PHP if exist trouble

[dolty]

Greetings All, I am attempting to use some small php statement to check if a certain ‘box’ (field? var?) has been filled in on a User Registration form. If any data is entered in this field, I would like the registration to fail (anti-bot idea). The php is this:

[php]if (null !==$_POST[‘ICQ’])
}
exit (“Bot Warning”) ;
}[/php]

…and the var I am attempting to reference I think is defined later here (it’s a .tpl file in phpBB 2x):

<td class="row1"><span class="gen">{L_ICQ_NUMBER}:</span></td> <td class="row2"> <input type="text" name="icq" class="post" style="width: 100px" size="10" maxlength="15" value="{ICQ}" /> </td>

Any help would be thoroughly appreciated chaps-- I have no idea what I’m doing here!

[astonecipher]

[php]if ( strlen(trim($_POST[‘ICQ’])) > 0)[/php]

[dolty]

Thank you kindly for that suggestion. However, when I modify my code as such, a bit of this code line appears as text at the beginning of the Reg Form page: “0) { exit (“Bot Warning”) ; } ?>”…

Have I screwed this up? Did I place the php code in the wrong place in the file (now at the beginning of the .tpl)? Or in th wrong file (now in profile_add_body)? Any ideas? Thanks a lot!

Curent php
[php]<?php
if (strlen(trim($_POST[‘ICQ’])) > 0)
{
exit (“Bot Warning”) ;
}
?>[/php]

[astonecipher]

Considering it is php, it doesn’t go in a top file.

[dolty]

Hmmm… I am confused. Into which file should this php code be placed, considering that this is a BB forum. Does it go into the index.html, or one of the .tpl files? In the correct file, does it need to sit somewhere specifically within that file?

[astonecipher]

Well, if you are using it to prevent automated spam: you will need to have it before the code that processes the post request.

[dolty]

Thanks astonecipher, yes I do have. This php code is in the file “profile_add_body.tpl”. It is placed at the start of that file before any other comment, the first of which (below) is <form action… In fact, I have tried moving my php to other parts of this same file, always with identical results. Do you reckon that this is indeed the correct place for the code, or I have I got it wrong?

[astonecipher]

I don’t know of tpl files that execute php, they are template files because the logic is not a part of their purpose, or shouldn’t be.