using javascript and php together to validate - php

Question

How do I use php and javascript together? from doing my own research, it seems impossible. I understand that they are different, and they each have their own special things that they do. But let's say you are validating a form. You use javascript to validate the form, then if there are no errors, you run php to insert a record. How would you do this? Is there any way to run php in javascript or call on a php method?

Answer 1

Generally you will see Javascript used as client side code. This means that a browser that visits your website will download your Javascript code, compile it, and run it itself. Client side code simply means that the client (person who visits your website) runs the code.
PHP, on the other hand, is used as server side code. This means that your web server parses and runs your code. Server side code simply means that the code is run on your web server.
You can give information to Javascript from PHP code. For example:
<?php
$myVariable = 'a testing variable';
?>
<script type='text/javascript'>
var fromTheServer = '<?php echo $myVariable; ?>';
</script>
The Javascript variable fromTheServer is set to the value of the php variable myVariable. All this is really doing is outputting the value of the php variable as a string, which Javascript uses. This approach can be useful, say if you wanted a Javascript array of shopping cart items the user currently has in their cart.
<?php
// get some shopping cart items using a function
$shoppingCartItemsArray = getShoppingCartItems();
?>
<script type='text/javascript'>
var shoppingCartItemsArray = "<?php echo implode('|', $shoppingCartItemsArray); ?>";
// split the string value by the | delimeter to get an array
shoppingCartItemsArray = shoppingCartItemsArray.split('|');
</script>
Now you have seen how you can integrate php with Javascript a little bit. Once again, this isn't really integrating, just outputting information from the server. What about sending information to the server? This is where AJAX comes in.
Say you are implementing a drag and drop shopping cart with Javascript. The idea is that the user picks an item from your site and drags it to their shopping cart. Upon letting go of the item, the item should be added to the users cart on the server. You would be using AJAX to post the item number to the server and wait for the server to tell you whether the item was successfully added. Note: You can build your own AJAX methods making use of native Javascript code, however, why do that when you can use a framework that has it built in? I generally use jQuery, but there are a number of other JS frameworks out there you can use.
The following very simple example shows how an interaction with Javascript and php could look like under the above circumstance. It uses jQuerys $.ajax(); function.
<?php
/** File: https://www.example.com/cart.php **/
// .. code
if($_POST['action'] === 'addItem'){
$result = addItemToCart($_POST['itemId']);
echo $result;
}
// ... code
?>
<script type='text/javascript'>
// code ....
$.ajax({
url: 'https://www.example.com/cart.php'
type: 'POST',
data: {
action: 'addItem',
itemId: getDraggedItem() // get the item id from a function
}
success: function(result){
$('#ServerMessage').html(result);
}
});
// code ....
</script>
Ok, so now you can very briefly see how php and Javascript are acting if javascript is being used as client side code.
Javascript can also be used as Server Side code, for example, IIS allows you to run JScript in tangent with VBScript.
<script type='text/javascript' runat='server'>
Response.Write("MS Server here.")
</script>
In addition to this, CommonJS provides an API for server-side Javascript code which many projects are now implementing. You may have heard of some of these, Node.js in particular. One of these projects may allow you to run php and javascript in conjunction with eachother, you'll have to look.
The bottom line is, Javascript is not only client side code. It's simply code that can be executed on either the server or the client, or as a way to clean up your iTunes library.

Answer 2

You need to validate in both JavaScript and PHP. But most important is PHP validation because remember: Javascript is frontend code, therefore can be modified or simply disabled by the user. So before inserting you must validate in PHP.
There are thousands of javascript validation plugins, a good one is jQuery Validate:
http://bassistance.de/jquery-plugins/jquery-plugin-validation/
You have an example here on PHP validation:
http://buildinternet.com/2008/12/how-to-validate-a-form-complete-with-error-messages-using-php-part-1/

Answer 3

You can validate using javascript and insert records using php. But, it is much better if you will validate the records with javascript and php. Why? Because javascript validation will be useless when you turn off javascript in your browser, that means, if browser javascript is off, no validations will run and that means the invalid records will be inserted to your database. So it is much better to have a backup php validation.

Answer 4

<?php
if(PHP VALIDATION) {
echo 'You were not validated';
} else {
echo "<script src=\"FILE WITH UR JAVASCRIPT\"><script>"
}
?>
This javascript will only load and executed if the php validation is complete.

Answer 5

lets have this simple example:
the example given uses jquery, you might google that up.
html:
<html>
<body>
<input type = "text" name = "username" id = "username"></input>
<input type = "button" name = "submit" id = "save_button" value = "insert"></input>
<div id = "save_stat"></div> <!--This will be the status of the insertion. "loading or sucess!"---->
<script>
$('#save_button').click(function(){ //assign an event handler
//grab values
var name = $('#username').val(); //get the value of whatever the user entered
//perform HTTP ajax request
//could be $.get instead
$.post('phpfile.php', (name:name)/*this could be modified to (name:name, password: password) etc.*/, function(data){ //send the data to the php file.
$('#save_stat').html(data);
});
});
</script>
</body>
</html>
Now all that is left to do is create the php registration page and link it instead of the "phpfile.php"
And to load values in that file, sinply use $_POST['name'];
OR $_POST['password']; etc.
The above answers(suggested by others) are perfect, as they suggest the essence of what you actually require to create an in-sync Javascript and php application.
***EDIT NOTICE********
When creating the php, use echo statement when giving the user messages, i.e
if(!empty($_POST['name'])){
echo "You successfully entered your name!";
}else
echo "you forgot to enter a name";
Sample #2
if(!empty($_POST['name'])){
$message = "You successfully entered your name!";
}else
$message = "you forgot to enter a name";
echo $message;