[RESOLVED] Hiding empty fields in online form results??

[Lee_W]

Hi guys,

I have developed on online form for work as part of an intranet site the results of the form which get emailed to a member of staff look like the following: -

Account no: 1234

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Email: [e-mail]

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Order No: 1234

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Date: 10th November 08

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Payment method: Visa

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Order taken by: Yoda

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Account name: Universal Studios

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Company name: Private Address

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Account address: 123 Hollywood Drive California

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Delivery address: 123 Manchester Road Manchester

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Dealer contact name: George Lucas

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End user contact name: Luke

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Dealer telephone no: 0123456789

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End user telephone no: 0987654321

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(1) Trust stock code: 1234
(1) Supplier stock code: 1234
(1) Product description: Camera
(1) Product colour: Black
(1) Product quantity: 5

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2) Trust stock code:
(2) Supplier stock code:
(2) Product description:
(2) Product colour:
(2) Product quantity:

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(3) Trust stock code:
(3) Supplier stock code:
(3) Product description:
(3) Product colour:
(3) Product quantity:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(4) Trust stock code:
(4) Supplier stock code:
(4) Product description:
(4) Product colour:
(4) Product quantity:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(5) Trust stock code:
(5) Supplier stock code:
(5) Product description:
(5) Product colour:
(5) Product quantity:

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Service required: pre_nine_delivery

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Special instructions: Leave with next door.

Is there of anyway of hiding fields which have been left empty such as the product section(s) 2 -5 as you can see above which have been left out?

Thanks.

[devinemke]

in your form handling code simply check to see if a form field is empty and ignore it if it is.

[dagon]

if(empty($field)){
//dont show
}else{
//show
}

[Lee_W]

Hi Dagon,

Where you have put //Don't show obviously that is a comment line but what code would I use to hide the field?

Do I just declare the empty field as a different variable so it's not shown in the email message?

Sorry for such a basic question.

[djjjozsi]

when you create the mail body string,

for example:
$mailbody.="Account no: ".$_POST["account_number"];

do it like this:

function addmail($value,$title)
{
if(!emty($POST[$value]))
return($title.": ".$POST[$value]."\r\n");
}

$mailbody.=addmail("account_number","Account Number");
$mailbody.=addmail("Email","Email");
$mailbody.=addmail("Payment_method","Payment method");

ect...

[Lee_W]

Thanks guys for the replies.

However, I have probably coded this the long way but it works & is as follows: -

//go ahead only if all fields are ok
if (empty($missing))
{

//build the message
$message = "Account no: $account_no<br/><hr />";
$message .= "Email: $email<br/><hr />";
$message .= "Order No: $order_no<br/><hr />";
$message .= "Date: $date<br/><hr />";
if (empty($payment_method))
{
$exclude = $payment_method;
}
else if (!empty($payment_method))
{
$message .= "Payment method: $payment_method<br/><hr />";
}
$message .= "Order taken by: $order_taken_by<br/><hr />";
$message .= "Account name: $account_name<br/><hr />";
$message .= "Company name: $company_name<br/><hr />";
if (empty($account_address))
{
$exclude .= $account_address;
}
else if (!empty($account_address))
{
$message .= "Account address: $account_address<br/><hr />";
}
$message .= "Delivery address: $delivery_address<br/><hr />";
if (empty($dealer_contact_name))
{
$exclude .= $dealer_contact_name;
}
else if (!empty($dealer_contact_name))
{
$message .= "Dealer contact name: $dealer_contact_name<br/><hr />";
}
$message .= "End user contact name: $delivery_user_contact_name<br/><hr />";
if (empty($dealer_telephone_no))
{
$exclude .= $dealer_telephone_no;
}
else if (!empty($dealer_telephone_no))
{
$message .= "Dealer telephone no: $dealer_telephone_no<br/><hr />";
}
$message .= "End user telephone no: $delivery_user_telephone_no<br/><hr />";
$message .= "(1) Trust stock code: $trust_stock_code_one<br/>";
$message .= "(1) Supplier stock code: $supplier_stock_code_one<br/>";
$message .= "(1) Product description: $product_description_one<br/>";
$message .= "(1) Product colour: $product_colour_one<br/>";
$message .= "(1) Product quantity: $product_quantity_one<br/><hr />";
if (empty($trust_stock_code_two))
{
$exclude .= $trust_stock_code_two;
}
else if (!empty($trust_stock_code_two))
{
$message .= "(2) Trust stock code: $trust_stock_code_two<br/>";
$message .= "(2) Supplier stock code: $supplier_stock_code_two<br/>";
$message .= "(2) Product description: $product_description_two<br/>";
$message .= "(2) Product colour: $product_colour_two<br/>";
$message .= "(2) Product quantity: $product_quantity_two<br/><hr />";
}
if (empty($trust_stock_code_three))
{
$exclude .= $trust_stock_code_three;
}
else if (!empty($trust_stock_code_three))
{
$message .= "(3) Trust stock code: $trust_stock_code_three<br/>";
$message .= "(3) Supplier stock code: $supplier_stock_code_three<br/>";
$message .= "(3) Product description: $product_description_three<br/>";
$message .= "(3) Product colour: $product_colour_three<br/>";
$message .= "(3) Product quantity: $product_quantity_three<br/><hr />";
}
if (empty($trust_stock_code_four))
{
$exclude .= $trust_stock_code_four;
}
else if (!empty($trust_stock_code_four))
{
$message .= "(4) Trust stock code: $trust_stock_code_four<br/>";
$message .= "(4) Supplier stock code: $supplier_stock_code_four<br/>";
$message .= "(4) Product description: $product_description_four<br/>";
$message .= "(4) Product colour: $product_colour_four<br/>";
$message .= "(4) Product quantity: $product_quantity_four<br/><hr />";
}
if (empty($trust_stock_code_five))
{
$exclude .= $trust_stock_code_five;
}
else if (!empty($trust_stock_code_five))
{
$message .= "(5) Trust stock code: $trust_stock_code_five<br/>";
$message .= "(5) Supplier stock code: $supplier_stock_code_five<br/>";
$message .= "(5) Product description: $product_description_five<br/>";
$message .= "(5) Product colour: $product_colour_five<br/>";
$message .= "(5) Product quantity: $product_quantity_five<br/><hr />";
}
$message .= "Service required: $delivery_service<br/><hr />";
if (empty($special_instructions))
{
$exclude .= $special_instructions;
}
else if (!empty($special_instructions))
{
$message .= "Special instructions: $special_instructions";
}
//limit line length to 70 characters
$message = wordwrap($message, 70);

