DigitalKitty has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi all.

I am working on a perl based form validator ( very nearly completed ) but I am unable to eradicate some minor errors. In the drop-down box, if the user doesn't select a state, an error is not flagged. The other being the zip code field. I am trying to limit it to 5 digits ( no less / no more ) but it doesn't seem to work. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks,

-Caitlin.


#!/usr/bin/perl -wT

use strict;
use CGI;
use CGI::Carp qw( fatalsToBrowser );

my $q = new CGI;
my $colon = ":";
my $f_name = "";
my $f_name_error = "";
my $f_email_error = "";
my $f_mail_address = "";
my $f_mail = "";
my $f_mail_error= "";
my $f_city = "";
my $f_city_error = "";
my $f_state = "";
my $f_state_error = "";
my $f_zip = "";
my $f_zip_error = "";
my $f_share = "";
my $f_shareword = "";
my $f_email = "";
my $p_Terrors = 0;
my $f_contact = "";

print "Content-type: text/html\n\n";
# If the first time the form is shown, then ...
if ($q->param == 0)
{

   &S_Show_Form();
    exit();

} 

else 
{

    # If this is not the first time the form is shown.
    
    #1.    Get the value for the control named f_name.
    $_ = $q->param("f_name");
    s/^[\s]*//;        #Remove leading blanks.
    s/[\s]*$//;        #Remove trailng blanks.
    $f_name = $_;
    
        
    $p_Terrors = 0;
    
    
    #3.    Check each form field for errors.
    if ($f_name eq "") 
    {
        $f_name_error = "<font color=\"red\">Name may not be blank.</f
+ont><br>\n";
        $p_Terrors = $p_Terrors + 1;
    }

        $_ = $q->param("f_email");
        s/^[\s]*//;        #Remove leading blanks.
        s/[\s]*$//;        #Remove trailng blanks.
    $f_email = $_;

        if ($f_email eq "")
        {
            $f_email_error = "<font color=\"red\">Email may not be bla
+nk.</font><br>\n";
            $p_Terrors = $p_Terrors + 1;                              
+         
        }                                                             
+             


        $_ = $q->param("f_mail_address");
        s/^[\s]*//;        #Remove leading blanks.
        s/[\s]*$//;        #Remove trailng blanks.
    $f_mail_address = $_;

        if ($f_mail_address eq "")
        {
            $f_mail_error = "<font color=\"red\">Address may not be bl
+ank.</font><br>\n";
            $p_Terrors = $p_Terrors + 1;                              
+         
        }                                                             
+            


        $_ = $q->param("f_city");
            s/^[\s]*//;        #Remove leading blanks.
            s/[\s]*$//;        #Remove trailng blanks.
    $f_city = $_;
    
    if ($f_city eq "")
    {
       $f_city_error = "<font color=\"red\">City may not be blank.</fo
+nt><br>\n";
       $p_Terrors = $p_Terrors + 1;                                   
+    
        }                                                           

        $_ = $q->param("f_state");
                    s/^[\s]*//;        #Remove leading blanks.
            s/[\s]*$//;        #Remove trailng blanks.
    $f_state = $_;
              
        
        if ($f_state eq "")
    {
       $f_state_error = "<font color=\"red\">State may not be blank.</
+font><BR>\n";
       $p_Terrors = $p_Terrors + 1;                                   
+    
        }                                                         
  
  
        $_ = $q->param("f_zip");
                   s/^[\s]*//;        #Remove leading blanks.
                   s/[\s]*$//;        #Remove trailng blanks.
    $f_zip = $_;
  
                        
        unless ( $f_zip =~ /\d{5}/ )
        {
        
           $f_zip_error = "<font color=\"red\">Zip code cannot be blan
+k and must be 5 digits in length.</font><BR>\n";
       $p_Terrors = $p_Terrors + 1;
    }
   
       
         
    #4.    When all done checking individual form fields for errors, s
+ee if the count of errors = zero.
    if ($p_Terrors == 0)
        {
        #No errors.    Call subroutine "S_Process_Form"
        &S_Process_Form();
        
    }
       
        else 
        {
        #We had one or more errors, Show the form again.
        &S_Show_Form();
    }
    

} #End if $q == 0
exit();

#---------------
sub S_Show_Form {
#---------------
    
    print "<HTML>\n";
    print "<TITLE>WEB SITE REGISTRATION</title>\n";
    print "</head>\n";
    print "<BODY BGCOLOR=\"cornsilk\">\n";
    print "<FONT COLOR=\"cornflowerblue\"><B>\n";
    print "<CENTER>\n";
    print "<H1><b><FONT COLOR=\"crimson\">REGISTER WEB SITE</font></b>
+</h1>\n";
    print "<BR>\n";
    
    print $q->start_form(-action => "customer.cgi", method => "get");

