Required Fields

Jim-W-1949 · March 15, 2017, 3:10am

I have been trying for several days to get some fields to be required. For example, I want to get the descendants first name, middle name, and surname, to be required. I can’t seem to get it to work right. I could use some help as to what I am doing wrong. I have tried so many things I can’t even remember them all. Here is my current code.

[php]<?php

$error = “”;
$descendant_first_name = $descendant_middle_name = $descendant_surname = “”;

/* Check to see if the html was sent via $_POST /
if ($_SERVER[“REQUEST_METHOD”] == “POST”){
/ If true we continue on with the script /
/ Subject and Email Variables */

$emailSubject = '2017 Windemuth Family Reunion Registration Form';

/* Gathering Data Variables */
/*compare the email address */
if($_POST['email'] != $_POST['confirm']) {
    #set error...
    $error .= 'The email addresses do not match, please correct and submit again<br>';
}

if (empty($_POST["descendant_first_name"])) {
   $error .= "Your first name is required<br>";
   $Descendant_First_Name = "";
} else {
   $Descendant_First_Name = test_input($_POST["descendant_first_name"]);
}

if (empty($_POST["descendant_middle_name"])) {
   $error .= "Your middle name is required<br>";
   $Descendant_Middle_Name = "";
} else {
   $Descendant_Middle_Name = test_input($_POST["descendant_middle_name"]);
}

if (empty($_POST["descendant_surname"])) {
    $error .= "Your surname is required<br>";
    $Descendant_Surname = "";
} else {
    $Descendant_Surname = test_input($_POST["descendant_surname"]);
}

$S_SO_First_Name = $_POST['s_so_first_name'];
$S_SO_Middle_Name = $_POST['s_so_middle_name'];
$S_SO_Last_Name = $_POST['s_so_last_name'];
$Child1_First_Name = $_POST['child1_first_name'];
$Child1_Middle_Name = $_POST['child1_middle_name'];
$Child1_Last_Name = $_POST['child1_last_name'];
$Child2_First_Name = $_POST['child2_first_name'];
$Child2_Middle_Name = $_POST['child2_middle_name'];
$Child2_Last_Name = $_POST['child2_last_name'];
$Child3_First_Name = $_POST['child3_first_name'];
$Child3_Middle_Name = $_POST['child3_middle_name'];
$Child3_Last_Name = $_POST['child3_last_name'];
$Child4_First_Name = $_POST['child4_first_name'];
$Child4_Middle_Name = $_POST['child4_middle_name'];
$Child4_Last_Name = $_POST['child4_last_name'];
$Street = $_POST['street'];
$City = $_POST['city'];
$StateProvince = $_POST['stateprovince'];
$PostalCode = $_POST['postalcode'];
$Phone = $_POST['phone'];
$Email = $_POST['email'];
$Confirm = $_POST['confirm'];
$Adults = $_POST['adults'];
$Children = $_POST['children'];
$RegistrationFee = $_POST['registrationfee'];
$Comments = $_POST['comments'];

$webMaster = $Descendant.'<[email protected]>';

$immigrant="";
foreach($_POST["immigrant"] as $option){
   $immigrant .= $option;
}

$body = <<<EOD
<br><hr><br>
Descendant_First_Name: $Descendant_First_Name <br>
Descendant_Middle_Name: $Descendant_Middle_Name <br>
Descendant_Surname: $Descendant_Surname <br>
S_SO_First_Name: $S_SO_First_Name <br>
S_SO_Middle_Name: $S_SO_Middle_Name <br>
S_SO_Last_Name: $S_SO_Last_Name <br>
Child1_First_Name: $Child1_First_Name <br>
Child1_Middle_Name: $Child1_Middle_Name <br>
Child1_Last_Name: $Child1_Last_Name <br>
Child2_First_Name: $Child2_First_Name <br>
Child2_Middle_Name: $Child2_Middle_Name <br>
Child2_Last_Name: $Child2_Last_Name <br>
Child3_First_Name: $Child3_First_Name <br>
Child3_Middle_Name: $Child3_Middle_Name <br>
Child3_Last_Name: $Child3_Last_Name <br>
Child4_First_Name: $Child4_First_Name <br>
Child4_Middle_Name: $Child4_Middle_Name <br>
Child4_Last_Name: $Child4_Last_Name <br>
Street: $Street <br>
City: $City <br>
StateProvince: $StateProvince <br>
PostalCode: $PostalCode <br>
Phone: $Phone <br>
Email: $Email <br>
Confirm: $Confirm <br>
Descended From: $immigrant <br>
Adults: $Adults <br>
Children: $Children <br>
RegistrationFee: $RegistrationFee <br>
Comments: $Comments <br>
EOD;