//setting up the smtp authentication
require('class.phpmailer.php');

$mail = new PHPMailer();

$mail->SetLanguage('en', '/phpmailer/language/phpmailer.lang-en.php');

$mail->IsSMTP();
$mail->Host = 'my.isp.com';
$mail->SMTPAuth = true;
$mail->Username = '[e-mail]';
$mail->Password = 'password';

$mail->From = $email;
$mail->FromName = $order_taken_by;
$mail->AddAddress('[e-mail]','Purchasing');

$mail->IsHTML(true);

$mail->Subject = 'Sales Order Form';
$mail->Body = $message;
}

Any advice on how I could have done this in a more efficient way would be good.

[dagon]

you don't need to set $exclude, you are not doing anything with it.

Don't need elseif() just else().

there's no third option, its either empty or its not.

[Lee_W]

When you say I don't need to set $exclude what else would you recommend as I don't want anything showing if it's empty?

My way of thinking was to put it in a variable which wasn't going to be output.

[dagon]

a small sample of your code rewritten

if (!empty($payment_method)){
$message .= "Payment method: $payment_method<br/><hr />";
}

$message .= "Order taken by: $order_taken_by<br/><hr />";
$message .= "Account name: $account_name<br/><hr />";
$message .= "Company name: $company_name<br/><hr />";


if (!empty($account_address)){
$message .= "Account address: $account_address<br/><hr />";
}

[Lee_W]

Ah. It now makes sense.

Thanks for your help.

[djjjozsi]

why don't you make a function 🙂
this function will add those posted datas into a string (mailbody) whick is not emty.

first parameter is the post variable name, and the second , is a title, will appears in the mail.

<?
function addmail($value,$title)
{
if(!emty($POST[$value])) //check if the post value is not emty with the name $value
return($title.": ".$POST[$value]."\r\n"); //and creates the string...
}

$mailbody.=addmail("date","Date");
$mailbody.=addmail("email","Email");
$mailbody.=addmail("order_no","Order No");
$mailbody.=addmail("account_no","Account no");
$mailbody.=addmail("account_name","Account name");
$mailbody.=addmail("company_name","Company name");
$mailbody.=addmail("payment_method","Payment method");
$mailbody.=addmail("order_taken_by","Order taken by");
$mailbody.=addmail("account_address","Account address");
$mailbody.=addmail("delivery_address","Delivery address");
$mailbody.=addmail("delivery_service","Service required");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_colour_one","(1) Product colour");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_colour_two","(2) Product colour");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_colour_three","(3) Product colour");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_colour_four","(4) Product colour");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_colour_five","(5) Product colour");
$mailbody.=addmail("dealer_contact_name","Dealer contact name");
$mailbody.=addmail("dealer_telephone_no","Dealer telephone no");
$mailbody.=addmail("trust_stock_code_one","(1) Trust stock code");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_quantity_one","(1) Product quantity");
$mailbody.=addmail("trust_stock_code_two","(2) Trust stock code");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_quantity_two","(2) Product quantity");
$mailbody.=addmail("trust_stock_code_three","(3) Trust stock code");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_quantity_three","(3) Product quantity");
$mailbody.=addmail("trust_stock_code_four","(4) Trust stock code");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_quantity_four","(4) Product quantity");
$mailbody.=addmail("trust_stock_code_five","(5) Trust stock code");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_quantity_five","(5) Product quantity");
$mailbody.=addmail("special_instructions","Special instructions");
$mailbody.=addmail("delivery_user_contact_name","End user contact name");
$mailbody.=addmail("delivery_user_telephone_no","End user telephone no");
$mailbody.=addmail("supplier_stock_code_one","(1) Supplier stock code");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_description_one","(1) Product description");
$mailbody.=addmail("supplier_stock_code_two","(2) Supplier stock code");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_description_two","(2) Product description");
$mailbody.=addmail("supplier_stock_code_three","(3) Supplier stock code");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_description_three","(3) Product description");
$mailbody.=addmail("supplier_stock_code_four","(4) Supplier stock code");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_description_four","(4) Product description");
$mailbody.=addmail("supplier_stock_code_five","(5) Supplier stock code");
$mailbody.=addmail("product_description_five","(5) Product description");

print $mailbody;

?>