WEB BASED APPLICATION
DEVELOPMENT WITH PHP
WBP [22619]
UNIT – IV
CREATING AND VALIDATING
FORMS
Sunil Prakashrao Emekar
Lecturer in Computer Engg.
Government Polytechnic Karad
E-mail: [Link]@[Link]
COURSE OUTCOMES (COS)
CO4 - Use form controls with validation to collect
user's input.
UO
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1. Use the relevant form controls to get user's input.
2. Design web pages using multiple Forms for the
given problem.
3. Apply the given validation rules on form.
4. Set/ modify/ delete cookies using cookies attributes.
5. Manage the given session using session variables.
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FORMS
form is a section of an HTML document that contains
elements such as radio buttons, text boxes, check
boxes, and option lists.
HTML form elements are also known as controls.
The program that processes the form is called a
Common Gateway Interface (CGI) program. – In our
case its PHP
Many applications require that some information
contained on a form be verified using a validation
process.
Two common ways to validate information on a form
are by using CGI programs and JavaScripts.
HTML Form:
<FORM name="Contact" action="[Link]"
method="post">
</form>
Input Element:
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HTTP BASICS
The Web runs on HTTP, or HyperText Transfer
Protocol.
This protocol governs how web browsers request files
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from web servers and how the servers send the files
back.
The first line of an HTTP request looks like this:
GET /[Link] HTTP/1.1
This line specifies an HTTP command, called a
method, followed by the address of a document and
the version of the HTTP protocol being used.
The two most common HTTP methods are GET and
POST.
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GET VS. POST
The GET method is designed for retrieving
information, such as a document, an image, or the
results of a database query, from the server.
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The POST method is meant for posting information,
such as a credit card number or information that is to
be stored in a database, to the server.
This method displays the form values in the URL.
Both GET and POST create an array (e.g. array( key1
=> value1, key2 => value2, key3 => value3, ...)). This
array holds key/value pairs, where keys are the names
of the form controls and values are the input data
from the user.
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When to use GET?
Information sent from a form with the GET method
is visible to everyone (all variable names and values are
displayed in the URL).
GET also has limits on the amount of information to send.
The limitation is about 2000 characters.
However, because the variables are displayed in the URL,
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it is possible to bookmark the page.
GET may be used for sending non-sensitive data.
When to use POST?
Information sent from a form with the POST method
is invisible to others (all names/values are embedded
within the body of the HTTP request)
has no limits on the amount of information to send.
Moreover POST supports advanced functionality such as
support for multi-part binary input while uploading files
to server. 8
Developers prefer POST for sending form data.
VARIABLES
PHP creates six global arrays that contain the EGPCS
(environment, GET, POST, cookies, and server) information.
$_COOKIE
Contains any cookie values passed as part of the request, where
the keys of the Array are the names of the cookies
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$_GET
Contains any parameters that are part of a GET request, where
the keys of the array are the names of the form parameters
$_POST
Contains any parameters that are part of a POST request, where
the keys of the array are the names of the form parameters
$_FILES
Contains information about any uploaded files
$_SERVER
Contains useful information about the web server.
$_ENV 9
Contains the values of any environment variables, where the keys
of the array are the names of the environment variables
FORM CONTROLS
The HTML <form> element can contain one or
more of the following form elements:
<input>
<button>
<select>
<textarea>
<option>
<INPUT>
The <input> tag specifies an input field where the
user can enter data.
The <input> element is the most important form
element.
The <input> element can be displayed in several
ways, depending on the type attribute.
The different input types are as follows:
<input type="text"> (default value)
<input type="button">
<input type="checkbox">
<input type="color">
<input type="date">
<input type="submit">
<input type="file">
<input type="hidden">
<input type="image">
<input type="month">
<input type="number">
<input type="password">
<input type="radio">
<input type="range">
<input type="reset">
<input type="search">
<input type="time">
<input type="week">
BUTTON
The <button> element defines a clickable button
Syntax:
<button type="button" > Button Text </button>
Or create button using <input >
<input type="button" value="Click Here"/>
TEXT & TEXTAREA
Text:
Example:
<input type="text" id="fname" name="fname"
value="Enter Name here" maxlength="100">
TextArea:
Example:
<textarea name="address" rows="3" cols="100">
Default Text Here
</textarea>
CHECKBOX & RADIO BUTTON
CheckBox:
Example:
<input type="checkbox" name="vehicle1" id="vehicle1">
I Have Bike
OR
<input type="checkbox" name="vehicle2"
id="vehicle2"><label for="vehicle2"> I Have
Car</label>
Checked attribute for default checked.