$headers = "From: $email\r\n";
$headers .= "Content-type: text/html\r\n";

/* if we got any errors echo out the error otherwise send the mail */
if($error != "") {
   echo $error;
}else{
   $success = mail ($webMaster, $emailSubject, $body, $headers);
   echo "Your Registration has been submitted successfully. We will contact you by email and confirm your Registration within 48 hours.";
}

}else{
/* If $_POST check is false give this message */

echo "Form Submission error. <a href='javascript:history.back(1);'>Back</a>";

}

?> [/php]

Valkrider · March 15, 2017, 7:45am

Why don’t you make the fields required in your html form then in your php you only have to process them?

It is as simple as

 <form action="/action_page.php">
  Username: <input type="text" name="usrname" required>
  <input type="submit">
</form>

Strider64 · March 15, 2017, 10:31am

I have found some mobile devices (not all) that the required field doesn’t work properly if this is going to be a responsive website in the past.

What I do is have a bunch of validation functions, here’s a portion of registration script that I was writing.

[php]/*

Begin of Validation.
*/

function checkPassword($password) {
/*
*
* Explaining !preg_match_all(’$\S*(?=\S{8,})(?=\S*[a-z])(?=\S*[A-Z])(?=\S*[\d])(?=\S*[\W])\S*$’, $password)
* $ = beginning of string
* \S* = any set of characters
* (?=\S{8,}) = of at least length 8
* (?=\S*[a-z]) = containing at least one lowercase letter
* (?=\S*[A-Z]) = and at least one one uppercase letter
* (?=\S*[\d]) = and at least one number
* (?=\S*[\W]) = and at least a special character (non-word character)
* $ = end of the string:
*
/
if (!\preg_match_all(’$\S(?=\S{8,})(?=\S*[a-z])(?=\S*[A-Z])(?=\S*[\d])\S*$’, $password)) {
return FALSE;
} else {
return TRUE;
}
}

function checkEmail($email) {
if (!filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
return FALSE;
} else {
return TRUE;
}
}

function passwordMatch($password, $verify_password) {
if ($password === $verify_password) {
return TRUE;
} else {
return FALSE;
}
}

function emailMatch($email, $verify_email) {
if ($email === $verify_email) {
return TRUE;
} else {
return FALSE;
}
}

function validate(array $error) {
foreach ($error as $status) {
if (!$status) {
return $error;
}
}
return true;
}

/*

End of Validation
*/

/*

Save data to database table after validation is done.
*/
function saveRegistration(array $data, $pdo) {
$password = password_hash($data[‘password’], PASSWORD_DEFAULT);

$query = ‘INSERT INTO users(username, email, password, dateCreated) VALUES ( :username, :email, :password, NOW())’;
$stmt = $pdo->prepare($query);
$result = $stmt->execute([’:username’ => $data[‘username’], ‘:email’ => $data[‘email’], ‘:password’ => $password]);
if ($result) {
return TRUE;
} else {
return FALSE;
}
}[/php]

and here’s the portion of the script that checks it:
[php]$data = []; // An array that we setup as $data:
$error = [];
/*

