Validation help

sparkymom7 · July 9, 2013

Hi All,

What originally seemed like a simple form has turned into my worst nightmare because I had no clue about PHP and minimal javascript knowledge.

I have created an HTML form with some Javascript and PHP. I am finally able to get the code to work by sending email behind the scenes to appropriate branches. I ended up using PHPMailer.
At this time I won't be pulling data from a database, the fields will filled in by user.
This will be an internal form, launched from Sharepoint through a different server.
I don't need to validate email addresses because I have them built in behind the scenes in my php code.
Now I have to figure out the best way to validate so that when a user fills out the form there are no empty fields. I have tried several different ways to validate but my success rate is not good.

Questions:

1.) Does PHP validation go at the beginning of HTML code?

2.) If so, how does one close it off? In other words does the closing ?> //closing PHP

go at the bottom of HTML code just above </html>?

3.) I do have a good working send.php that sends out an email with appropriate fields and content once form is submitted. I don't think validation should go within this code. Right?

I need to validate the following required fields:

Text fields (stock #, serial #, description, Requested by, Customer Information
Requested Date Field (jScript Datepicker)
2 drop down fields

Attached is my code, like I said I have tried so many things. If I attempt to submit the form with blank fields I don't receive any errors. I end up receiving blank emails -

Stock Number:

Serial Number:

Description:

Requested By:

Requested Date: Click to Select Date

Customer Info:

Requesting Branch:

Shipping Branch:

I hope someone can help me out.

Thanks in Advance...

<!doctype html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Transfer Form</title>
<link href="css/goods.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">

<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.9.1.js"></script>
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/ui/1.10.3/jquery-ui.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function() {
    $('a').click(function() {
        $('#myTable tbody').append('<tr class="child"><td><input type="text" name="stockNumber" class="stocktext"  id="stockNumber" /></td><td><input type="text" name="serialNumber" class="serialtext" id="serialNumber" /></td><td><input type="text" name="description" class="descripttext" id="description"/></td></tr>');
    
});
});
</script>

<script>
  $(function() {
    $( "#datepicker" ).datepicker();
  });
  </script>
</head>

<body>

<form name= "transfer" method="POST" action="send.php"> 

<fieldset>
<legend class="legend"> Transfer Form</legend>

<p class="currentdate">Current Date: 
<script type="text/javascript">
<!--
var currentTime = new Date()
var month = currentTime.getMonth() + 1
var day = currentTime.getDate()
var year = currentTime.getFullYear()
document.write(month + "/" + day + "/" + year)
//-->
</script></p>

<p>
<table class="table">
    <tr>
      <td><span class="requiredtable">*</span> <span class="fieldtext">Stock Number</span></td>
      <td><span class="requiredtable">*</span> <span class="fieldtext">Serial Number</span></td>
      <td class="descripttd"><span class="descriptiontxt"> Description</span></td>
    </tr>
  </table>
  
  <table id="myTable">
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <TD> <input name="stockNumber" type="text" class="stocktext"  id="stockNumber" placeholder="Enter Stock Number" tabindex="1"  /></TD>
            
      <TD> <input type="text" name="serialNumber" class="serialtext" id="serialNumber" placeholder="Enter Serial Number" tabindex="2" /> </TD>
            
      <TD> <input type="text" name="description" class="descripttext" id="description" placeholder="Enter Description" tabindex="3" /> </TD>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table> 
    
 <p><span class="required">*
    </span><span class="fieldtext">Requested by:
    </span>
    <input type="text" name="Requested_by" required id="Requested_by" size="50" maxlength="500" tabindex="4">
        
      <span class="requestdate"><span class="required">*</span> Requested Date:
<input type="text" name="requestedDate" required id="datepicker" value="Click to Select Date" tabindex="5"></span>
  </p>
    
  <p><span class="required">*</span>
  <span class="fieldtext">Customer Info:</span>
        <input type="text" name="Cust Info" required id="Cust_Info" size="50" maxlength="500" tabindex="6">
  </p>

 <label for="RequestingBranch"> 
     <span class="required">*</span>
     <span class="fieldtext"> Requesting Branch:</span>
    </label>
    
<select class="select" name="R_branch" id="R_branch">
<option value="">Select One:
<option value="R_boston">Boston
<option value="R_Buffalo">Buffalo
<option value="R_Cinncinatti">Cinncinatti
<option value="R_columbia">Columbia
<option value="R_Dallas">Dallas
<option value="R_Fairfax">Fairfax
<option value="R_Kansas City">Kansas City
<option value="R_Los Angeles">Los Angeles
<option value="R_Orlando">Orlando
<option value="R_Raleigh">Raleigh
<option value="R_Toledo">Toledo
<option value="R_Topeka">Topeka
</select>
 
    <label for="ShippingBranch">
     <span class="required">*</span>
     <span class="fieldtext"> Shipping Branch:</span>
    </label>
  
   <select class="select" name="S_branch" id="S_branch">
<option value="">Select One:
<option value="S_boston">Boston
<option value="S_Buffalo">Buffalo
<option value="S_Cinncinatti">Cinncinatti
<option value="S_columbia">Columbia
<option value="S_Dallas">Dallas
<option value="S_Fairfax">Fairfax
<option value="S_Kansas City">Kansas City
<option value="S_Los Angeles">Los Angeles
<option value="S_Orlando">Orlando
<option value="S_Raleigh">Raleigh
<option value="S_Toledo">Toledo
<option value="S_Topeka">Topeka
  </select>
    <br> <br>
 <input name="submit" class="button" value="Submit Form" type="submit">
      
