Too much code!

[cybereclipse]

I have the following php code.

  $errors = array();

   if(empty($_POST['email'])){
      $errors[] = 'Plese enter your email.'; 
   }else{ 
      $n = trim($_POST['email']);
}

   if(empty($_POST['state'])){
      $errors[] = 'Plese enter your state.'; 
   }else{ 
      $s = trim($_POST['state']);
}


   if(empty($_POST['gender'])){
      $errors[] = 'Plese enter your gendeer.'; 
   }else{ 
      $d = trim($_POST['district']);
}

   if(empty($_POST['district'])){
      $errors[] = 'Plese enter your school district.'; 
   }else{ 
      $d = trim($_POST['district']);
}

That's a lot, right? is there a better way to reduce the amount of this syntax? I also have the following html code.

  <form id="form1" name="form1" method="post" action="registration.php">
<fieldset class="first">
  <label class="lableone" for="email">Email:* </label>
  <input name="email" />

  <label for="state"/>State:* </label>
  <input name="state" />

  <label for="schooldistrict"/>School District:* </label>
  <input name="schooldistrict" />

  <label for="gender">Gender:* </label>
 <select name="gender">
   <option>Choose Your Gender</option>
   <option value="male">Male</option>
   <option value="female">Female</option>
 </select>

<label for="age"/>Your Age:* </label>
  <input name="age" type="text" class="age" maxlength="2"  />

  <label for="profession"/>Profession:* </label>
  <input name="profession" />

  <label for="surveys"/>Willingness to participate in future surveys: </label>
  <input name="surveys" type="checkbox" id="surveys" />

  </fieldset>
<fieldset>
  <input class="btn" name="submit" type="submit" value="Submit" />
<input class="btn" name="reset" type="reset" value="Clear Form" />
</fieldset>

  </form>

Just to let everyone know I already have my form designed the way I want using html/css. In regards to php, How can I go from here? Thanks

[ewangeorge77]

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[Bonesnap]

I personally don't think it's a lot, but you can write it like this:

(empty($_POST['email'])) ? $errors[] = 'Plese enter your email.' : $n = trim($_POST['email']);
(empty($_POST['state'])) ? $errors[] = 'Plese enter your state.' : $s = trim($_POST['state']);
(empty($_POST['gender'])) ? $errors[] = 'Plese enter your gendeer.' : $d = trim($_POST['district']);
(empty($_POST['district'])) ? $errors[] = 'Plese enter your school district.' : $d = trim($_POST['district']);

[NogDog]

You could also do something along the lines of this, in order to avoid breaking the DRY (don't repeat yourself) rule:

$fields = array(
	'email',
	'gender',
	'state',
	'district'
);
foreach($fields as $fieldName) {
	if(isset($_POST[$fieldName]) and trim($_POST[$fieldName]) !== '') {
		$$fieldName = trim($_POST[$fieldName]);
	}
	else {
		$errors[] = "Please enter your $fieldName.";
	}
}

[cybereclipse]

I'll def give the codes a try, I'll let you know if I run into any more issues. Thanks again!

[cybereclipse]

I do appreciate for the assistance guys but I have a concern about the last post. Specifically the trim part of the code. On the initial post, I have

$n = trim($_POST['email']);

$s = trim($_POST['state']); 

etc

the "$n", "$s", etc will be used to submit the data to the mysql database. I would need more clarification on the last post made by NogDog. Thanks!

[NogDog]

I used "variable variables" (note the double "$$" in the code) so that you would end up with 4 variables named "$email", "$gender", etc. However, there's really no particular reason to create a separate set of variables, since you already have the desired values in the $_POST array. Or you could create a separate array to store filtered/sanitized values. It depends to some degree on personal preferences.

$fields = array(
    'email',
    'gender',
    'state',
    'district'
);
foreach($fields as $fieldName) {
    if(isset($_POST[$fieldName]) and trim($_POST[$fieldName]) !== '') {
        $_POST[$fieldName] = trim($_POST[$fieldName]);
    }
    else {
        $errors[] = "Please enter your $fieldName.";
    }
} 

// later...
$sql = sprintf(
    "INSERT INTO some_table(email, gender, state, district) VALUES ('%s', '%s', '%s', '%s')",
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['email']),
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['gender']),
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['state']),
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['district'])
);

[cybereclipse]

Okay, so the syntax that you previously provided me should work since i'm going to insert data into the database?

[NogDog]

cybereclipse;10999303 wrote:

Okay, so the syntax that you previously provided me should work since i'm going to insert data into the database?

It should work -- assuming no inadvertent syntax errors on my part. 🙂 You would presumably have to change the later code to use the longer variable names such as $email instead of $n, but then it's a good habit to develop of using descriptive variable names instead of short names that have no easily seen meaning, as it will save you maintenance and debugging headaches later.

[cybereclipse]

Awesome! Seriously dude, I appreciate your assistance. Hopefully, it will work out for the best when my project is completed.