Not outputting form error messages - php

Question

I have a form that is not outputting any error messages have I missed something?
Model:
function createUser($username = NULL ,$passwordHash = NULL ,$firstname = NULL ,$lastname = NULL ,$email = NULL,$group = NULL ,$active = NULL)
{
$data = array('userName' => $username, 'userFirstName' => $firstname, 'userLastName' => $lastname, 'userEmail' => $email, 'userPassword' => sha1($passwordHash), 'userGroup' => $group, 'userActive' => $active);
$this->db->insert('users',$data);
return TRUE;
}
View:
<h1><?php echo $companyName; echo nbs(1);?> - <?php echo $pageTitle; ?></h1>
<?php
if($success == TRUE) {
echo '<section id = "validation">Page Updated</section>';
}
?>
<p>Error: <?php echo validation_errors();?> </p>
<div class="formContent">
<form action="createUser" method="post">
<fieldset class="control-group">
<label for="userName">User Name: <input type="text" name="userName" value="<?php echo set_value('userName'); ?>" placeholder="User Name"></label>
<label for="userPassword">User Password: <input type="password" name="userPassword" value="<?php echo set_value('userPassword'); ?>" placeholder="User Password"></label>
<label for="userFirstName">First Name: <input type="text" name="userFirstName" value="<?php echo set_value('userFirstName'); ?>" placeholder="First Name"></label>
<label for="userLastName">Last Name: <input type="text" name="userLastName" value="<?php echo set_value('userLastName'); ?>" placeholder="Last Name"></label>
<label for="userEmail">E-Mail: <input type="text" name="userEmail" value="<?php echo set_value('userEmail'); ?>" placeholder="Admin E-mail"></label>
<label for="userGroup"> User Group:
<select name="userGroup" value="<?php echo set_value('userGroup'); ?>">
<option value="select">Please Select</option>
<option value="admin">Admin Group</option>
<option value="user">User Group</option>
</select>
</label>
<label for="userActive"> User Active:
<select name="userActive" value="<?php echo set_value('userActive'); ?>">
<option value="select">Please Select</option>
<option value="yes">Yes</option>
<option value="no">No</option>
</select>
</label>
<button type="submit" class="btn-primary">Create</button>
</fieldset>
</form>
</div>
Controller:
public function index()
{
$data['companyName'] = $this->core_model->companyName();
$data['success'] ="";
$data['pageTitle'] = "Create User";
$this->load->view('admin/assets/header', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/createUser', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/assets/footer');
if($this->input->post('submit'))
{
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userName', 'User Name', 'trim|required|xss_clean|callback_username_check');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userPassword', 'User Password', 'trim|required|xss_clean|sha1');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userFirstName', 'First Name', 'trim|required|xss_clean');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userLastName', 'Last Name', 'trim|required|xss_clean');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userEmail', 'E-Mail', 'trim|required|xss_clean');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userGroup', 'User Group', 'trim|required|xss_clean');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userActive', 'User Active', 'trim|required|xss_clean');
if ($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE) {
$data['companyName'] = $this->core_model->companyName();
$data['success'] ="";
$data['pageTitle'] = "Create User";
$this->load->view('admin/assets/header', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/createUser', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/assets/footer');
}else{
$username = $this->input->post('userName',TRUE);
$password = $this->input->post('userPassword', TRUE);
$firstname = $this->input->post('userFirstName', TRUE);
$lastname = $this->input->post('userLastName',TRUE);
$email = $this->input->post('userEmail',TRUE);
$group = $this->input->post('userGroup',TRUE);
$active = $this->input->post('userActive', TRUE);
$this->db->escape($username);
$this->db->escape($password);
$this->db->escape($firstname);
$this->db->escape($lastname);
$this->db->escape($email);
$this->db->escape($group);
$this->db->escape($active);
$passwordHash = $this->encrypt->sha1($password);
if ($this->core_model->createUser($username,$passwordHash,$firstname,$lastname,$email,$group,$active))
{
$data['success'] = TRUE;
$data['companyName'] = $this->core_model->companyName();
$data['pageTitle'] = "Create User";
$this->load->view('admin/assets/header', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/createUser', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/assets/footer');
}else{
$data['companyName'] = $this->core_model->companyName();
$data['pageTitle'] = "Create User";
$this->load->view('admin/assets/header', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/createUser', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/assets/footer');
}
}
}
}
function __username_check($userName){
{
if ($userName == $user->$userName) {
$this->form_validation->set_message('username_check','Sorry the chosen username %s is taken!');
return false;
}else{
return true;
}
}
}
}
/* End of file login.php */
/* Location: ./application/controllers/admin/createUser.php */

Answer 1

You need to place the <input>s outside the <label> </label> tags! This is the main issue.
Also:
there's no input named "submit": your submit button, in fact, has no name attribute. And, btw, since you're already using form_validation class, that check (if input->post('submit')) is redundant;
Another redundant thing I see is passing TRUE (i.e., having it xss_cleaned) to the input->post method: you already have plenty of xss_clean validation rules, so why passing it again in that expensive extra processing, when already passed through it during validation check?
Sidenote, if you're using Active Record, or query bindings, you don't have to escape variables, so I'd remove that part too :)
And I believe your call to __username_check() will fail: the function, as for what concern the "callback_" validation rule, is "username_check"; and besides the double underscore is usually used for "magic methods" in PHP; you can safely remove both, or if you really want an underscore on the function name (just one) you might want to call "callback__check_username".
And you're loading the same views three times, why? I believe you can rewrite the whole index method like this:
function index()
{
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userName', 'User Name', 'trim|required|xss_clean|callback_username_check');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userPassword', 'User Password', 'trim|required|xss_clean|sha1');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userFirstName', 'First Name', 'trim|required|xss_clean');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userLastName', 'Last Name', 'trim|required|xss_clean');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userEmail', 'E-Mail', 'trim|required|xss_clean');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userGroup', 'User Group', 'trim|required|xss_clean');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userActive', 'User Active', 'trim|required|xss_clean');
if ($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE) {
$data['success'] ="";
}else{
$username = $this->input->post('userName');
$password = $this->input->post('userPassword');
$firstname = $this->input->post('userFirstName');
$lastname = $this->input->post('userLastName');
$email = $this->input->post('userEmail');
$group = $this->input->post('userGroup');
$active = $this->input->post('userActive');
$passwordHash = $this->encrypt->sha1($password);
if ($this->core_model->createUser($username,$passwordHash,$firstname,$lastname,$email,$group,$active))
{
$data['success'] = TRUE;
}
}
$data['companyName'] = $this->core_model->companyName();
$data['pageTitle'] = "Create User";
$this->load->view('admin/assets/header', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/createUser', $data);
$this->load->view('admin/assets/footer');
}
UPDATE:
as for the username check, since v.2.0 of CodeIgniter you have that ability featured among the validation rules: if you place the is_unique rule, in fact, it will automatically query the database to check for that. The syntax is:
is_unique[table.field]
In your case, might be
$this->form_validation->set_rules('userName', 'User Name', 'trim|required|is_unique[users.userName]|xss_clean');