Keep form data after error message?

[tonynoriega]

This script is simple and has served me well over the past years...

problem i find is that when the echo error is displayed, the form data is lost...

how can i keep the form data in tact, and echo the error message?

<?php 
 
   if (isset($_POST['submit'])) { 
 
   if (!$_POST['name'] | !$_POST['email']) 
   { 
   echo"<div class='error'>Error<br />You did not fill in a required field, please review your form and correct the missing information.</div>"; 
   } 
   else 
   { 
   $name = $_POST['name']; 
   $email = $_POST['email']; 
   $email2 = $_POST['email2']; 
   $legal = $_POST['legal']; 
   $legal2 = $_POST['legal2']; 
   $address = $_POST['address']; 
   $address2 = $_POST['address2']; 
   $city = $_POST['city']; 
   $state = $_POST['state']; 
   $zip = $_POST['zip']; 
   $phone = $_POST['phone']; 
   $comments = $_POST['comments']; 
 
 
 
   $yoursite = "See Me Shine Models"; 
   $youremail = $email; 
 
   $subject = "Website Model Form"; 
   $message = "$name would like you to contact them about See Me Shine Models. 
   Contact PH: $phone 
   Email: $email 
   Email2: $email2 
   Legal: $legal 
   Legal2: $legal2 
   Address: $address 
   Address2: $address2 
   City: $city 
   State: $state 
   Zip: $zip 
   Phone: $phone 
   Comments: $comments"; 
 
   $email3 = "[e-mail]"; 
 
   mail($email3, $subject, $message, "From: $email"); 
 
   echo"<div class='thankyou'>Thank you for contacting us,<br /> we will respond as soon as we can.</div>"; 
 
   } 
   } 
   ?> 

[enigma1]

just remove the else clause and leave the if in place

//else
//{
and the closing bracket.

PS: Actually you're sending the mail further down so you need to check for the error before sending the mail too.

if ($_POST['name'] && $_POST['email']) {
mail($email3, $subject, $message, "From: $email");

echo"<div class='thankyou'>Thank you for contacting us,<br /> we will respond as soon as we can.</div>";
}

[tonynoriega]

So essentially i would have 3 if statements....

does that sound right?

[enigma1]

you need to add another conditional because you don't want to send an email on failure. Yes 3 if statements 2 inside the first one.

if (isset($_POST['submit'])) {

[tonynoriega]

<?php 

if (isset($_POST['submit'])) { 

if (!$_POST['name'] | !$_POST['email']) 
{ 
echo"<div class='error'>Error<br />You did not fill in a required field, please review your form and correct the missing information.</div>"; 
} 

$name = $_POST['name']; 
$email = $_POST['email']; 
$email2 = $_POST['email2']; 
$legal = $_POST['legal']; 
$legal2 = $_POST['legal2']; 
$address = $_POST['address']; 
$address2 = $_POST['address2']; 
$city = $_POST['city']; 
$state = $_POST['state']; 
$zip = $_POST['zip']; 
$phone = $_POST['phone']; 
$comments = $_POST['comments']; 



$yoursite = "See Me Shine Models"; 
$youremail = $email; 

$subject = "Website Model Form"; 
$message = "$name would like you to contact them about See Me Shine Models. 
Contact PH: $phone 
Email: $email 
Email2: $email2 
Legal: $legal 
Legal2: $legal2 
Address: $address 
Address2: $address2 
City: $city 
State: $state 
Zip: $zip 
Phone: $phone 
Comments: $comments"; 

$email3 = "[e-mail]"; 

if ($_POST['name'] && $_POST['email']) { 
mail($email3, $subject, $message, "From: $email"); 

echo"<div class='thankyou'>Thank you for contacting us,<br /> we will respond as soon as we can.</div>"; 
} 
} 
?> 

as such?

[tonynoriega]

I just tested this, although no errors, when the error message is displayed, and i close it, the data is not in the previously populated fields.

do i need to set the $_Session variable?

[enigma1]

when you say "I close it" what do you mean, reload the page?

for a simple form like this you shouldn't need to setup sessions.

[tonynoriega]

i have a jquery .hide() function attached to the echo <div> so that the user can close it...

it functions like a pop up.. and the user can close it...


<a class="close" href="#">close</a>

BUT even if i dont close it, i can see the rest of the form behind it, and the fields are once again empty...

so it seems to be happening when the page re-loads...

which it is re-loading..i can actually see the page refresh... why? i dont know...

could it be the way my form is processing?

<form id="contact_us" method="post" action="index.php">

[enigma1]

what the handler for the close link inside the jquery does? Make sure it only closes the popup and returns false. Otherwise the click will propagate ie: do the default which is to follow the link (like when you click a link).

see when you disable js does it work after submitting the form?

PS: Can you also change this code


if (!$_POST['name'] | !$_POST['email'])

to this


if (!$_POST['name'] || !$_POST['email'])

[enigma1]

Actually what I posted earlier is incorrect. Is not the problem

Basically you want to check for empty fields so its

if ( empty($_POST['name']) || empty($_POST['email']) )

[rocknbil]

how can i keep the form data in tact, and echo the error message?

A skeleton of one decent approach. Needs quite a bit more filtering to avoid data injection, but it's a start.

if (isset($_POST['submit'])) {  
 if (empty($_POST['email']) or empty($_POST['name'])) { 
 // echo out the ENTIRE FORM here, with the error and form fields intact 
 $errors = '<p class="error">Error<br />You did not fill in a required  
 field, please review your form and correct the missing information.</p>'; 
 echo output_form($errors); 
 exit; // this line eliminates need for "else" 
 } 
 // do mail functions 
} 
else { 
 // echo out entire form here 
 echo output_form(); 
 // End of script, no exit needed 
} 
// 
// then the form function, so you don't have to code it twice 
// 
function output_form($errors=null) { 
 $form = null; // To squelch undefined variable errors 
 if ($errors) { $form .= $errors; } 
 $form .='<form action...... (etc.)'; 
 return $form; 
} 

Since $_POST is a superglobal, you shouldn't have to declare any global variables within the function.