Custom form validation error message for Codeigniter 2 - php

Question

I have a drop down named "business_id".
<select name="business_id">
<option value="0">Select Business</option> More options...
</select>
Here comes the validation rule, user must select an option.
$this->form_validation->set_rules('business_id', 'Business', 'greater_than[0]');
Problem being the error message says: The Business field must contain a number greater than 0. Not very intuitive! I want it to say "You must select a business".
I tried:
$this->form_validation->set_message('Business', 'You must select a business');
But CI complete ignores this. Does anyone have a solution for this?

Answer 1

I had the same requirement for adding custom form validation error messages in codeigniter 2 (e.g. "You must agree to our Terms & Conditions"). Naturally it would be wrong to override the error messages for require and greater_than as it would erroneously produce messages for the rest of the form. I extended the CI_Form_validation class and have overridden the set_rules method to accept a new 'message' parameter:
<?php
class MY_Form_validation extends CI_Form_validation
{
private $_custom_field_errors = array();
public function _execute($row, $rules, $postdata = NULL, $cycles = 0)
{
// Execute the parent method from CI_Form_validation.
parent::_execute($row, $rules, $postdata, $cycles);
// Override any error messages for the current field.
if (isset($this->_error_array[$row['field']])
&& isset($this->_custom_field_errors[$row['field']]))
{
$message = str_replace(
'%s',
!empty($row['label']) ? $row['label'] : $row['field'],
$this->_custom_field_errors[$row['field']]);
$this->_error_array[$row['field']] = $message;
$this->_field_data[$row['field']]['error'] = $message;
}
}
public function set_rules($field, $label = '', $rules = '', $message = '')
{
$rules = parent::set_rules($field, $label, $rules);
if (!empty($message))
{
$this->_custom_field_errors[$field] = $message;
}
return $rules;
}
}
?>
With the above class you would produce your rule with a custom error message like so:
$this->form_validation->set_rules('business_id', 'Business', 'greater_than[0]', 'You must select a business');
You may also use '%s' in your custom message which will automatically fill in the label of fieldname.

Answer 2

If you'd like to customize the error messages that are displayed with each rule, you can find them in an array at:
/system/language/english/form_validation_lang.php

Answer 3

Try not setting the value attribute on the default select...
<select name="business_id">
<option value>Select Business</option> More options...
</select>
and then just using required for your form validation rule...
$this->form_validation->set_rules('business_id', 'Business', 'required');
I suppose you could try editing the way that you're trying to set the message also...
$this->form_validation->set_message('business_id', 'You must select a business');
instead of
$this->form_validation->set_message('Business', 'You must select a business');
I'm not entirely sure if that will do the trick though.

Answer 4

You should extend the Form_validation library as Anthony said.
For instance, I do something like this in a file called MY_Form_validation.php which should be put on /application/libraries
function has_selection($value, $params)
{
$CI =& get_instance();
$CI->form_validation->set_message('has_selection', 'The %s need to be selected.');
if ($value == -1) {
return false;
} else {
return true;
}
}
In your case, because your first option (Guidance option - Please select ...) has the value of 0, you may want to change the conditional statement from -1 to 0. Then, from now on, you could have this line to check selection value:
$this->form_validation->set_rules('business_id', 'Business', 'has_selection');
Hope this helps!

Answer 5

Here's a simple CI2 callback function that I used. I wanted something other than just 'required' as a default param of the validation. The documentation helps: http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/libraries/form_validation.html#callbacks
public function My_form() {
...Standard CI validation stuff...
$this->form_validation->set_rules('business_id', 'Business', 'callback_busid');
...
if ($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE) {
return false;
}
else {
...process the form...
$this->email->send();
}
} // Close My_form method
// Callback method
function busid($str) {
if ($str == '') {
$this->form_validation->set_message('business_id', 'Choose a business, Mang!');
return FALSE;
}
else {
return TRUE;
}
} // Close the callback method
For your case you could change the callback to check for if($str<0) - I'm assuming you've used numbers in your selection/dropdown menu.
If the callback returns false, the form is held and the error message is shown. Otherwise, it's passed and sent to the 'else' of the form method.

Answer 6

A little hack might not good for you but I have done this for a little change.
Example,
I want to change message 'The Email field must be a unique value'.
I have done this as
<?php
$error = form_error('email');
echo str_replace('field must be a unique value', 'is already in use.', $error);
// str_replace('string to search/compare', 'string to replace with', 'string to search in')
?>
If string found then it prints our custom message else it will display error message as it is like 'The Email field must be a valid email' etc...

Answer 7

for those of you working on CodeIgniter 3 you can do the following:
$this->form_validation->set_rules('business_id', 'Business', 'greater_than[0]', array(
'greater_than' => 'You must select a business',
));
And if you are using CodeIgniter 2, you will need to extend and override the CI_Form_validation class (https://ellislab.com/codeigniter/user-guide/general/creating_libraries.html for more info on how to do so) with the new CodeIgniter 3 CI_Form_validation class and use the function above.

Answer 8

The name of the rule is the last parameter.
Please try:
$this->form_validation->set_message('greater_than[0]', 'You must select a business');
More info:
https://ellislab.com/codeigniter/user-guide/libraries/form_validation.html#validationrules

Answer 9

I extended the form_validation library with a simple function that makes sure a drop down box does not have its default value selected. Hope this helps.
application/libraries/MY_Form_validation.php
<?php if (!defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed.');
class MY_Form_validation extends CI_Form_validation {
function __construct()
{
parent::__construct();
$this->CI->lang->load('MY_form_validation');
}
/**
* Make sure a drop down field doesn't have its default value selected.
*
* #access public
* #param string
* #param field
* #return bool
* #author zechdc
*/
function require_dropdown($str, $string_to_compare)
{
return ($str == $string_to_compare) ? FALSE : TRUE;
}
}
application/language/english/MY_Form_validation_lang.php
$lang['require_dropdown'] = 'The %s field must have an item selected.';
How to Use:
1) Make your form drop down box:
<select name="business_id">
<option value="select">Select Business</option> More options...
</select>
2) Create Validation Rule. You might be able to set the value to 0 and use require_dropdown[0] but I've never tried that.
$this->form_validation->set_rules('business_id', 'Business', 'require_dropdown[select]');
3) Set your custom message: (Or skip this step and use the one in the language file.)
$this->form_validation->set_message('business_id', 'You must select a business');

Answer 10

Create Method username_check call back function
01.
public function username_check($str)
{
if ($str=="")
{
$this->form_validation->set_message('username_check', 'Merci d’indiquer le nombre d’adultes');
return FALSE;
}
else
{
return TRUE;
}
}
--
02. Then Put this Validation Code on your class
$this->form_validation->set_rules('number_adults', 'Label Name','Your Message',) 'callback_username_check');
This may help you