Codeigniter- How to preserve form values if error on submit - php

Question

I have the form field like
<input type="text" class="form-control" name="postal_code" id="form_control_1" value="<?php if($user->postal_code === NULL) { echo set_value('postal_code');} else { echo $user->postal_code;} ?>">
<label for="form_control_1">Postal Code</label>
<span class="help-block">Postal Code is required</span>
and my function is
public function postProfile() {
if ($_POST) {
$this->form_validation->set_rules('postal_code', 'Postal Code', 'required');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('gender', 'Gender', 'required');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('country', 'Country', 'required');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('month', 'Month', 'required');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('day', 'Day', 'required');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('year', 'Year', 'required');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('mobile_number', 'Mobile Number', 'required');
if ($this->form_validation->run() === FALSE) {
//$this->session->set_flashdata('err', validation_errors());
$this->session->set_flashdata('email_err', form_error('email'));
$this->session->set_flashdata('postal_code_err', form_error('postal_code'));
$this->session->set_flashdata('gender_err', form_error('gender'));
$this->session->set_flashdata('country_err', form_error('country'));
$this->session->set_flashdata('day_err', form_error('day'));
$this->session->set_flashdata('year_err', form_error('year'));
$this->session->set_flashdata('month_err', form_error('month'));
$this->session->set_flashdata('mobile_err', form_error('mobile_number'));
redirect('profile/' . $this->session->userdata['front']['id']);
} else {
$dob = $this->input->post('month') . '/' . $this->input->post('day') . '/' . $this->input->post('year');
$userData = array(
'email' => $this->input->post('email'),
'date_of_birth' => $dob,
'gender' => $this->input->post('gender'),
'country' => $this->input->post('country'),
'mobile_number' => $this->input->post('mobile_number'),
'postal_code' => $this->input->post('postal_code'),
);
$updateUser = $this->user->updateUser($this->session->userdata['front']['id'], $userData);
if ($updateUser) {
$this->session->set_flashdata('err', '<div class="alert alert-success">Profile Updated Successfuly</div>');
redirect('profile/' . $this->session->userdata['front']['id']);
} else {
echo "Un expected error ";
exit;
}
}
} else {
$this->logout();
}
}
but value is not shown for the postal code field in case of validation errors

Answer 1

When error occur then you need to render view instead of rediect().
if ($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE) {
// no need to set_flashdata here for form_error()
$this->load->view('view_form',$data);
return;
}else{
//success code
}
Now view file
<input type="text" class="form-control" name="postal_code" id="form_control_1" value="<?php echo set_value('postal_code');?>">
<?php echo form_error('postal_code','<p class="alert alert-danger">','</p>');?>
Now your form will repopulate previous data if any error occur. In the same time you will see error message under your postal_code field

Answer 2

You can set these values in flashdata and redirect to your form. For example
if ($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE) {
$data = array(
'errors' => validation_errors(),
'name' => $this->input->post('name')//check this
);
$this->session->set_flashdata($data);
redirect('YOUR-URL-HERE');
}
And in your form use value attribute of form input as given below
<input type="text" class="form-control" name="name" placeholder="Name" value="<?= $this->session->flashdata('name'); ?>">