Question

I’m setting the same callback function for multiple fields in my form:

foreach($fields as $class => $i)
{
    ++$i;
    $validation->set_rules('car_' . $i . '_one', $class, 'trim|xss_clean|callback_validate_car_fields[TRUE]');
    $validation->set_rules('car_' . $i . '_twor', $class, 'trim|xss_clean|callback_validate_car_fields[FALSE]');
    $validation->set_rules('in_car_' . $i . '_one', $class, 'trim|xss_clean|callback_validate_car_fields[TRUE]');
    $validation->set_rules('in_car_' . $i . '_two', $class, 'trim|xss_clean|callback_validate_car_fields[FALSE]');
}

(class variale is the Car in this case)

Here is the callback function:

function validate_car_fields($input, $required)
{

    if ($required === "TRUE" && empty($input))
    {
        $this->form_validation->set_message('validate_car_fields', 'Field %s can not be empty!');
        return FALSE;
    }

    return TRUE;
}

And it is showing the doubled errors:

* Field Car can not be empty!
* Field Car can not be empty!
* Field Car can not be empty!
* Field Car can not be empty!

It is understandable behaviour in this case, but I would like to show just one error per field name, instead of 4 for each field. How this can be done?

Answer 1

Try this

function validate_car_fields($input, $required)
{
    static $validation_failed_once = FALSE;

    if ($required === "TRUE" && empty($input))
    {
        // Return FALSE without setting error message from 2nd validation fail onwards
        if ($validation_failed_once) return FALSE;

        $this->form_validation->set_message('validate_car_fields', 'Field %s can not be empty!');
        // Set error message only for the first validation error
        $validation_failed_once = TRUE;
        return FALSE;
    }

    return TRUE;
}