validation problems

[skter4938]

Hello there.

I have a simple php email form. The form itself contacts the php page called contact.php and contact.php sends the mail. I'm sure people who have made an email script before know what I am talking about.

Well I have a validtaion section in the contact.php, and this is what it looks like:

[code]$validationOK=true;
if (checkEmail($EmailFrom) == FALSE){
print "<meta http-equiv=\"refresh\" content=\"0;URL=/contact/\">";
exit;
}
else if (Trim($Name)==""){
print "<meta http-equiv=\"refresh\" content=\"0;URL=/contact/\">";
exit;
}
else if (Trim($Subject)=="") {
print "<meta http-equiv=\"refresh\" content=\"0;URL=/contact/\">";
exit;
}
if (Trim($Message)==""){
print "<meta http-equiv=\"refresh\" content=\"0;URL=/contact/\">";
exit;
}
else if (!$validationOK) {
print "Email could not be sent due to errors. Please email the webmaster.";
exit;
}[/code]

Well instead of just refreshing back to the contact page, I want it to display text that says for example "The email you entered is not valid" next to the email textbox on my form. How can I do that?

[.josh]

example:

pagethatprocessesform.php
[code]
<?php
session_start();

$name = $_POST['name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];

// alter your conditions as you see fit for error checking
if (trim($name) == '') {
  $error_msg[] = "no name entered.";
}
if(trim($email) == '') {
  $error_msg[] = "no email entered.";
}

if ($error_msg) {
   $_SESSION['error_msg'] = $error_msg;
   header ('Location: pagewithformonit.php');
   exit();
else {
  //process email
}
?>
[/code]

pagewithformonit.php
[code]
<?php
session_start();

if ($_SESSION['error_msg']) {
   echo "the following problems occured:<br>";
   foreach ($_SESSION['error_msg'] as $val) {
      echo $val . "<br>";
   }
   unset($_SESSION['error_msg']);
}

//code to show the form
?>
[/code]

[skter4938]

Thank you good sir [img src=\"style_emoticons/[#EMO_DIR#]/laugh.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\":laugh:\" border=\"0\" alt=\"laugh.gif\" /]

But there is one small problemo....

It gives me this error now

[!--quoteo--][div class=\'quotetop\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\'quotemain\'][!--quotec--]Warning: session_start(): Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at /home/webtodes/public_html/contact/index.php:6) in /home/webtodes/public_html/contact/index.php on line 50[/quote]


and line 50 is [code]session_start();[/code] on the form page. I tried taking it out, and it just doesn't work.

[zq29]

Is session_start(); called before [i]all[/i] page output?

[skter4938]

I put session_start(); right before the rest of the php code.

[zq29]

session_start(); needs to be called before any output (including HTML), its best to put it right at the top of your file, so that line 1 is "<?php session_start(); ?>".

[skter4938]

Ahhh Thank you :D

Everything works. Except when it writes "Please enter an email...blah blah blah...." It refreshes the form. Is there anyway of it just erasing what is wrong?

[.josh]

in your pagethatprocessesform.php you need to pass the variables back to the form, using sessions, just like the error_msg variable

example:

pagethatprocessesform.php
[code]
<?php
session_start();

$name = $_POST['name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];

// alter your conditions as you see fit for error checking
if (trim($name) == '') {
  $error_msg[] = "no name entered.";
}
if(trim($email) == '') {
  $error_msg[] = "no email entered.";
}

if ($error_msg) {
   $_SESSION['error_msg'] = $error_msg;
  
   //create a session array with the values
   $_SESSION['form_values'] = array ('name' => $name, 'email' => $email);
   header ('Location: pagewithformonit.php');
   exit();
else {
  //process email
}
?>
[/code]

and then in pagewithformonit.php
[code]
<?php
session_start();

if ($_SESSION['error_msg']) {
   echo "the following problems occured:<br>";
   foreach ($_SESSION['error_msg'] as $val) {
      echo $val . "<br>";
   }
   unset($_SESSION['error_msg']);
}

?>
<!-- example of form -->
<form ...>
Name: <input type = 'text' name = 'name' value='<?= $_SESSION['form_values']['name'] ?><br>
Email: <input type = 'text' name = 'email' value='<?= $_SESSION['form_values']['email'] ?><br>
</form>

<?php
   unsest $_SESSION['form_values'];
?>
[/code]