Displaying Errors and Redirecting a Form

**amy.damnit** · Sep 24, 2009, 15:28

Can the following be done entirely with PHP and not using Javascript...

There is a form that has a required field.

When the user clicks the "Submit" button...

1.) If the required field was left blank, then the form should re-appear with a warning message next to the omitted field stating, ERROR: Field must contain a value.

2.) If the form was filled out correctly, then the form should re-direct to another page (which is the next step in whatever process).

If so, what would the PHP code look like?

Thanks,

Amy

**prasanthmj** · Sep 24, 2009, 17:35

Yes that should be easier with PHP!
Sample code(not tested):

PHP Code:


<?php

$errors= array();

if(isset($_POST['submit']))

{

  if(empty($_POST['name']))

  {

   $errors['name']='Name is required';

  }

  

  if(empty($_POST['email']))

  {

   $errors['email']='email is required';

  }  

  

  if(empty($errors))

  {//validation success

     //send email, save to db ...

    header('Location: thankyou.html');

  }

}

?>

<html>

<head>

</head>

<body>

<form method='post'>

Name: <input name='name' type='text'><?php if(isset($errors['name'])) echo $errors['name']; ?><br>

Email: <input name='email' type='text'><?php if(isset($errors['email'])) echo $errors['email']; ?>

</form>





</body>

</html>

This PHP form validation script can be used for easier validation.
Javascript form validation gives quicker response.

**amy.damnit** · Sep 24, 2009, 20:51

Thanks for the code snippet.

Does anyone else have a different approach?

This seems to work, other than it needs to be fleshed out like making the form sticky.

Amy

**crmalibu** · Sep 24, 2009, 21:25

That's the core logic.

Make sure to call exit; after sending a redirect header
Make sure to use htmlspecialchars() if you output those variables back into the form.
Don't use empty() if a falsy value might be acceptable. For example, 0. strlen(trim(...)) is usually reasonable.

**amy.damnit** · Oct 6, 2009, 18:32

prasanthmj,

I adapted your code but it doesn't seem to be working?!

I stepped through my code in NetBeans and the array is receiving a value...

Code:

<?php
  // Start output buffering
  //ob_start();

  // Initialize a session
  session_start();

  // Initialize $errors array
  $errors= array();

  if (isset($_POST['submitted'])) {
    // Handle the form.
    echo "For was submitted!";

    if(empty($_POST['email'])) {
      $errors['name']='E-mail is required';
    }
    if(empty($errors)) {
      //validation success
      //send email, save to db ...
      header('Location: thankyou.html');
    }
  }

?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en-US">
<head>
  <title>Sign-In/Create Account</title>
  <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
  <!--<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="tabs.css" />-->
  <style type="text/css">
  </style>
</head>
<body>
      <h2>Registering is quick and easy...</h2>

<!--      <form action="104_CreateUser.xhtml" method="post">  -->
      <form action="103_SignIn.php" method="post">
        <ol>
          <!-- a.) E-MAIL ADDRESS -->
          <li class="step">
            <label for="email">Enter your e-mail address:</label>
            <input id="email" type="text" name="email" size="30" maxlength="80" />
            <?php if(isset($errors['email'])) echo $errors['email']; ?>
          </li>
        </ol>

        <!-- HIDDEN INPUT -->
        <input type="hidden" name="submitted" value="TRUE" />

        <!-- PROCEED BUTTON -->
        <input type="image" src="images/Proceed.jpg"
               alt="Proceed" class="proceed" border="0" />
      </form>
    </div>
  </div>
</body>
</html>

What am I doing wrong?

Amy

**amy.damnit** · Oct 6, 2009, 20:24

Saving a value here...

if(empty($_POST['email'])) {
$errors['name']='E-mail is required';
}

But then referencing it here...

<label for="email">Enter your e-mail address

/label>
<input id="email" type="text" name="email" size="30" maxlength="80" />
<?php if(isset($errors['email'])) echo $errors['email']; ?>

Gets ya everytime?!

Thanks,

Amy

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