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PHP Enhancing a Simple PHP Application Integrating Validation Errors Re-Displaying the Submission

Brian Polonia
Brian Polonia
25,139 Points
Posted by Brian Polonia
Brian Polonia
25,139 Points

Re-Displaying the Submission - having issue with textarea / message

Hello,

In reference to the video on Re-displaying the submission button, I am having an issue re-displaying the message.

the text inside of the name and email re-display but the text inside of the textarea does not.

At the top of the document my message variable is declared like so:

$message = trim($_POST['message']);

And later down the document where I build the form, my textarea for $message is written as so:

<textarea name="message" id="message"><?php if(isset($message)){ echo $message; } ?></textarea>

Can someone please help me with this? Randy Hoyt maybe?

Thanks!

  • Brian

4 Answers

Brad Van Skyhawk
Brad Van Skyhawk
28,489 Points
Brad Van Skyhawk
Brad Van Skyhawk
28,489 Points

The code you posted should work, unless you do not have method="post" in the <form> tag. What does you <form> tag look like?

Brian Polonia
Brian Polonia
25,139 Points
Brian Polonia
Brian Polonia
25,139 Points

Here is the complete form:

<form action="contact.php" method="post">

     <?php 
      if(isset($_GET["status"]) and $_GET["status"] == "thanks") {
      ?>
        <p>Thanks for the email. I&#39;ll be in touch shortly!</p>
      <?php } else { ?>
      <table>
        <tr>
          <th><label for="name">Name </label></th>
          <td><input type="text" name="name" id="name" value="<?php if(isset($name)){ echo htmlspecialchars($name); }?>"></td>
        </tr>

        <tr>
          <th><label for="email">Email </label></th>
          <td><input type="text" name="email" id="email" value="<?php if(isset($email)){ echo htmlspecialchars($email); }?>"></td>
        </tr>


<!------- this is the one I'm having the issue with re-displaying. the ones above, $name and $email, re-display fine ------->
        <tr>
          <th><label for="message">Message </label></th>
          <td><textarea name="message" id="message"><?php if(isset($message)){ echo htmlspecialchars($message); } ?></textarea></td>
        </tr>

        <tr style="display: none;">
          <th><label for="address">address </label></th>
          <td><input type="text" name="address" id="address"></td>
          <p>Humans, please leave this field blank.</p>
        </tr>

      </table>
      <input type="submit" value="Send">
     <?php } ?> 
    </form>

Please read my comment a few lines above the textarea.

Thanks!

  • Brian
Brad Van Skyhawk
Brad Van Skyhawk
28,489 Points
Brad Van Skyhawk
Brad Van Skyhawk
28,489 Points

Sorry, but I cannot replicate your issue. Is the name of file where the form is called contact.php? Is it possible to post the entire file?

carlosjimenez
carlosjimenez
5,504 Points
carlosjimenez
carlosjimenez
5,504 Points

I am having the same issue. The message input field does not get saved. Furthermore, it skips in validation. If it is empty the form still submits and is taken to the thank you page.

<?php 

if($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {

    // trim removes any white space before and after the variable in case someone typed in a space or a hard return
    $name = trim($_POST["name"]);
    $email = trim($_POST["email"]);
    $message = trim($_POST["message"]);

    // checks is there is a value in each input field
    if ($name == "" OR $email == "" OR $message = "") {
        $error_message = "You must specify a value for the name, email, and message.";
    }

    // Checks that none of the fields has malicious code
    if (!isset($error_message)) {
        foreach($_POST as $value) {
            if (stripos($value,'Content-Type:') !== FALSE){
                $error_message = "There was a problem with the information you entered.";
            }
        }
    }

    // Checks that the spam honeypot field is left blank
    if (!isset($error_message) && $_POST["address"] != "") {
        $error_message = "Your form submission has an error.";
    }

    // Checks that the email is in a valid format
    require_once("inc/phpmailer/class.phpmailer.php");
    $mail = new PHPMailer();

    if (!isset($error_message) && !$mail -> ValidateAddress($email)) {
        $error_message = "You must specify a valid email address.";
    }

    if (!isset($error_message)) {
        $email_body = "";
        $email_body = $email_body . "Name: " . $name . "<br>"; 
        $email_body = $email_body .  "Email: " . $email . "<br>";
        $email_body = $email_body .  "Message: " . $message;
        $mail->SetFrom($email, $name);
        $address = "siegetheartist@gmail.com";
        $mail->AddAddress($address, "Siege the Artist");
        $mail->Subject = "Start up Contact Form | " . $name;
        $mail->MsgHTML($email_body);

        if($mail->Send()) {
            header("Location: contact.php?status=thanks"); // redirect
            exit;
        } else {
            $error_message = "There was a problem sending the email: " . $mail->ErrorInfo;
        }

    }
}
?>






<?php 
$page_title = "Contact us";
include ("inc/header.php"); 
?>

<section>

<?php 
    // Checks if a $_GET variabe exists. 
    // It exists if values have been sent to the $_GET variable via our form submission. 
    // It then checks the value of our status variable. 
    // If it's set to "thanks" then we want to display this thank you message. 
    // If we do not check the $_GET status exists first, we will get an error message 

    if(isset($_GET["status"]) AND $_GET["status"] == "thanks") { 
        echo '<h1>Email Sent!</h1>';
        echo '<p>Thanks for the email!</p>';
    } else { 

        if (!isset($error_message)) {
            echo '<h1>We\'d love to hear from you!</h1>';
            echo '<p>Send us a message! We always like to hear what the community thinks about the website.</p>';
        } else {
            echo '<h1>Oh oh! Something went wrong.</h1>';
            echo '<p class="#">' . $error_message . '</p>';
        } 
?>

    <form method="post" action="contact.php">
        <table>
            <tr>
                <th><label for="name">Name</label></th>
                <td><input type="text" name="name" id="name" value="<?php if (isset($name)) { echo $name; } ?>"></td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <th><label for="email">Email</label></th>
                <td><input type="text" name="email" id="email" value="<?php if (isset($email)) { echo $email; } ?>"></td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <th><label for="message">Message</label></th>
                <td><textarea name="message" id="message"><?php if (isset($message)) { echo $message; } ?></textarea></td>
            </tr>

            <!-- humans dont fill this out -->
            <tr style="display:none;">
                <th><label for="address">Address</label></th>
                <td><input type="text" name="address" id="address" ><p>Do not fill out the address.</p></td>
            </tr>

        </table>
        <input type="submit" value="Send">
    </form>

<?php 
    } // ends the if else statement 
?>

</section>

<?php include ("inc/footer.php"); ?>
Mai Lon Ross
Mai Lon Ross
5,891 Points
Mai Lon Ross
Mai Lon Ross
5,891 Points

Single equals sign in this line, setting the $message variable value rather than checking it. if ($name == "" OR $email == "" OR $message = "") {