Form inserting empty data to database - php

Question

Whenever I submit the form with empty input, it sends the empty input to my database. The form was working fine until after I used the htmlentities() for its functionality.
I used the gettype() function to return what's in the inserted variable and it returns "string", but when I checked the code from the browser, I could not see anything in the table.
This is the code snippet and the form processing code
<?php
$errors = [];
$missing = [];
if(isset($_POST['sendFirm']) ){
$expected = array('firmName','country','state','email','phoneNumber');
$required = array('firmName','country','state','phoneNumber');
<?php
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
if(is_array($value)){
$value = $value;
}else{
$value = trim($value);
}
if(empty($value) && in_array($key, $required)){
$missing[] = $key;
$$key = '';
}elseif(in_array($key, $expected)){
$$key = "$value";
}
}
?>
}
?>
<?php
if($errors || $missing){
?>
<p>Please fix the following items</p>
<?php } ?>
<form method="post" action="<?php $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'] ?>">
<div class="form-group">
<label>Compnay Name
<?php if($missing && in_array('firmName', $missing)) { ?>
<span class="text-danger">Please enter firm name</span>
<?php } ?>
</label>
<input class="form-control" type="text" name="firmName" id="firmName" placeholder="Company Name"
<?php
if($errors || $missing){
print 'value="' . htmlentities($firmName) . '"';
}
>
<button class="btn btn-primary" type="submit"
name="sendFirm">Submit</button>
</form>
?>
>
<?php
if(isset($_POST['sendFirm'])){
try {
$connectToFirms = new
PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=firms','root','2332');
$connectToFirms->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE,
PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
$prepInsertion = $connectToFirms->prepare('INSERT INTO contractors
VALUES (null,?,?,?,?,?)');
$prepInsertion->execute(array($firmName, $country, $state, $email,
$phoneNumber));
}catch (PDOException $e) {
print "An error occure: " . $e->getMessage();
}
}
?>
The form is expected to insert inputs into the database only if the input is not empty and is also in the $expected[];

Answer 1

Don't insert data
I would stop the whole data insertion, if the expected input is not given. I would also send the input data one by one to PHP, so you have a better overview over your code. Good overview = less errors ;)
Try it this way:
<?php
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] === "POST") {
$firmname = htmlentities($_POST["firmName"], ENT_QUOTES);
$country = htmlentities($_POST["country"], ENT_QUOTES);
$state = htmlentities($_POST["state"], ENT_QUOTES);
$pn = htmlentities($_POST["phoneNumber"], ENT_QUOTES);
// LET'S START THE VALIDATION
// if the required fields are not empty, insert data
if (!empty($firmname) && !empty($country) && !empty(state) && !empty($pn)) {
// insert data
} else { // else stop insertion and return error message
// return error message
}
} else {
// redirect...
}
I hope, i understood your question correctly and could help.