If a field isn't filled out, submit form but don't submit field

Deedilus

I was wondering if it's possible to use PHP to make a form that when you hit submit, before it sends all of the information it checks all of the fields and if there is one that is empty, just doesn't include that when it sends the information.

I'm not talking about validating it and printing an error message saying they didn't fill out a required field, I mean it just skips over that field and doesn't send it at all.

Is this possible with PHP or will I only be able to do it with JS?

big_nerd

You can do this with both PHP & JS.

I am @ work so don't have time to write up an example, but you can programatically remove an element from the page using Javascript.

So under the validation it would remove blank items.

Although, I strongly recommend using PHP instead, as people, like me use script blockers and your JS code may not work.

Deedilus

Okay, glad to know that you can do it in PHP. I really did not want to use JS because I prefer PHP and (like you said) I don't want script blockers blocking it.

I for whatever reason can't figure out how to do it in PHP without sending the page to itself, manually going in and checking through each one and then submitting the info to the page I want it to go to one by one. This is really inefficient and stupid, so hopefully you guys can help me with it.

dagon

Deedilus;10934198 wrote:
I for whatever reason can't figure out how to do it in PHP without sending the page to itself, manually going in and checking through each one and then submitting the info to the page I want it to go to one by one. This is really inefficient and stupid, so hopefully you guys can help me with it.

That sounds like the way it should be done, but posting code would help.

basically:
submit,
check what fields you want to if all good process if not display errors.

Deedilus

Oh alright, I'll post some code after I get back from a couple errands so you guys can check it out.

Deedilus

Figured it out 🙂 Here's a little test script I made to try it using Get.

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>test</title>
</head>

<body>
<form action="#" method="get" name="test">
test1 <input type="text" name="testOne" /><br />
test2 <input type="text" name="testTwo" /><br />
test3 <input type="Text" name="testThree" /><br />
<select name="testSelect">
<option value="none">None</option>
<option value="Bananas">Bananas</option>
<option value="Salad">Chinese Chicken Salad</option>
</select><br /><br />

<input name="action" type="submit" id="action" value="Search" />
</form>
<br /><br />
<?php
// Get variables
$test1 = $_GET['testOne'];
$test2 = $_GET['testTwo'];
$test3 = $_GET['testThree'];
$testSelect = $_GET['testSelect'];

// if none of the fields are in initialized, let the user know
if(!isset($test1, $test2, $test3, $testSelect)){ 

echo "Please fill out the form.";

} else { // if the fields have been initialized

// if test1 contains nothing, change the link variable to reflect that.
if($test1 == "") { 

	$link_test1 = ""; 
	echo "<strong>test1 deleted.</strong><br />";

} else { // if test1 contains something, change the link variable to reflect it.

	echo "<strong>test1 recieved. ($test1)</strong><br />";
	$link_test1 = "test1=$test1";

}

if($test2 == "") {

	$link_test2 = "";
	echo "<strong>test2 deleted.</strong><br />";

} else {

	echo "<strong>test2 recieved. ($test2)</strong><br />";

	// if test1's link variable is empty, test2's link doesn't need an & at the beginning.
	if ($link_test1 == ""){

		$link_test2 = "test2=$test2";

	} else { // if test1's link variable ISN'T empty, test2's link DOES need an & at the beginning.

		$link_test2 = "&test2=$test2";

	}
}

if($test3 == "") {

	$link_test3 = "";
	echo "<strong>test3 deleted.</strong><br />";

} else {

	echo "<strong>test3 recieved. ($test3)</strong><br />";

	if ($link_test1 == "" && $link_test2 == ""){

		$link_test3 = "test3=$test3";

	} else {

		$link_test3 = "&test3=$test3";

	}
}

if($testSelect == "none") {

	$link_testSelect = "";
	echo "<strong>testSelect deleted.</strong><br />";

} else {

	echo "<strong>testSelect recieved. ($testSelect)</strong><br />";

	if ($link_test1 == "" && $link_test2 == "" && $link_test3 == ""){

		$link_testSelect = "testSelect=$testSelect";

	} else {

		$link_testSelect = "&testSelect=$testSelect";

	}
}

// Get all variable links and append them onto the final link.
$link = "?$link_test1$link_test2$link_test3$link_testSelect";

// If not redirecting, print final link.	
echo "link: <a href='http://localhost/get_test/getTest.php$link'>http://localhost/get_test/getTest.php$link</a>";

// If redirecting, redirect to the link.
/*	header("Location: http://localhost/get_test/getTest.php$link");
	exit;
*/
}

?>

</body>
</html>

Now if I was using POST I would NOT use the exit statement after header and then I would be able to access all of those variables still correct?

And if there is a more efficient way of doing what my script does that can someone please let me know so I can learn how to make my code more efficient?