Not submitting form - php

Question

My form will validate on the client side but I'm trying to figure out why its not validating on the server side. I don't have my php complete but its not even bringing up the POST request in my console saying its submitting the form to the server.
jQuery:
$(document).ready(function()
{
/*
* Validate the form when it is submitted
*/
var validateform = $("#newArticleForm").validate({
invalidHandler: function(form, validator) {
var errors = validator.numberOfInvalids();
if (errors) {
var message = errors == 1
? 'You missed 1 field. It has been highlighted.'
: 'You missed ' + errors + ' fields. They have been highlighted.';
$('.box .content').removeAlertBoxes();
$('.box .content').alertBox(message, {type: 'warning', icon: true, noMargin: false});
$('.box .content .alert').css({
width: '100%',
margin: '0',
borderLeft: 'none',
borderRight: 'none',
borderRadius: 0
});
} else {
$('.box .content').removeAlertBoxes();
}
},
showErrors : function(errorMap, errorList) {
this.defaultShowErrors();
var self = this;
$.each(errorList, function() {
var $input = $(this.element);
var $label = $input.parent().find('label.error').hide();
$label.addClass('red');
$label.css('width', '');
$input.trigger('labeled');
$label.fadeIn();
});
},
submitHandler: function(form) {
var dataString = $('#newArticleForm').serialize();
$.ajax({
type: 'POST',
url: '/kowmanager/dashboard/articleSubmit',
data: dataString,
dataType: 'json',
success: function(data) {
if (data.error) {
$('.box .content').removeAlertBoxes();
$('.box .content').alertBox(data.message, {type: 'warning', icon: true, noMargin: false});
$('.box .content .alert').css({
width: '',
margin: '0',
borderLeft: 'none',
borderRight: 'none',
borderRadius: 0
});
}
else
{
$('.box .content').removeAlertBoxes();
$('.box .content').alertBox(data.message, {type: 'success', icon: true, noMargin: false});
$('.box .content .alert').css({
width: '',
margin: '0',
borderLeft: 'none',
borderRight: 'none',
borderRadius: 0
});
$(':input','#newArticleForm')
.not(':submit, :button, :hidden, :reset')
.val('');
}
}
});
}
});
});
Controller:
function articleSubmit()
{
$outputArray = array('error' => 'yes', 'message' => 'unproccessed');
$outputMsg = '';
// Sets validation rules for the login form
$this->form_validation->set_rules('title', 'Title',
'trim|required|xss_clean|alpha_numeric');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('category', 'Category',
'integer');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('isSticky', 'Is Sticky',
'integer');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('comments', 'Allow Comments',
'integer');
// Checks to see if login form was submitted properly
if (!$this->form_validation->run())
{
$outputArray['message'] =
'There was a problem submitting the form! Please refresh the window and try again!';
}
else
{
}
}
View:
<?php $attributes = array('class' => 'validate', 'id' => 'newArticleForm'); ?>
<?php echo form_open_multipart('', $attributes) ?>
<div class="content no-padding">
<div class="section _100">
<?php echo form_label('Title', 'title'); ?>
<div>
<?php echo form_input('title', '', 'class="required"'); ?>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section _100">
<?php echo form_label('Category', 'category'); ?>
<div>
<?php echo form_dropdown('category', $categories, '', 'class="required"'); ?>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section _100">
<?php echo form_label('Is Sticky', 'sticky'); ?>
<div>
<?php
$options = array(
'' => 'Please Select An Option',
'0' => 'No',
'1' => 'Yes',
);
?><?php echo form_dropdown('sticky', $options, '', 'class="required"'); ?>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section _100">
<?php echo form_label('Allow Comments', 'comments'); ?>
<div>
<?php
$options = array(
'' => 'Please Select An Option',
'0' => 'No',
'1' => 'Yes',
);
?><?php echo form_dropdown('comments', $options, '', 'class="required"'); ?>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section _100">
<?php echo form_label('Date Comments Expire', 'datetime'); ?>
<div>
<input id="datetime" type="datetime" class="required" />
</div>
</div>
<div class="section _100">
<?php echo form_label('Status', 'status'); ?>
<div>
<?php
$options = array(
'' => 'Please Select An Option',
'0' => 'Inactive',
'1' => 'Active',
);
?><?php echo form_dropdown('status', $options, '', 'class="required"'); ?>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section _100">
<?php echo form_label('Image', 'file'); ?>
<div>
<?php echo form_upload('file', '', 'class="required"'); ?>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section _100">
<?php echo form_label('Permalink', 'permalink'); ?>
<div>
<?php echo form_input('permalink', '', 'class="required"'); ?>
</div>
</div>
<div class="section _100">
<?php echo form_label('Article', 'article'); ?><?php $attributes = array('name' => 'article', 'cols' => '30', 'rows' => '5', 'id' => 'article', 'class' => 'required') ?>
<div>
<?php echo form_textarea($attributes); ?>
</div>
</div>
</div><!-- End of .content -->
<div class="actions">
<div class="actions-left">
<?php echo form_reset(array('id' => 'reset', 'name' => 'reset'), 'Reset'); ?>
</div>
<div class="actions-right">
<?php echo form_submit(array('id' => 'submit', 'name' => 'submit'), 'Submit'); ?>
</div>
</div><!-- End of .actions -->
<?php echo form_close(); ?>
EDIT:
I have other forms that use this jquery as well but wondering if anyone had any additional ideas?

Answer 1

I know the answer to this issue... and it drove me nuts so I am happy to help you with this one :))
Codeigniter works in a very special way with POST requests. If you do this but instead use a GET request you will see it works fine... so what's going on?
Codeigniter has a crsf token to make sure you POST your data in a safe way.
So make sure you send this crsf value with the rest of your data.
I will give you an example, this is what my POST ajax + codeigniter looks like:
$.ajax({
type: 'POST',
dataType: 'HTML',
data: {
somevalue : somevalue,
csrf_test_name : $.cookie('csrf_cookie_name')
},
...
As you can see, your crsf value is stored in a cookie. I use the jquery plugin cookie helper, but feel fry to use any other plugin.
However, keep in mind that the name 'csrf_test_name' is always expected by codeigniter when making a POST request
Have a nice day!
For those who want to read more a bout this, this is what I am talking about:
http://aymsystems.com/ajax-csrf-protection-codeigniter-20