PHP validation checkbox

Question

I've scoured the entire internet trying to find a solution to what I'm missing here (or doing wrong). My form doesn't validate even when the check box is checked. Everything else works fine.

It's that checkbox I can't get to work right.

I've tried many different ideas, but it won't validate even with the "terms" checked (such as this example below).

Here's my HTML:

<div class="form-check">
      <input type="checkbox" class="form-check-input" name="terms" id="terms"  />
     <label class="form-check-label" for="terms"><p>I agree to terms of service.</p></label>
</div>

Here's my entire PHP validation (updated with the comments/answers below):

<?php

if(!$_POST) exit;

// Email address verification.
function isEmail($email) { // lots of email validation stuff in here // }

if (!defined("PHP_EOL")) define("PHP_EOL", "\r\n");

$name     = $_POST['name'];
$email    = $_POST['email'];
$website   = $_POST['website'];
$subject  = $_POST['subject'];
$comments = $_POST['comments'];
$terms = $_POST['terms'];


//set an error counter to trigger the `exit`
$error_counter = 0;
if(trim($name) == '') {
echo '<div class="error_message">Attention! You must enter your name</div>';
$error_counter++;
} 
if(trim($email) == '') {
echo '<div class="error_message">Attention! Please enter a valid email 
address.</div>';
$error_counter++;
}
if(!isEmail($email)) {
echo '<div class="error_message">Attention! You have entered an invalid e- 
mail address, try again.</div>';
$error_counter++;
} 
if(trim($subject) == '') {
echo '<div class="error_message">Attention! Please enter a subject.</div>';
$error_counter++;
}
if(trim($comments) == '') {
echo '<div class="error_message">Attention! Please enter your message. 
</div>';
$error_counter++;
}
if(empty($terms)) {
echo '<div class="error_message">Attention! Please agree to our terms of 
service.</div>';
$error_counter++;
}
//if `$error_counter > 0 > 0` it will trigger the `exit()` to stop the script and display the errors.
if($error_counter > 0){
exit();
}

if(get_magic_quotes_gpc()) {
$comments = stripslashes($comments);
}


// Configuration option.
// Enter the email address that you want to emails to be sent to.
// Example $address = "[email protected]";

$address = "[email protected]";


// Configuration option.
// i.e. The standard subject will appear as, "You've been contacted by John Doe."

// Example, $e_subject = '$name . ' has contacted you via Your Website.';

$e_subject = 'You have been contacted by ' . $name . '.';


// Configuration option.
// You can change this if you feel that you need to.
// Developers, you may wish to add more fields to the form, in which case you must be sure to add them here.

$e_body = "You have been contacted by $name with regards to $subject, their additional message is as follows." . PHP_EOL . PHP_EOL;
$e_content = "\"$comments\"" . PHP_EOL . PHP_EOL;
$e_reply = "You can contact $name via email, $email ";

$msg = wordwrap( $e_body . $e_content . $e_reply, 70 );

$headers = "From: $email" . PHP_EOL;
$headers .= "Reply-To: $email" . PHP_EOL;
$headers .= "MIME-Version: 1.0" . PHP_EOL;
$headers .= "Content-type: text/plain; charset=utf-8" . PHP_EOL;
$headers .= "Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable" . PHP_EOL;

if(mail($address, $e_subject, $msg, $headers)) {

// Email has sent successfully, echo a success page.

echo "<fieldset>";
echo "<div id='success_page'>";
echo "<h1>Email Sent Successfully.</h1>";
echo "<p>Thank you <strong>$name</strong>, your message has been submitted to us.</p>";
echo "</div>";
echo "</fieldset>";

} else {

echo 'ERROR!';

}

?>

Your validation would end the moment one if returns true. It's also worth noting that you exit every if-else statements. What you should do here instead is to have individual if-else statements to check for validation. — hungrykoala
– hungrykoala, Commented May 15, 2018 at 1:54

Vincent Decaux · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-14 22:22:10Z

1

You don't set any value attribute for your checkbox :

<input type="checkbox" class="form-check-input" name="terms" id="terms" value="yes" />

More informations : https://developer.mozilla.org/fr/docs/Web/HTML/Element/Input/checkbox

answered May 14, 2018 at 22:22

Vincent Decaux

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2 Comments

Don't Panic Over a year ago

Browsers will typically give it a default value (like "on") if there is no value attribute set. stackoverflow.com/questions/12911787/…

Cousin Jack Over a year ago

I've tried with and without the value attribute. Same problems.

NewBee · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-14 22:42:14Z

0

I can see your checkbox has no value so the PHP part is getting a garbage/empty value.

In short, just add a required attribute in your HTML side. No need of a check at the server end

<div class="form-check">
      <input type="checkbox" class="form-check-input" name="terms" id="terms" required/>
     <label class="form-check-label" for="terms"><p>I agree to terms of service.</p></label>
</div>

answered May 14, 2018 at 22:42

NewBee

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2 Comments

Cousin Jack Over a year ago

I tried it with a value="true" in the HTML. And I changed the validation to if(($terms) != 'true') { etc....} and it still doesn't work correctly.

Cousin Jack Over a year ago

the 'required' works okay, but I was hoping to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

hungrykoala · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-15 23:51:47Z

0

The problem with your current validation is that you're using if-else wrongly and that you're using exit on every statement which will terminate your script prematurely.

You can do this instead:

For Terms:
<input type="checkbox" class="form-check-input" name="terms" id="terms" value="1"/>    

//set an error counter to trigger the `exit`
$error_counter = 0;
if(trim($name) == '') {
    echo '<div class="error_message">Attention! You must enter your name</div>';
    $error_counter++;
} 
if(trim($email) == '') {
    echo '<div class="error_message">Attention! Please enter a valid email 
address.</div>';
    $error_counter++;
}
if(!isEmail($email)) {
    echo '<div class="error_message">Attention! You have entered an invalid e- 
mail address, try again.</div>';
    $error_counter++;
} 
if(trim($subject) == '') {
    echo '<div class="error_message">Attention! Please enter a subject.</div>';
    $error_counter++;
}
if(trim($comments) == '') {
    echo '<div class="error_message">Attention! Please enter your message.</div>';
    $error_counter++;
}
if(empty($terms)) {
    echo '<div class="error_message">Attention! Please agree to our terms of service.</div>';
    $error_counter++;
}
//if `$error_counter > 0 > 0` it will trigger the `exit()` to stop the script and display the errors.
if($error_counter > 0){
    exit();
}

There's a more beautiful approach to do this. Feel free to add suggestions for the OP.

edited May 15, 2018 at 23:51

answered May 15, 2018 at 2:02

hungrykoala

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2 Comments

Cousin Jack Over a year ago

Thanks. But... the checkbox still won't validate "true" even when the checkbox is checked. I updated my question including the entire PHP with the email configurations. Maybe there's something else in there that I'm missing.

hungrykoala Over a year ago

I decided to set the value for your checkbox as it's good practice to never let that hanging with no values. You can try that instead

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