php form validation and header location - php

Question

I have a form submitting to intself. If the post variables are set, then I want them to be redirected to employee_profile.php. Currently the header location does not work even when the post variables are set. Any ideas?
<?php
$email_error = $password_error = "";
if ($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
if (empty($_POST["email"])) {
$email_error = "Missing Email";
} else {
$email = $_POST["email"];
}
if (empty($_POST["password"])) {
$password_error = "Missing Password";
} else {
$email = $_POST["email"];
$password = $_POST["password"];
header ('Location: employee_profile.php');
}
}
?>
The form:
<form action="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]);?>" method="POST">
Email: <input type="text" name="email" value="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($email);?>">
<span class="error"><?php echo $email_error;?></span><br />
Password: <input type="password" name="password">
<span class="error"><?php echo $password_error;?></span><br />
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>

Answer 1

The PHP header (using HTTP/1.1) redirect requires an absolute URL.
Try the following:
<?php
// from PHP documentation, see http://php.net/manual/de/function.header.php
$host = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];
// or:
// $host = $_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'];
$email_error = $password_error = "";
if($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == "POST") {
if(empty($_POST["email"])) {
$email_error = "Missing Email";
} else {
$email = $_POST["email"];
}
if(empty($_POST["password"])) {
$password_error = "Missing Password";
} else {
$password = $_POST["password"];
}
// some additional fixes: finally check if both is valid
if($email_error == $password_error) {
header("Location: http://$host/employee_profile.php");
}
}
?>

Answer 2

you can try some thing like this. currently in your script even when the email is not set but password is set, header function is called.
$email = (isset($_POST['email']) && !empty($_POST['email'])) ? $_POST['email'] : "Missing Email";
$password = (isset($_POST['password']) && !empty($_POST['password'])) ? $_POST['password'] : "Missing Password";
if($email != "Missing Email" && $password != "Missing Password"){
header ('Location: employee_profile.php');
}
(warning: here any values passed as email and password will get the user to employee_profile)
also see if you are printing some thing or some htmls before calling header.
is it throwing any error, if so can you also print the error here?