When user click on the submit button we grab the hidden input variable and the
reason we do that instead of the regular submit button is to ensure that we get the click.
For some older I.E. browsers don’t register the click on the submit button (or so I am told).
*/
$submit = filter_input(INPUT_POST, ‘action’, FILTER_SANITIZE_FULL_SPECIAL_CHARS); // using htmlspecialchars sanitizes the variable:

if ($submit && $submit === ‘submit’) {
/*
* Grab all the user’s input responses and store them it the array called $data. We
* will shorting be validating all the input fields and then storing the values in a database table if everything
* passes validation.
*/
$data[‘username’] = htmlspecialchars($_POST[‘username’]);
$data[‘password’] = htmlspecialchars($_POST[‘password’]);
$data[‘password_verify’] = htmlspecialchars($_POST[‘verify’]);
$data[‘email’] = htmlspecialchars($_POST[‘email’]);
$data[‘email_verify’] = htmlspecialchars($_POST[‘verifyEmail’]);

/*
 * Validate user's input from registration form. Check to see if all fields have been entered, password is 
 * valid, email is valid, verify that both password and email address has been entered correct and make sure there
 * are no dupicate accounts being entered. 
 */
$error['empty'] = checkContent($data);
$error['password'] = checkPassword($data['password']);
$error['email'] = checkEmail($data['email']);
$error['passwordMatch'] = passwordMatch($data['password'], $data['password_verify']);
$error['emailMatch'] = emailMatch($data['email'], $data['email_verify']);
$error['account'] = accountStatus($data['email'], $pdo);

/*
 * Check to see if everything passes, if so save user's acount to database table users. Otherwise inform
 * user there was an error(s) when registering and please try again. 
 */
$result = validate($error);
if (!is_array($result)) {
    $info = saveRegistration($data, $pdo);
    unset($data);
} else {
    //echo "<pre>" . print_r($error, 1) . "</pre>\n";
}

}[/php]

and you can get the whole thing at : https://github.com/Strider64/php-registration-tutorial

maybe this will help or not. However, I think with a few modifications (and improvements of my code ;D ) it should be relatively easy to do.

Jim-W-1949 · March 16, 2017, 2:25am

Valkrider:

Why don’t you make the fields required in your html form then in your php you only have to process them?

It is as simple as
 <form action="/action_page.php">
  Username: <input type="text" name="usrname" required>
  <input type="submit">
</form> 

I could probably do it this way, and it would no doubt work just fine. But I am trying to learn how to write the PHP code and every time I get something to work correctly, I learn from it. If I don’t do it this way and get it working, then I don’t really learn from it. I appreciate your help, it’s just that I want to try and get it to work with the PHP code. I think I am fairily close with the code I have so far, but I think I may have gotten something a little bit wrong. If I could just get it to work I would have a better understanding of it. I’ll keep trying and see if I can get it.

Jim-W-1949 · March 16, 2017, 2:29am

Strider64:

I have found some mobile devices (not all) that the required field doesn’t work properly if this is going to be a responsive website in the past.

What I do is have a bunch of validation functions, here’s a portion of registration script that I was writing.

[php]/*

Begin of Validation.
*/

function checkContent($data) {
/* This makes sure user just didn’t type spaces in an attempt to make the form valid /
foreach ($data as $key => $value) {
$data[$key] = isset($value) ? trim($value) : ‘’;
}
/ If there are empty field(s) then set the error array to
* false otherwise it should be true.
*/
if (in_array("", $data, true)) {
return FALSE;
} else {
return TRUE;
}
}

function checkPassword($password) {
/*
*
* Explaining !preg_match_all(’$\S*(?=\S{8,})(?=\S*[a-z])(?=\S*[A-Z])(?=\S*[\d])(?=\S*[\W])\S*$’, $password)
* $ = beginning of string
* \S* = any set of characters
* (?=\S{8,}) = of at least length 8
* (?=\S*[a-z]) = containing at least one lowercase letter
* (?=\S*[A-Z]) = and at least one one uppercase letter
* (?=\S*[\d]) = and at least one number
* (?=\S*[\W]) = and at least a special character (non-word character)
* $ = end of the string:
*
/
if (!\preg_match_all(’$\S(?=\S{8,})(?=\S*[a-z])(?=\S*[A-Z])(?=\S*[\d])\S*$’, $password)) {
return FALSE;
} else {
return TRUE;
}
}

