Question

I have the following form:

<label>One</label> 
 Product ID:<input type="text" name="productid[]" value=""> 
 Product Quantity: <input type="text" name="quantity[]" value=""> <br>

<label>Two</label> 
 Product ID:<input type="text" name="productid[]" value=""> 
 Product Quantity: <input type="text" name="quantity[]" value=""> <br>

<label>Three</label> 
 Product ID:<input type="text" name="productid[]" value=""> 
 Product Quantity: <input type="text" name="quantity[]" value=""> <br>

 <!-- there may be more inputs like above (users can create new inputs 
    as many as they want) // I have a jquery function to create new rows-->


  <input type="submit" value="submit">

Now My question is how to validate the form using Codeigniter when I have input names like this- name="productid[]" instead of name="productid" in my form.

Usually I use to validate my form like this way but this time it won’t work for the form above.

How to validate it?

Answer 1

You would use the literal field names, with brackets:

$this->form_validation->set_rules('product_id[]', 'Product', 'required');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('quantity[]', 'Quantity', 'required');

This will run the validation on every field with that name. If you have to validate only a specific index, once again – use the literal field name (and specify the index in your HTML):

// <input name="product_id[3]">
$this->form_validation->set_rules('product_id[3]', 'Product', 'required');

It’s all in the documentation for Codeigniter’s Form Validation class:

Using Arrays as Field Names

The Form Validation class supports the use of arrays as field
names. Consider this example:

<input type="text" name="options[]" value="" size="50"
/>

If you do use an array as a field name, you must use the EXACT
array name in the Helper Functions that
require the field name, and as your Validation Rule field name.

For example, to set a rule for the above field you would use:

$this->form_validation->set_rules('options[]', 'Options',
'required');

Or, to show an error for the above field you would use:

<?php echo form_error('options[]'); ?>

Or to re-populate the field you would use:

<input type="text" name="options[]" value="<?php echo
set_value('options[]'); ?>" size="50" />

You can use multidimensional arrays as field names as well. For
example:

<input type="text" name="options[size]" value="" size="50"
/>

Or even:

<input type="text" name="sports[nba][basketball]" value=""
size="50" />

As with our first example, you must use the exact array name in the
helper functions:

<?php echo form_error('sports[nba][basketball]'); ?>

If you are using checkboxes (or other fields) that have multiple
options, don’t forget to leave an empty bracket after each option, so
that all selections will be added to the POST array:

<input type="checkbox" name="options[]" value="red" />
<input type="checkbox" name="options[]" value="blue" />
<input type="checkbox" name="options[]" value="green" />

Or if you use a multidimensional array:

<input type="checkbox" name="options[color][]" value="red"
/>
<input type="checkbox" name="options[color][]"
value="blue" />
<input type="checkbox"
name="options[color][]" value="green" />

When you use a helper function you’ll include the bracket as
well:

<?php echo form_error('options[color][]'); ?>