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Looking for a better way to insert values into database


perky416

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Hi everyone.

 

I have a registration form on my website that returns errors if the form isnt filled out correctly.

An example of the code that returns the errors is:

 

 
// if first name is blank return error
if (!$first_name)
{
	echo "Please enter your first name!<br />";
}

// if first name contains invalid charcters return error
if (preg_match('/[^a-zA-Z\s]/', $first_name))
{
	echo "Your first name contains invalid charcters!<br />";
}

// set first name maximum length
if ($first_name && !preg_match('/[^a-zA-Z0-9\s]/', $first_name))
{
	if (strlen($first_name) >25)
	{
		echo "The maximum length for first name is 25 characters!<br />";
	}
}

 

Iv wrote it like this so that i can get multiple error messages appearing at the same time.

 

When it comes to writing the form data to the database im using the following:

 

if ($first_name && !preg_match('/[^a-zA-Z\s]/', $first_name) && strlen($first_name) <26 && $last_name && !preg_match('/[^a-zA-Z\s]/', $last_name) && strlen($last_name) <26 && $dob_day != "Day" && $dob_month != "Month" && $dob_year != "Year" && $gender != "Select" && $email && filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) && $confirm_email && $email == $confirm_email && $email_count == 0 && $town && !preg_match('/[^a-zA-Z0-9\s]/', $town) && strlen($town) < 26 && $location != "Select" && $postcode && !preg_match('/[^a-zA-Z0-9\s]/', $postcode) && $username && !preg_match('/[^a-zA-Z\s]/', $username) && strlen($username) >2 && strlen($username) <25 && $username_count == 0 && $password && strlen($password) >5 && strlen($password) <26 && $confirm_password && $password == $confirm_password)
{
// code to write to database here		
}

 

I was wondering if there was a better way to confirm that all the form data is ok, and if so write the data to the database? Im new to php and would love to learn a way to make this easier instead of typing out loads of lines of code.

 

Thanks to anyone that can help me.

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Store your field validation errors in an array, then if the array is empty(), insert the record into the DB. Alternately, you could set a 'flag' variable if a field doesn't validate that would not allow the insert if it's present.

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Thanks for info both of you, however when iv tried to implement it using the example, when the form fields are empty the only error message im getting is "Array".

 

<?php
$first_name = $_POST['first_name'];
$submit = $_POST['submit'];

if ($submit)
{

$error = array();
if (!$first_name)
{
    $error[] = "Please enter your first name!";
}
    
if(empty($error))
{
    // code to write to database here
}
else
{
    echo explode('<br />', $error);
}

}
?>
<html>
<form action="test.php" method="POST">
<input type="text" name="first_name" />
<input type="submit" name="submit" />
</form>
</html>

 

Have i done it correctly? Iv never used an array before.

 

Thanks again

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