Re: [PHP] recommended way for server side validation - include in same file or have a different file
Hello Vinayakam,
Tuesday, March 8, 2005, 4:11:43 AM, you wrote:
V However in the second case, in case of an error, displaying the
V data becomes an issue.
V Any recommended ways for server side validation
I usually do the updates in the same file unless there are a lot of
different things going on (inserts, updates, deletes etc), then I'll
break it out into separate files. However, I do almost always have an
included file with all my error checking code.
So, let's say in the main page(let's call it index.php) where we're
filling out a form, we have the following three items:
formFirstName
formLastName
formEmployeeNumber
We submit and the action is PHP_SELF
At the top of index.php is an include for errorhandler.php which only
happens if $_POST['submit'] == Submit
errorhandler.php includes functions.php at the top and
errorhandler.php looks like this:
validateString('firstName', $_POST['formFirstName'], 25)
validateString('lastName', $_POST['formLastName'], 25)
validateNumeric('EmployeeNumber', $_POST['formEmployeeNumber'], 5)
functions.php contains all my commonly used functions, and
validateString() might look like this:
function validateString($fieldName, $fieldValue, $size) {
global $errors[];
if ($strlen($fieldValue) = $size) {
if (does not contain any undesirable characters) {
$errors['$fieldname'] = 0;
}
else {
$errors[0] = 1;
$errors[$fieldName] = You may only use letters and hyphens.;
}
}
else {
$errors[0] = 1;
$errors[$fieldName] .= This field is limited to $size characters.;
}
return;
}
Then back in index.php I test $errors[0] to see if there was an error,
if so, I skip over the insert, update or delete and just go back down
to the form and display the error where appropriate.
Note: I didn't test the above code for this explanation.
It gets a bit harder when you have separate files but it's doable.
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Re: [PHP] recommended way for server side validation - include in same file or have a different file
The way I do it is to have display, edit, validation and save all in
the same file. I have an op variable that tracks whether the
operation is an edit or reedit (reuse submitted data) because of
validation failure. Another variable would track if it's a new entry
(blank fields) or editing an existing entry (retrieve data). For
clarity, I break out pieces into separate files and just include them
if needed. This keeps the file smaller and easier to traverse and
debug.
if ($op=='save') {
validate
if validated
include('saveFile.php')
op = 'view'
else
error message stuff
op = 'reedit'
}
if ($op=='reedit') {
prep submitted data for reediting, include error message(s)
} elseif ($id=='new') {
prep 'blank' data, set defaults
} elseif ($id0) {
retrieve data for display or editing
}
if ($op=='edit' || $op=='reedit') {
create form field for data entry
} else {
massage data for display
}
Merge data with HTML template file
Display final page
That's basically my template. The core file is really just the logic,
data retrieval is obviously done through a function call. The display
piece, the html, is in a separate file and is structured for handling
simple data display or data entry form fields. The logic dictates the
role of the template, data entry or display. It's also then very simple
to create a display for cellphones, just create a different html
template. I've tried to follow the MVC (Model View Controller) design
pattern concept, which has worked very well for me.
Hope that helps.
On Mar 8, 2005, at 6:11 AM, Vinayakam Murugan wrote:
Hi
I have always felt for reasons for cleanliness and clarity, it is
better to have the validation and insert / update statements in a
seperate file rather than have it in the same script.
Case 1
--
//file:form.php
if $_POST
then validate
Insert or update on success
else
if $_GET['primarykey'] then
show form for editing
else
show form for adding
fi
form action=form.php method=post
Show form
/form
Case 2
--
//file:form1.php
if $_GET['primarykey'] then
show form for editing
else
show form for adding
fi
form action=formvalidate.php method=post
Show form
/form
However in the second case, in case of an error, displaying the data
becomes an issue.
Any recommended ways for server side validation
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Warm Regards
Vinayak
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