RADIO BUTTON
Radio Button:
Example:
<input type="radio" id="male" name="gender" value="male”>
<label for="male">Male</label><br>
<input type="radio" id="female" name="gender"
value="female">
<label for="female">Female</label><br>
OR
<input type="radio" id="male" name="gender"
value="male”> Male
<input type="radio" id="female" name="gender"
value="female"> Female
<SELECT>
The <select> element defines a drop-down list:
Example:
<label for="cars">Choose a car:</label>
<select id="cars" name="cars">
<option value="volvo">Volvo</option>
<option value="Tata">Tata</option>
<option value="fiat">Fiat</option>
<option value="audi">Audi</option>
</select>
SERVER INFORMATION
The $_SERVER array contains a lot of useful
information from the web server.
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Element/Code Description
$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] Returns the filename of the currently executing script
$_SERVER['GATEWAY_INTE Returns the version of the Common Gateway Interface
RFACE'] (CGI) the server is using
$_SERVER['SERVER_ADDR'] Returns the IP address of the host server
$_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'] Returns the name of the host server
$_SERVER['SERVER_SOFTW Returns the server identification string (such as
ARE'] Apache/2.2.24)
$_SERVER['SERVER_PROTO Returns the name and revision of the information 18
COL'] protocol (such as HTTP/1.1)
$_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD' Returns the request method used to access the page (such as
] POST)
$_SERVER['REQUEST_TIME'] Returns the timestamp of the start of the request (such as
1377687496)
$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] Returns the query string if the page is accessed via a query
string
$_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT'] Returns the Accept header from the current request
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$_SERVER['HTTP_ACCEPT_CHA Returns the Accept_Charset header from the current request
RSET'] (such as utf-8,ISO-8859-1)
$_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] Returns the Host header from the current request
$_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'] Returns the complete URL of the current page (not reliable
because not all user-agents support it)
$_SERVER['HTTPS'] Is the script queried through a secure HTTP protocol
$_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] Returns the IP address from where the user is viewing the
current page 19
$_SERVER['REMOTE_HOST'] Returns the Host name from where the user is viewing the
current page
$_SERVER['REMOTE_PORT'] Returns the port being used on the user's machine to
communicate with the web server
$_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENA Returns the absolute pathname of the currently
ME'] executing script
$_SERVER['SERVER_ADMIN' Returns the value given to the SERVER_ADMIN
] directive in the web server configuration file (if your
script runs on a virtual host, it will be the value defined
for that virtual host)
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$_SERVER['SERVER_PORT'] Returns the port on the server machine being used by
the web server for communication (such as 80)
$_SERVER['SERVER_SIGNAT Returns the server version and virtual host name which
URE'] are added to server-generated pages
$_SERVER['PATH_TRANSLA Returns the file system based path to the current script
TED']
$_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME'] Returns the path of the current script
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$_SERVER['SCRIPT_URI'] Returns the URI of the current page
WORKING WITH MULTIPLE FORMS
1. A Web page having many forms
We can have many <form> tag inside a web page
<form>….</form> targeting different PHP scripts.
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2. A form Having multiple submit buttons
Since multiple submit buttons will invoke the same PHP
form processor, PHP script must be revised to "know"
which one was clicked so it can respond appropriately.
For this check name using if / case
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WEB PAGE VALIDATION
Validation means check the input submitted by the
user.
There are two types of validation are available in
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PHP. They are as follows −
Client-Side Validation − Validation is performed on
the client machine web browsers.
Server Side Validation − After submitted by data, The
data has sent to a server and perform validation checks
in server machine.
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Empty String
The code below checks that the field is not empty. If
the user leaves the required field empty, it will show
an error message.
if (empty ($_POST["name"])) {
$errMsg = "Error! You didn't enter the Name.";
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echo $errMsg;
} else {
$name = $_POST["name"];
}
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Validate String
$name = $_POST ["Name"];
if (!preg_match ("/^[a-zA-z]*$/", $name) ) {
$ErrMsg = "Only alphabets and whitespace are allowed.";
echo $ErrMsg;
} else {
echo $name;
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}
Validate Number
$mobileno = $_POST ["Mobile_no"];
if (!preg_match ("/^[0-9]*$/", $mobileno) ){
$ErrMsg = "Only numeric value is allowed.";
echo $ErrMsg;
} else {
echo $mobileno;
}
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Validate Email
$email = $_POST ["Email"];
$pattern = "^[_a-z0-9-]+(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*@[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-
]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,3})$^";
if (!preg_match ($pattern, $email) ){
$ErrMsg = "Email is not valid.";
echo $ErrMsg;
} else {
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echo "Your valid email address is: " .$email;
}
Input Length Validation
$mobileno = strlen ($_POST ["Mobile"]);
$length = strlen ($mobileno);
if ( $length < 10 && $length > 10) {
$ErrMsg = "Mobile must have 10 digits.";
echo $ErrMsg;
} else { 25
echo "Your Mobile number is: " .$mobileno;
}
COOKIE
PHP cookie is a small piece of information which is
stored at client browser. It is used to recognize the
user.
