Question

I’m learning by way of tutorials, and the instructor used a validation routine that I’m confused about.

On the form page, he has input fields with the following names:

• menu_name
• position
• visible

On the form processing page, he has the following block of php (let’s call it block A):

$menu_name = mysql_prep($_POST['menu_name']);
$position = mysql_prep($_POST['position']);
$visible = mysql_prep($_POST['visible']);

Below this block is another php block that inserts the data into MySQL — this all works fine.

---

He then added the following php block above block A (let’s call it block B):

$errors = array();
$required_fields = array('menu_name', 'position', 'visible');

foreach ($required_fields as $fieldname) {
    if (!isset($_POST[$fieldname]) || empty($_POST[$fieldname])) {
        $errors[] = $fieldname;
    } 
}   
if (!empty($errors)) {
    redirect_to("new_subject.php");
    exit;
}

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Question 1

I’m confused why in his $required_fields array, he is referencing the field names directly. Why not move block A above block B and then just reference the variables that were assigned from the $_POST?

Then just use those variables in the if statement within the foreach loop.

I guess I’m asking if my alternative approach is valid? Is there an apparent reason for why he took his approach?

(FYI the mysql_prep is a custom function he built to remove slashes and such.)

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Question 2

If I’m understanding his code correctly, his first if statement is testing if the $fieldname is !isset (i.e. not set) or empty.

What’s the difference? Since I don’t know the difference, I’m also not clear on why he used the || operator. Can you please explain?

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Question 3

And finally, it seems his first if statement is capturing any errors and putting them into the $errors array at the top of block B.

He then uses a second if statement to check if that $errors array has anything in it, and re-directs + exits if it does.

Is there a discernible reason for this approach? In my mind, it seems the first if statement could redirect + exit if any errors were found. Why capture them in that $errors array?

Answer 1

Question 1

What happens here is he checks for the existence of certain variables first. If they do not exist, you need to redirect.
I don’t know what the prep function does, but it would be illogical to call a prep function on a possible empty variable. You could turn it around, but that would be.. well.. turning stuff around 😉

First check if you’ve got all you need, and then start cleaning up.

Question 2

Not set means it is not available in the POST. This will happen for checkboxes (if you don’t check them , they don’t excist. Text inputs will be empty.
Even if you have only text inputs, it is good for to be sure that they exist (there could be a problem in the calling post, someone might be hacking your form), before you check their contents: PHP is very forgiving ofcourse, but it’s not really nice to check the contents of something that does not exist.

Summary: isset is looking if it is there at all, and empty is checking what it’s value is.

Question 3

You could put the redirect and exit statements in the if, and this would be a tiny bit faster. But not so much, and what you do is unexpected for some programmers: you change the flow of the program somewhere in the middle of a loop (2 loops).
This is readable for me, but I don’t see any problem with exiting at the first ‘error’.

Later on you might want to do something with the missing POST values (all of them), like giving them a certain class, so that’s a possible reason to do it this way later on?