codeigniter CMS form validation - php

Question

Firstly Im new to CodeIgniter and MVC.
I am Creating a CMS and coudln't decide which route to take with do I have two applications (front end/CMS) or just create the admin as a controller. I opted for one application and creating the admin via a Controller.
Doing it this way I have ran into a problem with form validation where if it doesn't validate I cant load the form I have to redirect which then means it wont repopulate the unvalidated fields. I use a variable in the 3rd URI segment to determine whether to display a form for inserting a new record, a populated form for editing a record, or a tabled list of all records.
The form posts to /admin/videos/save
function videos()
{
if (!$this->tank_auth->is_logged_in()) {
redirect('/auth/login/');
} else {
$this->load->model('videos_model');
$data['section'] = "Videos";
$data['area'] = "Videos";
$data['mode'] = $this->uri->segment(3, 'create');
$data['user_id'] = $this->tank_auth->get_user_id();
$data['username'] = $this->tank_auth->get_username();
if ($data['mode'] == 'edit') {
$data['ID'] = $this->uri->segment(4);
$data['videos'] = $this->videos_model->get_videos($data['ID']);
} elseif ($data['mode'] == 'list') {
if ($this->uri->segment(4)) {
$data['filter'] = $this->uri->segment(4);
$data['videos'] = $this->videos_model->get_filtered_videos($data['filter']);
} else {
$data['videos'] = $this->videos_model->get_filtered_videos();
}
} elseif ($data['mode'] == 'save') {
$this->load->helper('form');
$this->load->library('form_validation');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('videoTitle', 'Title', 'required');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('Code', 'Youtube Code', 'required');
if ($this->form_validation->run() === FALSE) {
redirect('/admin/videos');
} else {
$this->videos_model->set_videos();
redirect('/admin/videos/list');
}
}
if ($data['mode'] != "create" && empty($data['videos'])) {
show_404();
}
$this->load->view('admin/templates/head', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/templates/body_navbar', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/videos', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/templates/footer', $data);
}
}
Am I setting about this the wrong way, Should I use two application folders or have 3 controllers for editing/inserting/viewing all. Or is there a solution to my current setup?

Answer 1

I personally haven't used CodeIgniter's form helper nor validation lib, so excuse my ignorance, but is there any particular reason you're not doing this as AJAX post instead?
Am I setting about this the wrong way, Should I use two application
folders or have 3 controllers for editing/inserting/viewing all. Or is
there a solution to my current setup?
Why 3 controllers? You can have a single controller with multiple functions. Honestly, I'd recommend just doing a simple AJAX post on your form and returning some JSON data whether validation passed or not -- no need for redirects.
Something like:
// AJAX
function validateForm() {
$.post('route/to/controller', {"apple": appleValue, "peach": peachValue}, function(data) {
json = $.parseJSON(data);
if (json.success)
alert('Great!');
else
alert('Nope!');
});
//Controller
function validateForm()
{
$data['success'] = ...validation checks...
echo json_encode($data);
}

Answer 2

I have continued to use my one application folder and the entire admin as a controller.
I have solved my form validation and repopulating issue by continuing to redirect back to the form but storing the form fields and errors in a session.
I destroy the error data in the session once viewed but leave the other info intact which allows the user to navigate away and come back and the info will remain. Once the form is validated correctly and information stored in the database it destroys the session data.
function videos()
{
if (!$this->tank_auth->is_logged_in()) {
redirect('/auth/login/');
} else {
$this->load->model('videos_model');
$data['section'] = "Videos";
$data['area'] = "Videos";
$data['mode'] = $this->uri->segment(3, 'create');
$data['user_id'] = $this->tank_auth->get_user_id();
$data['username'] = $this->tank_auth->get_username();
if ($this->session->userdata('videoTitle'))
$data['videoTitle'] = $this->session->userdata('videoTitle');
if ($this->session->userdata('Code'))
$data['Code'] = $this->session->userdata('Code');
if ($this->session->userdata('videoTitle'))
$data['description'] = $this->session->userdata('description');
if ($this->session->userdata('errors')){
$data['errors'] = $this->session->userdata('errors');
$this->session->unset_userdata('errors');
}
if ($data['mode'] == 'edit') {
$data['ID'] = $this->uri->segment(4);
$video_data = $this->videos_model->get_videos($data['ID']);
$data['videoTitle'] = $video_data['videoTitle'];
$data['Code'] = $video_data['blipCode'];
$data['description'] = $video_data['description'];
} elseif ($data['mode'] == 'list') {
if ($this->uri->segment(4)) {
$data['filter'] = $this->uri->segment(4);
$data['videos'] = $this->videos_model->get_filtered_videos($data['filter']);
} else {
$data['videos'] = $this->videos_model->get_filtered_videos();
}
} elseif ($data['mode'] == 'save') {
$this->load->helper('form');
$this->load->library('form_validation');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('videoTitle', 'Title', 'required');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('Code', 'Youtube Code', 'required');
if ($this->form_validation->run() === FALSE) {
$formdata = array(
'videoTitle' => $this->input->post('videoTitle'),
'Code' => $this->input->post('Code'),
'description' => $this->input->post('description'),
'errors' => validation_errors()
);
$this->session->set_userdata($formdata);
redirect('/admin/videos');
} else {
$this->videos_model->set_videos();
$this->session->unset_userdata('videoTitle');
$this->session->unset_userdata('Code');
$this->session->unset_userdata('description');
redirect('/admin/videos/list');
}
}
$this->load->view('admin/templates/head', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/templates/body_navbar', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/videos', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/templates/footer', $data);
}
}