function checkEmail($email) {
if (!filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
return FALSE;
} else {
return TRUE;
}
}

function passwordMatch($password, $verify_password) {
if ($password === $verify_password) {
return TRUE;
} else {
return FALSE;
}
}

function emailMatch($email, $verify_email) {
if ($email === $verify_email) {
return TRUE;
} else {
return FALSE;
}
}

function accountStatus($email, $pdo) {
$query = “SELECT 1 FROM users WHERE email = :email”;
$stmt = $pdo->prepare($query);
$stmt->bindParam(’:email’, $email);
$stmt->execute();
$row = $stmt->fetch();
if ($row) {
return FALSE;
} else {
return TRUE;
}
}

function validate(array $error) {
foreach ($error as $status) {
if (!$status) {
return $error;
}
}
return true;
}

/*

End of Validation
*/

/*

Save data to database table after validation is done.
*/
function saveRegistration(array $data, $pdo) {
$password = password_hash($data[‘password’], PASSWORD_DEFAULT);

$query = ‘INSERT INTO users(username, email, password, dateCreated) VALUES ( :username, :email, :password, NOW())’;
$stmt = $pdo->prepare($query);
$result = $stmt->execute([’:username’ => $data[‘username’], ‘:email’ => $data[‘email’], ‘:password’ => $password]);
if ($result) {
return TRUE;
} else {
return FALSE;
}
}[/php]

and here’s the portion of the script that checks it:
[php]$data = []; // An array that we setup as $data:
$error = [];
/*

When user click on the submit button we grab the hidden input variable and the

reason we do that instead of the regular submit button is to ensure that we get the click.

For some older I.E. browsers don’t register the click on the submit button (or so I am told).
*/
$submit = filter_input(INPUT_POST, ‘action’, FILTER_SANITIZE_FULL_SPECIAL_CHARS); // using htmlspecialchars sanitizes the variable:

if ($submit && $submit === ‘submit’) {
/*
* Grab all the user’s input responses and store them it the array called $data. We
* will shorting be validating all the input fields and then storing the values in a database table if everything
* passes validation.
*/
$data[‘username’] = htmlspecialchars($_POST[‘username’]);
$data[‘password’] = htmlspecialchars($_POST[‘password’]);
$data[‘password_verify’] = htmlspecialchars($_POST[‘verify’]);
$data[‘email’] = htmlspecialchars($_POST[‘email’]);
$data[‘email_verify’] = htmlspecialchars($_POST[‘verifyEmail’]);
/*
 * Validate user's input from registration form. Check to see if all fields have been entered, password is 
 * valid, email is valid, verify that both password and email address has been entered correct and make sure there
 * are no dupicate accounts being entered. 
 */
$error['empty'] = checkContent($data);
$error['password'] = checkPassword($data['password']);
$error['email'] = checkEmail($data['email']);
$error['passwordMatch'] = passwordMatch($data['password'], $data['password_verify']);
$error['emailMatch'] = emailMatch($data['email'], $data['email_verify']);
$error['account'] = accountStatus($data['email'], $pdo);

/*
 * Check to see if everything passes, if so save user's acount to database table users. Otherwise inform
 * user there was an error(s) when registering and please try again. 
 */
$result = validate($error);
if (!is_array($result)) {
    $info = saveRegistration($data, $pdo);
    unset($data);
} else {
    //echo "<pre>" . print_r($error, 1) . "</pre>\n";
}
}[/php]

and you can get the whole thing at : https://github.com/Strider64/php-registration-tutorial

maybe this will help or not. However, I think with a few modifications (and improvements of my code ;D ) it should be relatively easy to do.

I’ll take a close look at this and see what I can come up with for ideas to fix mine. Thanks for the info. I will be gone for a week or ten days, so I won’t be working on it for awhile.