Need Help on Functions/User Registration

mtnmchgrl

I am lost on where to start with an assignment. If someone could please direct me on what to do, I would be greatly appreciative. I have two files called registerUsers.html and registerUsers_handler.php.

The html form asks the user to register their username and password.

Here is my HTML CODE:

<form action="registerUsers_handler.php" method = "get" />
<h2>Registration</h2>
Please enter your user name: <br />
<input type='text' size='30' name='userName'><br /><br />
Please enter your password: <br />
<input type='text' size='30' name='password'><br /><br />
<input type='submit' value='submit' name='submit'>
<input type='reset' name='reset' value='Reset Form'>

The PHP form needs to call three functions.
checkForNameAndPass($uName, $pass) -- that accepts the username and password
checkForExistingUser($fh, $fileName, $user) -- that accepts the file handle, file name, and username
addUserAndPass($fh, $user, $pass) -- accepts the file handle, user name, and password

This is all i have so far for the code.
PHP[/B]

<?php
//Gets and accepts username and password
$uName = $_GET['userName'];
$pass = $_GET['password'];
strlen(trim($uName));
strlen(trim($pass));
chmod($uName);
?>

Any help or tips would be appreciated....

djjjozsi

You need to close your form with </form>

After clicking on your form submit button, the 'posted' field values will be placed into $_GET variable. You can use isset() function to check if the submit button has a value, then run these 3 functions to check the user.

you have to build these functions to use the passed arguments,
you will need to use mysql_connect() to build a connection with a mysql database,
and mysql_select_db() will be used to select the database.

you can desing your queries with phpmyadmin, and run it with mysql_query()
After you build the query, and you have a mysql result, you can count the results with mysql_num_rows().

Lets start reading the manual and its examples about the useful functions:

mysql_connect
mysql_num_rows
mysql_query
mysql_select_db

If you come up with a piece of code, don't hesitate to share with us, you will get several suggestions how to make it work.

mtnmchgrl

I don't have to have a mySql database for this though. I'm just building the front end. This isn't for a real webpage. I've gotten some help and expanded my code some. If someone wouldn't mind helping me check to see if i'm close. The form should ask for a user name, pw, then open a file (users.txt) to see if the user name has already been taken. if it has, it will issue an error. if not, it will append the user name and pw to the list.

Updated HTML:
<title>registerUsers.html</title>
</head>
<body>
<form action="registerUsers_handler.php" method = "get" />
<h2>Registration</h2>
Please enter your user name: <br />
<input type='text' size='30' name='userName'><br /><br />
Please enter your password: <br />
<input type='text' size='30' name='password'><br /><br />
<input type='submit' value='submit' name='submit'>
<input type='reset' name='reset' value='Reset Form'>

</body>
</html>

Updated PHP:
<?php

function checkForNameAndPass ($uName, $pass)
	{
//$filename = "users.txt";	
$uName = $_GET['userName'];
$pass = $_GET['password'];
$fh = open("users.txt", 'r');
strlen(trim($uName));
strlen(trim($pass));

if(checkForNameAndPass($uName, $pass) == TRUE){
	}
echo "It works!";

if (checkForExistingUser($uName, $fh)){
	//if true: user exist
	//kick out error msg. 
}else {
	//close exisiting file handle
}
	$fh = fopen("users.txt", 'a');
	if (addUserAndPass ($fh, $user, $pass)) {
		echo "User added";
		else {
		}
	}
?>

djjjozsi

be sure, that you close your functions:

a function should looks like:

function function_name()
{

} <<--- you need to close it with a bracket.

Your form should be closed:

<input type='reset' name='reset' value='Reset Form'></form>

These lines have no sense:

strlen(trim($uName));
strlen(trim($pass));

If you want to check if these strings shorter then 2 characters, do like this:

if(strlen(trim($uName))<3 OR strlen(trim($pass))<3)
return true;

If somebody suggested that its easier to solve with flat files then you should not listen to him/her.

If you're using files to store passwords and usernames, on evry user check you need to open a file, list its lines and explode it.
$data=file("users.txt");

you need to walk along its lines, and explode them using a separator character ; or |. On registration lets filter the user inputs , do not allow ; character as user name or password.

<?php

function user_exists( $username )
{
    $data = file( "users.txt" );
    foreach( $data AS $lines ) {
        $details = explode( ";" , $lines );

    // lets check if a user exists:
    if ( trim($username) == trim($details[0]) )
        return true;
} 
return false;
} 

?>

Maybe this little example gives you ideas how to solve this program.

mtnmchgrl

The strlen and trim functions were not for what you mentioned. We are supposed to use those to check to see if the user has entered a user name/pw already on the username/pw list (users.txt).

I'm just now getting to look at this problem again after a week and a half of other projects and exams. YIKES!
😕