="checkForm(this.value, this.id)" value="<?php if (isset($_POST['firstName'])) echo $_POST['firstName']; ?>"></label></td><td align="left" class="inside"><label id="firstNamev" class="error"></label></td>
         </tr>

      <tr>
    	<td width="300" align="right" class="inside"><label>Middle Name: <input type="text" name="middleName" id="middleName" onchange="checkForm(this.value, this.id)" value="<?php if (isset($_POST['middleName'])) echo $_POST['middleName']; ?>" /></label></td><td align="left" class="inside"><label id="middleNamev" class="error"></label></td>
     </tr>

     <tr>
    	<td width="300" align="right" class="inside"><label>last Name: <input type="text" name="lastName" id="lastName" onchange="checkForm(this.value, this.id)" value="<?php if (isset($_POST['lastName'])) echo $_POST['lastName']; ?>" /></label></td><td align="left" class="inside"><label id="lastNamev" class="error"></label></td>
     </tr>

	<tr><td><a tabindex="4" onclick="show('partTwo');return false;" onkeypress="show('partTwo');return false;" href="#partTwo">&raquo; Next</a></td></tr>
</table></fieldset>	
</div>
<div id="partTwo" style="width:640px">
<fieldset><legend>login Details-All fields Required</legend>
<table  width="640" align="center" cellpadding="2px">
        <tr>
        	<td width="300" align="right" class="inside"><label>Login Name: <input type="text" name="loginName" id="loginName" style="border-style: solid; border-width:1px;" onChange="checkForm(this.value, this.id)" value="<?php if (isset
($_POST['loginName'])) echo $_POST['loginName']; ?>" /></label></td><td align="left" class="inside"><label id="loginNamev" class="error"></label></td>
         </tr>
        <tr>
        	<td width="300" align="right" class="inside"><label>Password: <input type="password" name="password" id="password" style="border-style: solid; border-width:1px;" onChange="checkForm(this.value, this.id)" value="<?php if(isset($_POST['password'])) echo $_POST['password']; ?>" /></label></td><td align="left" class="inside"><label id="passwordv" class="error"></label></td>
         </tr>
         <tr>
        	<td width="300" align="right" class="inside"><label>Confirm Password: <input type="password" name="confirmPassword" id="confirmPassword" style="border-style: solid; border-width:1px;" onChange="checkForm(this.value, this.id)" value="<?php if(isset($_POST['confirmPassword'])) echo $_POST['confirmPassword']; ?>" /></label></td><td align="left" class="inside"><label id="confirmPasswordv" class="error"></label></td>
         </tr>
		 <tr><td><a tabindex="9" onclick="show('partOne'); return false;" onkeypress="show('partOne'); return false;" href="#partOne">&laquo; Back</a> | 
		<a tabindex="8" onclick="show('partThree'); return false;" onkeypress="show('partThree'); return false;" href="#partThree">Next &raquo;</a></td></tr></table></fieldset>
</div>

<div id="partFive" style="width:640px">
		<h2>Finished</h2>

	<p>Thank you for taking the time to enter your details. Please use the "Register"; button
	to submit your details.</p>
	<p>Or press the "Make Changes" link if you feel you are wrong in any details&quot;.</p>
	<input style="margin:40px 0" tabindex="10" type="submit"  name="submit" value="Register" />
    <input name="submitted" type="hidden" value="TRUE" />
	<p><a tabindex="11" onclick="show('partFour'); return false;" onkeypress="show('partFour'); return false;" href="#partFour">
	&laquo; Make Changes</a></p>

</div>
</form>
</body>
</html>
<?php
/**
 * @Author Kevin Nally
 * @Description Registration Form with email activation and field validation
 * @Year 3 2008
 * @Subject Software Project 
 */
require_once('errorhandling.php');
ini_set("SMTP", "example.com");
ini_set("sendmail_from", "example@example.net");
if (isset($_POST['submitted'])) {
    require_once ('mysqlConnection.php'); // Connect to the db.
    // Create a function for escaping the data.
    function escape_data($data)
    {
        global $dbc; // Need the connection.
        if (ini_get('magic_quotes_gpc')) {
            $data = stripslashes($data);
        }
        return mysql_real_escape_string(trim($data), $dbc);
    } // End of function.

$errors = array();

if (empty($_POST['firstName']))
{
    $errors[] = 'You forgot to enter your first name.';
}
else
{
    $firs = escape_data($_POST['firstName']);
}

if (empty($_POST['middleName']))
{
    $errors[] = 'You forgot to enter your middle name.';
}
else
{
    $midName = escape_data($_POST['middleName']);
}
if (empty($_POST['lastName']))
{
    $errors[] = 'You forgot to enter your last name.';
}
else
{
    $lastName = escape_data($_POST['lastName']);
}

if (empty($_POST['loginName']))
{
    $errors[] = 'You must enter your login id';
}
else
{
    $loginName = escape_data($_POST['loginName']);
}

if(!empty($_POST['password']))
{
	if($_POST['password']!=$_POST['confirmPassword'])
	{
		$errors[]='Your Passwords do not match';
	}
	else
	{
		$pass=escape_data($_POST['confirmPassword']);
	}
}
else
{
	$errors[]='You forgot to enter your Password';
}


if (empty($errors)) {

    $query = "SELECT  password FROM users WHERE password='$pass'";

    $result = mysql_query($query);
    if (mysql_num_rows($result) == 0) {

        $query = "INSERT INTO users (firstName, middleName,lastname,loginName,password) VALUES ('$firstName','$midName','$lastName','$loginName','$pass',')";
        $result = @mysql_query($query); // Run the query.
        if ($result) { // If it ran OK.

            echo '<h1 id="mainhead">Thank you!</h1>
		<p>You are now registered. A confirmation email has been sent to you please follow its instructions</p>';
            $emailBody = "Thank You for registering. To activate your account, please click on this link:\n\n";

            $emailBody .= "htpp://www.example.net/activate.php?x=" . mysql_insert_id() .
                "&y=$a";
            mail($_POST['email'], 'Registration Confirmation', $emailBody);
            exit();
        } else {
            echo '<h1 id="mainhead">System Error</h1>
			<p class="error">You could not be registered due to a system error. We apologize for any inconvenience.</p>'; // Public message.
            echo '<p>' . mysql_error() . '<br /><br />Query: ' . $query . '</p>'; // Debugging message.

            exit();
        }

    } else {
        echo '<h1 id="mainhead">Error!</h1>
		<p class="error">The email address has already been registered.</p>';
    }

} else {

    echo '<h1 id="mainhead">Error!</h1>
	<p class="error">The following error(s) occurred:<br />';
    foreach ($errors as $msg) { // Print each error.
        echo " - $msg<br />\n";
    }
    echo '</p><p>Please try again.</p><p><br /></p>';

}
mysql_close();
}
?>
:cool: