Validating a field's length and/or data entered

Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:24 am

Okay so I have one field in which users enter their birthdate. I'm tyring to make a field validation that ensures they enter the date in the following format -- MM-DD-YYYY

I am working on an IF statement that checks the field (named "custom") to see if the data entered is in the correct format but I simply do not know what I should be checking.

Any suggestions???

Jared

Site Admin/Owner Joined: Aug 27, 2002 Posts: 17088

I'm assuming you're asking how your form data gets passed to your PHP program.

Assume you have a form with a date field:

<form method="post" action="chk_date.php">
Please enter your birthdate (MM-DD-YYYY): <input type="text" name="bdate" value="MM-DD-YYYY" />
</form>

Your form will pass the "bdate" value to your "chk_date" script. You would use something like this to check it.

<?
$bdate = '';
$bdate = $_POST['bdate'];
//
// Cleansing code for $bdate
//

// begin pseudo logic:
if ($bdate_is_not_in_the_right_format) {
echo ERROR_MESSAGE;
return to script;
die();
// end pseudo logic
}
// Rest of program goes here.

Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 3:03 pm

Actually... my question is regarding the part of the IF statement that's bolded below. how do I validation that the entered data is in the correct format (MM-DD-YYYY)?

Quote:

// begin pseudo logic:
if ($bdate_is_not_in_the_right_format) {
echo ERROR_MESSAGE;
return to script;
die();
// end pseudo logic

Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 9:26 pm

What about

if(!date($bdate)){
die(" ERROR_MESSAGE");
}else{
continue............

Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 11:50 pm

darklord, unfortunately that will not work.

I would recommend this code. Try different combinations for $bdate.

Code:




<?


$bdate = '07-15-2006';


$isValid = false;





// The 'if' statement tests for validity of NN-NN-NNNN only


if (ereg('^([0-9]{2})[-]([0-9]{2})[-]([0-9]{4})$', $bdate)) {


   $dateParts = explode('-',$bdate);  // Break $bdate into its parts


// checkdate validates that the parts (m,d,y) contain valid ranges   


   if (checkdate($dateParts[0],$dateParts[1],$dateParts[2])) {


    $isValid = true;;


   }


}





if (!$isValid) {


   die('Invalid Date Format');


}





// Date is valid - Do other logic


echo 'Valid Date Format';


?>

Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 9:28 am

Whoa, I need to really read up on how to check validation, but thank you raven for the insight, I completly undertand.
except 2 things, whats the ^ for and the $ for?

Thats all Id like to know thanx.

Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:08 pm

Regular expressions (ereg). The ^ signifies the start of the pattern and the $ then end.

Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2006 1:29 pm

Ahhh, I didnt read that on php.net, thank you for clearing that up.