How to pass array values to controller for validation? - php

Question

I am trying to pass the values of form inputs to a controller for validation. The values are populated in the view using an array. The problem is that I don't know how to get the necessary 'name' values from the array for the individual inputs in order to pass them through validation.
In the first view the form inputs are described this way:
<?php echo form_checkbox('study_items[]', 'Medical History', FALSE);
echo form_label('Medical History', 'Medical History');?>
<br>
<?php echo form_checkbox('study_items[]', 'Physical Exam', FALSE);
echo form_label('Physical Exam', 'Physical Exam');?>
<br>
<?php echo form_checkbox('study_items[]', 'Clinical Assessment', FALSE);
echo form_label('Clinical Assessment', 'Clinical Assessment');?>
The user only has to check the item(s) that apply to their specific need. This is submitted to the validation controller which, after successful validation, ONLY sends those items that were selected back to a view in an array like so:
$data['si_items'] = $this->input->post('study_items');
In the next view, the code for a sample input looks like this:
<?php foreach ($si_items as $si_item) {
echo $si_item. ' '. "$";
$data001 = array(
'name' => $si_item,
'id' => $si_item,
'value' => '',
'maxlength' => '10',
'size' => '50',
'style' => 'width:100px',
);
echo form_input($data001);
echo '<br>';
}
?>
and allows the user to enter a dollar amount for the items they selected to fit their need on the previous page.
As sample output of this portion of the code looks like this:
"Medical History $_______________"
"Physical Exam $_______________"
"Clinical Assessment $_______________"
where the blank is a textbox for entering the price of each item. So far, this all works perfectly to display each form input box and labels checked by the user in the previous view.
However, I'm at a loss as to how to get the 'name' for each individual input in order to validate it. The validation controller does not recognize '$si_items' as a name value. This has me stumped and there HAS to be a way to do this.
In my validation controller I want to check that each entry has a decimal value (i.e. 234.56) as the user's input.
Any ideas? Is there a more efficient way to do this?

Answer 1

we are missing swaths of code, but from what you have shown;\
$data['si_items'] = $this->input->post('study_items');
is the assignment of your study items (which is an array), meaning that the call in your foreach should not be
foreach ($si_items as $si_item) {
but rather
foreach ($data['si_items'] as $si_item) {
that or change your initial assignment to the following;
$si_items = $this->input->post('study_items');