Cookie is created at server side and saved to client
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browser.
Each time when client sends request to the server,
cookie is embedded with request. Such way, cookie can
be received at the server side.
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CREATE COOKIES WITH PHP
A cookie is created with the setcookie() function.
Syntax
setcookie(name, value, expire, path, domain, secure, Security);
Only the name parameter is required. All other
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parameters are optional.
Name − This sets the name of the cookie. This variable is used
while accessing cookies.
Value − content that you actually want to store.
Expiry − This specify a future time in seconds since [Link] GMT
on 1st Jan 1970. After this time cookie will become inaccessible. If
this parameter is not set then cookie will automatically expire
when the Web Browser is closed.
Path − This specifies the directories for which the cookie is valid.
Domain − This can be used to specify the domain name
Security − This can be set to 1 to specify that the cookie should
only be sent by secure transmission using HTTPS otherwise set to 27
0 which mean cookie can be sent by regular HTTP.
ACCESSING COOKIES WITH PHP
PHP $_COOKIE superglobal variable is used to get
cookie.
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Example
$value=$_COOKIE["CookieName"];//returns cookie value
We also use the isset() function to find out if the
cookie is set:
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DELETING COOKIE WITH PHP
To delete a cookie, use the setcookie() function
with an expiration date in the past:
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SESSIONS
A session is a way to store information (in variables) to
be used across multiple pages.
Unlike a cookie, the information is not stored on the
users computer.
Session variables hold information about one single
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user, and are available to all pages in one application.
By default, session variables last until the user closes
the browser or after a predetermined period of time i.e.
30 min
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STARTING A PHP SESSION
A PHP session is easily started by making a call to
the session_start() function.
This function first checks if a session is already started
and if none is started then it starts one.
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It is recommended to put the call to session_start() at
the beginning of the page.
Session variables are stored in associative array
called $_SESSION[]. These variables can be accessed
during lifetime of a session.
PHP $_SESSION is an associative array that contains
all session variables. It is used to set and get session
variable values.
$_SESSION["user"] = "Sunil"; 31
GET PHP SESSION VARIABLE VALUES
all session variable values are stored in the
global $_SESSION variable:
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Example:
echo $_SESSION["user"];
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DESTROYING A PHP SESSION
A PHP session can be destroyed by
session_destroy() function.
This function does not need any argument and a
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single call can destroy all the session variables.
If you want to destroy a single session variable then
you can use unset() function to unset a session
variable.
Example:
<?php unset($_SESSION[“session_var”]); ?>
<?php session_destroy(); ?>
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SENDING EMAILS USING PHP
PHP mail() function is used to send email in PHP.
You can send text message, html message and
attachment with message using PHP mail() function.
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Syntax
bool mail(to,subject,message,headers,parameters);
Parameter Description
to Required. Specifies the receiver / receivers of the email
subject Required. Specifies the subject of the email.
message Required. Defines the message to be sent
headers Optional. Specifies additional headers, like From, Cc, and
Bcc. When sending an email, it must contain a From header.
This can be set with this parameter or in the [Link] file.
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parameters Optional. Specifies an additional parameter to the sendmail
program
SETTINGS TO SEND MAIL THROUGH GMAIL SMTP
Go to C:\xampp\php and open the [Link] file.
Find [mail function] by pressing ctrl + f.
Search and pass the following values:
SMTP=[Link]
smtp_port=587
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sendmail_from = YourGmailId@[Link]
sendmail_path = "\"C:\xampp\sendmail\[Link]\" -t“
go to C:\xampp\sendmail and open the [Link] file.
Find [sendmail] by pressing ctrl + f.
Search and pass the following values
smtp_server=[Link]
smtp_port=587 or 25 //use any of them
error_logfile=[Link]
debug_logfile=[Link]
auth_username=YourGmailId@[Link]
auth_password=Your-Gmail-Password
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force_sender=YourGmailId@[Link](optional)
SCRIPT TO SEND MAIL:
<?php
$to_email = "sunilemekar@[Link]";
$subject = "Simple Email Test via PHP";
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$body = "Hi, This is test email send by PHP Script";
$headers = "From: admin@[Link]";
if (mail($to_email, $subject, $body, $headers)) {
echo "Email successfully sent to $to_email...";
} else {
echo "Email sending failed...";
}
?> 36
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Make sure Less secure app access for your gmail
account is on
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