Question

I am really close to giving up on the native form validation error functions in Code Igniter as I am having great trouble getting them to work properly. My logic seems straight as an arrow, however the behavior of the error posing is really throwing me for a loop based off of my logic.

so here is a list of what is going on.

*When I submit the form without filling out any fields = the invalid email and password errors pose as they should

*When I enter the CORRECT email and leave password field blank = the proper invalid password error poses as it should

*When I enter the correct email and an incorrect password = the page loads white

*When I enter just the password field = the invalid email comes up

*When I enter gibberish email and leave password blank = invalid email comes up

There are many combinations of false hood that are going on.

I am also wanting to make the emails unique to where it recognizes if the email being entered does not exist in the database.

I have been stuck on this for far too long and really need some help. I am new with code-igniter and am really confused as to why this is happening. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Here is my code:

Form:

<?php
echo form_open('auth/validate_credentials_login');
echo "<span class='errors_login'>";
echo form_error('email_login');
echo "</span>";
echo form_label('', 'Email', 'email_login');
$data = array( 'name' => 'email_login', 'class' => 'input', 'placeholder' => 'Email');
echo form_input($data, set_value('email_login'));
echo "<span class='errors_login'>";
echo form_error('password_login');
echo "</span>";
echo form_label('', 'Password;', 'password_login');
$data = array( 'name' => 'password_login', 'class' => 'input', 'placeholder' => 'Password');
echo form_password($data, set_value('sha1(password_login)'));
echo form_submit('submit_login', 'Login');
echo form_close();
?>

Controller:

function validate_credentials_login()
        {
            $this->load->library('session');
            $this->load->helper(array('form','url'));
            $this->load->model('user_model', 'um');
            $this->load->library('encrypt');
            $this->load->library('form_validation');
            $this->form_validation->set_rules('email_login', 'Email', 'required');
            $this->form_validation->set_rules('password_login', 'Password', 'required');
            $login = $this->input->post('submit_login');

            if($login) {
                if($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE)
                {
                    $data['main_content'] = 'home/home_page';
                    $this->load->view('includes/templates/home_page_template', $data);
                }
                else 
                {
                    $user = $this->um->validate_home_login(array('email' => $this->input->post('email_login')));

                        if($user->password == $this->encrypt->sha1( $user->salt .           $this->encrypt->sha1($this->input->post('password_login')))) {
                            $this->session->set_userdata(array(
                                'email' => $this->input->post('email_login')
                                    ));
                                redirect('account/edit');
                                exit;
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }

thanks in advance!

Answer 1

When I enter the correct email and an incorrect password = the page loads white

That’s because you have no else condition here:

if($user->password == $this->encrypt->sha1($user->salt.$this->encrypt->sha1($this->input->post('password_login')))) {
        $this->session->set_userdata(array(
            'email' => $this->input->post('email_login')
        ));
        redirect('account/edit');
        exit;
    }
}
// do nothing?

Everything else in your list sounds like expected behavior, but you might need to make sure that $this->um->validate_home_login() is doing what it should.

As a side note, no need to exit after calling redirect(), it does that for you.

Also, set_value('sha1(password_login)') looks fishy to me, I don’t think it does what you think. It will set the password value to the literal string sha1(password_login). I don’t suggest you prepopulate the password field at all – just leave it empty.

CI’s form validation is definitely not broken, it actually works quite well, so don’t get frustrated. It might be a good idea to review the documentation and experiment with something simpler until you can get everything working properly.

I am also wanting to make the emails unique to where it recognizes if the email being entered does not exist in the database.

Check out the is_unique rule:

http://ellislab.com/codeigniter/user_guide/libraries/form_validation.html#rulereference

$this->form_validation->set_rules(
    'email_login',
    'Email',
    'required|is_unique[your_table.your_email_field]'
);