    <input name="resetbutton" type="reset" id="resetbutton" value="Clear"></p>
    
  </fieldset>
</form>

</body>
</html>

<?php 
sleep(2)/
require('../PHPMailer/class.phpmailer.php');

$mail = new PHPMailer();

$mail->IsSMTP();  // telling the class to use SMTP
$mail->Host     = "ipaddress"; // SMTP server

//Sanitize incoming data and store in variable

$stockNumber =  trim(stripslashes(htmlspecialchars ($_POST['stockNumber'])));        
$serialNumber =  trim(stripslashes(htmlspecialchars ($_POST['serialNumber'])));    
$description =  trim(stripslashes(htmlspecialchars ($_POST['description'])));    
$requestedBy = trim(stripslashes(htmlspecialchars ($_POST['requestedBy'])));
$requestedDate =  trim(stripslashes(htmlspecialchars ($_POST['requestedDate'])));    
$customerInfo =  trim(stripslashes(htmlspecialchars ($_POST['customerInfo'])));    
$R_branch = trim(stripslashes(htmlspecialchars ($_POST['R_branch'])));
$S_branch = trim(stripslashes(htmlspecialchars ($_POST['S_branch'])));

$R_branch = ucfirst(substr($R_branch, 2));  // removes the R_ and capitalizes first letter of branch in final output to email
$S_branch = ucfirst(substr($S_branch, 2));  // removes the S_ and capitalizes first letter of branch in final output to email
    
// Array for the R_emails option from form
$R_emails = array(
    'R_boston' => 'boston@test.com', 
    'R_buffalo' => 'buffalo@emailhere.com',
    'R_cinncinatti' => 'cinncinatti@email.com', 
    'R_columbia' => 'columbia@test.com',
    'R_dallas' => 'dallas@emailhere.com',  
    'R_fairfax' => 'fairfax@emailhere.com', 
    'R_kansas' => 'kansas@email.com', 
    'R_la' => 'la@emailhere.com',
    'R_orlando' => 'orlando@email.com', 
    'R_raleigh' => 'raleigh@emailhere.com',
    'R_toledo' => 'toledo@emailhere.com',
    'R_topeka' => 'topeka@emailhere.com', 
);

// get receiving email and turn in the the R_email variable
$R_email = $R_email[ $_POST['R_branch'] ];    

// Array for the S_emails option from form
$S_emails = array(
    'S_boston' => 'boston@test.com', 
    'S_buffalo' => 'buffalo@emailhere.com',
    'S_cinncinatti' => 'cinncinatti@email.com', 
    'S_columbia' => 'columbia@test.com',
    'S_dallas' => 'dallas@emailhere.com',  
    'S_fairfax' => 'fairfax@emailhere.com', 
    'S_kansas' => 'kansas@email.com', 
    'S_la' => 'la@emailhere.com',
    'S_orlando' => 'orlando@email.com', 
    'S_raleigh' => 'raleigh@emailhere.com',
    'S_toledo' => 'toledo@emailhere.com',
    'S_topeka' => 'topeka@emailhere.com', 
        
);

// get receiving email and turn in the the S_email variable
$S_email = $S_emails[ $_POST['S_branch'] ];    

//Prepare information from form to be sent 
$body = 'Stock Number: ' .$stockNumber . PHP_EOL;
$body .= 'Serial Number: ' .$serialNumber . PHP_EOL;
$body .= 'Description: ' .$description . PHP_EOL;
$body .= 'Requested By: ' .$requestedBy . PHP_EOL;
$body .= 'Requested Date: ' .$requestedDate . PHP_EOL;
$body .= 'Customer Info: ' .$customerInfo . PHP_EOL;
$body .= 'Requesting Branch: ' .$R_branch . PHP_EOL;
$body .= 'Shipping Branch: ' .$S_branch . PHP_EOL;
 
// Form data was successful so we will now send admin email and return message to the user
$mail = new PHPMailer();
 
$mail->IsSMTP();
$mail->Host     = "ip address"; 

$mail->From     = "sharepoint@company.com";
$mail->FromName = "Excited";
$mail->AddAddress($R_email, 'R_branch');  
$mail->AddAddress($S_email, 'S_branch');  
$mail->AddCC("user123@company.com");
 
$mail->Subject  = "Transfer Form";
$mail->Body     = $body;
$mail->WordWrap = 50;
 
if(!$mail->Send()) {
  echo 'Message was not sent.';
  echo 'Mailer error: ' . $mail->ErrorInfo;
} else {
  echo 'Thank you, your request has been sent!';
}
	
?>

TOA · July 9, 2013

PHP runs server side so the validation happens when the data is sent to the server. You could do this in your current script, or you could have the form post to a separate script (ie: process.php) which then calls the mailer when validation is complete (This would be the option I suggest). If you want to keep in in one file, look at this thread on how to structure it properly. The topic is different, but the info is still relevant for your questions about structuring a php file.

To validate, there are built in functions such as empty(), isset(), etc that will make it easier for you. Just loop through all the fields you need required making sure they're set or not empty depending on your situation. For example, text fields are sent to the server no matter what, so empty would work for this. Radio buttons only get sent if something is checked, so you can use isset for this, see what I mean?

Hope that helps

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