Confused about Sticky Form

PHP
1

In the past I thought my PHP and HTML Forms were set up so things were “sticky”, but I discovered last night that isn’t entirely the case.

If you fill out a Form and the values are valid, they “stick”, but if they are invalid they get erased. (I’ve been changing things around, and now forgot what is what…)

Here is what I have so far on my Private Message Form…


	// *************************************************************
	// HANDLE FORM.											 *
	// *************************************************************
	if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']=='POST'){
		// Form was Submitted (Post).

		// Initialize Errors Array.
		$errors = array();

		// Trim all Form Data.
		$trimmed = array_map('trim', $_POST);


		// ************************
		// Validate Form Data.		*
		// ************************

		// Check Message.
		if (empty($trimmed['pmBody'])){
			// No Message.
			$errors['pmBody'] = 'Enter a Message.';
		}else{
			// Message Exists.
			// Check Message Length.
			$pmLength = strlen($trimmed['pmBody']);
			if ($pmLength > $maxLength){
				// Invalid Message.
				$errors['pmBody'] = "Message cannot exceed " . $maxLength . " characters.    "
																. "Your message is " . $pmLength . " characters.";
			}else{
				// Valid PM.
				$pmBody = $trimmed['pmBody'];
			}
		}//End of CHECK MESSAGE

Notice this line above…
// Valid PM.
$pmBody = $trimmed[‘pmBody’];

Then down in my Form I have…


	<!-- PM Body -->
	<label for="pmBody">Message:</label>
	<?php
		echo '<textarea id="pmBody" name="pmBody" cols="65" rows="14">';
		echo (isset($trimmed['pmBody']) ? htmlentities($trimmed['pmBody'], ENT_QUOTES) : '');
//		echo (isset($pmBody) ? htmlentities($pmBody, ENT_QUOTES) : '');
		echo "</textarea><br />\
\
";

		if (!empty($errors['pmBody'])){
			echo '<span class="error">' . $errors['pmBody'] . '</span>';
		}
	?>

If I recall correctly from last night, I replaced the commented out line above with this…

echo (isset($trimmed[‘pmBody’]) ? htmlentities($trimmed[‘pmBody’], ENT_QUOTES) : ‘’);

It almost seems like as soon as the Form is processed, I should assign each value in $trimmed[] to a variable AND THEN do my Form Validation, so that regardless of whether things pass or fail, my Form would be pointing to variables like $pmBody

Suggestions?

Thanks,

Debbie

2

The usual meaning of a “sticky” form is that anything typed into the input fileds (or selections made on radios etc.) remains in place even after page refresh. I assume thats what you mean?

In that case, you can just echo the input data in the input fields, assuming anything has been entered.