Textarea not reading any input - php

Question

The textarea is not reading any input that is typed into the box. Initially, I was using PHP to check if the textarea was empty, and was recieveing an error there. So I removed that check, to see if it was php that was causing the issue, and added the required="required" attribute to the textarea tag, and even that is coming back with Please fill out this field. I am not quite sure where I am going wrong with my code, I had it working previously, then all of a sudden it stopped working, and I am completely confused as to why. I also looked at various other posts about the textarea not submitting, and ensured that I was checking the post with the name, not the ID; and making sure the textarea was submitting to the same form as the submit button. I have also tried it without specifying the form on the textarea tag.
HTML Code:
<form action="" method="post" id="CreateTopicForm">
<input type="hidden" name="create-topic" />
<span class="secondary radius label"><strong>Title</strong></span>
<input type="text" name="title" id="title" />
<span class="secondary radius label"><strong>Message</strong></span>
<textarea name="content" id="content" required="required" form="CreateTopicForm"></textarea>
<?php if($_SESSION['user']['account_type'] >= 3): ?>
<span class="secondary radius label"><strong>Sticky Topic</strong></span>
<input type="checkbox" name="sticky" /><br />
<?php endif ?>
<input type="submit" value="Post Topic" class="topic-post" />
</form>
PHP Code:
/* Retrieve necessary variables */
$fid = $_GET['fid'];
/* Get Forum Information */
$query = "SELECT * FROM bkg_forums where forum_id = :id";
$query_params = array(
':id' => $fid
);
try {
$stmt = $db->prepare($query);
$result = $stmt->execute($query_params);
} catch(PDOException $e) {
$error[] = $pdoerror;
}
$forum = $stmt->fetchAll();
/* Begin the database upload */
if(!empty($_POST)){ /* Plan to change to if($_REQUEST['submit']) */
/* Check if data was actually submitted */
$db->beginTransaction();
/* DO SOME ERROR CHECKING. MAKE SURE FIELDS ARE NOT EMPTY. */
if(empty($_POST['title'])){
$error[] = "Sorry! You must enter a title!";
}
/* Previously had a check if $_POST['content'] */
/* GENERATE SOME VARIABLES NEEDED TO INSERT INTO TABLES. ACCOUNT_TYPE IS TEMPORARY*/
if($_SESSION['user']['account_type'] == 0) {
$account_type = "Normal";
$color = "white";
} elseif($_SESSION['user']['account_type'] == 1) {
$account_type = "Donator";
$color = "#F4FA58";
} elseif($_SESSION['user']['account_type'] == 2) {
$account_type = "Moderator";
$color = "#2EFE2E";
} elseif($_SESSION['user']['account_type'] == 3) {
$account_type = "Community Manager";
$color = "#0000FF";
} elseif($_SESSION['user']['account_type'] == 4) {
$account_type = "Administrator";
$color = "#DF0101";
}
if(isset($_POST['sticky'])){
$sticky = 1;
} else {
$sticky = 0;
}
if(!isset($error)){
/* INSERT INTO TOPICS TABLE */
$query = "INSERT INTO bkg_topics (
forum_id,
icon_id,
topic_approved,
topic_title,
topic_text,
topic_poster_id,
topic_poster,
topic_poster_color,
topic_post_time,
topic_status,
topic_type
) VALUES (
:forumid,
:iconid,
:topicapproved,
:topictitle,
:topictext,
:topicposter_id,
:topicposter,
:topicposter_color,
:topicpost_time,
:topicstatus,
:topictype
)";
$query_params = array(
':forumid' => $fid,
':iconid' => 1,
':topicapproved' => 1,
':topictitle' => $_POST['title'],
':topictext' => $_POST['content'],
':topicposter_id' => $_SESSION['user']['id'],
':topicposter' => $_SESSION['user']['displayname'],
':topicposter_color' => $color,
':topicpost_time' => time(),
':topicstatus' => 0,
':topictype' => $sticky
);
$stmt = $db->prepare($query);
$result = $stmt->execute($query_params);
$lastid = $db->lastInsertId();
/* Retrieve the last id of a topic, used to generate some links. */
/* UPDATE FORUM TABLE */
$query = "UPDATE bkg_forums SET
`forum_last_post_id` = :lastpostid,
`forum_last_post_topic_id` = :lastposttopicid,
`forum_last_post_title` = :lastposttitle,
`forum_last_poster_id` = :lastposterid,
`forum_last_post_time` = :lastposttime,
`forum_last_poster_name` = :lastpostername,
`forum_last_poster_color` = :lastpostercolor
WHERE `forum_id` = :forumid
";
$query_params = array(
':lastpostid' => null,
':lastposttopicid' => $lastid,
':lastposttitle' => $_POST['title'],
':lastposterid' => $_SESSION['user']['id'],
':lastposttime' => time(),
':lastpostername' => $_SESSION['user']['displayname'],
':lastpostercolor' => $color,
':forumid' => $fid
);
$stmt = $db->prepare($query);
$result = $stmt->execute($query_params);
if($fid == 13){
$query = "INSERT INTO updates (
title,
content,
`date`,
`user`,
`topic_id`
) VALUES (
:title,
:content,
:date_posted,
:user_posted,
:topic_id
)";
$query_params = array(
':title' => $_POST['title'],
':content' => $_POST['content'],
':date_posted' => time(),
':user_posted' => $_SESSION['user']['displayname'],
':topic_id' => $lastid
);
$stmt = $db->prepare($query);
$result = $stmt->execute($query_params);
}
try {
$db->commit();
$post_ok = 1;
} catch(PDOException $e) {
$erroradmin[] = $e->getMessage();
$db->rollback();
}
if(isset($post_ok)): ?>
<script>
location.href = "http://www.boundlessknights.com?viewtopic&fid=<?php echo $fid; ?>&tid=<?php echo $lastid; ?>";
</script>
<?php else: ?>
<?php $error[] = "Your topic did not post."; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
<?php
}
}
?>
Questions I looked at:
Form Post Not Reading Any Value
Cannot Get the Value of a Textarea via Post Method
Textarea Not Posting with Form
Textarea Returns Empty Value in PHP Post

Answer 1

TinyMCE does not keep the underlying textarea in sync at all times. Normally, when you post the form, TinyMCE will update the textarea before the form is posted but the process seems to be stopped by the required attribute. You can use the following API call to force TinyMCE to update the textarea:
tinymce.triggerSave();
This will force TinyMCE to update the textarea when its called. You can either:
Do this in the onsubmit event of the form
Do this in the TinyMCE init:
tinymce.init({
selector: "textarea",
setup: function (editor) {
editor.on('change', function () {
tinymce.triggerSave();
});
}
});

Answer 2

Your page is using TinyMCE editor. It is giving the following error in the console: An invalid form control with name='content' is not focusable.
Fixing that will fix your problem.

Answer 3

Hmmm, did you try to remove this "form" attribute from your Textarea ?
<textarea name="content" id="content" required></textarea>
Tell us what it do when u try.

Answer 4

Change this
<textarea name="content" id="content" required="required" form="CreateTopicForm"></textarea>
to this
<textarea name="content" id="content" required="required" ></textarea>

Answer 5

You might not be able to post anything because you've NOT specified the action attribute of your form.
<form action="" method="post" id="CreateTopicForm">
Set it to the name of the php file (with the proper path to the file),
and it should work.
Note: To make sure the the $_POST array contains your form submitted values, do a var_dump($_POST).