    #The next print statment will print "" (nothing) if
    #    there was no error in registering person's name.
    #    Otherwise it will print the error message.
    print $f_name_error;
    print "Name: ", $q->textfield(-name=>"f_name", -size=>30), "<BR>\n
+";
        print $f_email_error;
        print "E-mail address: ", $q->textfield(-name=>"f_email", -siz
+e=>30), "<BR>\n";
        print "$f_mail_error";
        print "Mailing address: ", $q->textfield(-name=>"f_mail_addres
+s", -size=>30), "<BR>\n";    
          print "$f_city_error";
    print "City: " . $q->textfield(-name=>"f_city", -size=>30), "<br>\
+n";    
        print "$f_state_error";
        print "State: " . $q->popup_menu(-name=>"f_state", -value=>['P
+lease select your state', 'Az', 'Ca', 'Hi'], -labels=>{'Az'=>'Arizona
+', 'Ca'=>'California', 'Hi'=>'Hawaii'}), "<BR>\n";    
        print "$f_zip_error";
        print "Zip: ", $q->textfield(-name=>"f_zip", -size => 15), "<B
+R>\n";
        print "Contact: ", $q->radio_group(-name=>"f_contact", -value=
+>['Email', 'Postal mail'], -default=>'Email'), "<BR>\n";
        print "Share with others?", $q->checkbox(-name=>'f_share', -va
+lue=>'', -label=>''), "<BR>\n";
    
         
    #The next two lines are sample for print the email address error (
+if any)
    #and the text field for the email address.
    
        
    
    
    
    print $q->submit(-value =>"Submit Information"); 

    print "</b></font>\n";
    print $q->end_form();

} #end-sub S_Show_Form


#-----------------
sub S_Process_Form {
#-----------------

 #The test immediately below checks the value
 #of the "share/don't share" checkbox and sets
 #a variable named $Vshareword = "Y" or "N" ---
 #so that value can be written to the customer.txt file.

    if ($f_share eq "on") {
        $f_shareword = "Y";
    } else {
        $f_shareword = "N";
    }


    open(CUSTFILE, ">>customer.txt");
     
    print CUSTFILE
    "$f_name"    . "$colon" . "\n";


        
 
    close(CUSTFILE);
    
    
    
    
    print "$f_name thank you for registering at our site.<BR>\n";
    
    
    if ($f_share eq "on") {
    print "We appreciate you allowing us to share your information wit
+h our sponsoring companies.<BR>\n";
    } 
    else
    {
    print "We acknowledge your request that your information NOT be sh
+ared with others.<BR>\n";
    } 
    
    
} #end sub ProcessForm

[download]

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Perl Form Validator problems.
by vladb (Vicar) on Apr 27, 2002 at 04:11 UTC
    I suggest you look at a readily available module that would allow you to do what you want and probably even more. The module is HTML::FormValidator.

    I remember using it once or twice in a few of my projects and as far as I can tell it's the right answer to these kind of problems.

    You simply built form validation rules (or constraints) like this: 
    my $validation_rules = 
{
    customer_infos => {
        optional     =>
        [ qw( company fax country ) ],
        required     =>
        [ qw( fullname phone email address city state zipcode ) ],
        constraints  =>
        {
            email    => "email",
            fax        => "american_phone",
            phone    => "american_phone",
            zipcode    => '/^\s*\d{5}(?:[-]\d{4})?\s*$/',
            state    => "state",
        },
        defaults => {
        country => "USA",
        },
    }
};

    [download]
    I believe hash keys are form names (top keys) and form element names. So, the zip code match is already there for you ;-). I suggest you read the docs for better info.

    "There is no system but GNU, and Linux is one of its kernels." -- Confession of Faith
[reply]
[d/l]
Re: Perl Form Validator problems.
by DaWolf (Curate) on Apr 27, 2002 at 06:18 UTC
    Hey there.

    You could do it like this.

    If your check is just about noticing that the zip code is 5 chars, use length: 
    unless ( length $f_zip == 5 )
        {
        
           $f_zip_error = "<font color=\"red\">Zip code cannot be blan
+k and must be 5 digits in length.</font><BR>\n";
       $p_Terrors = $p_Terrors + 1;
    }

    [download]
    For the state part, in drop-down cases I always do it like this:

    - The first option is null like:
    <option value="null">Select the state</option> - So your code change into this: 
    if ($f_state eq "null")
    {
       $f_state_error = "<font color=\"red\">State may not be blank.</
+font><BR>\n";
       $p_Terrors = $p_Terrors + 1;                                   
+    
        }                                                   
...

    [download]
    Hint: Since it's a drop-down box, it will always return a value, so you can't use something like: 
    if (! defined $f_state)
{
...

    [download]
    or 
    if ($f_state eq "")
{
...

    [download]
    Hope it helps.

    my ($author_nickname, $author_email) = ("DaWolf","erabbott\@terra.com.br") if ($author_name eq "Er Galvão Abbott");
[reply]
[d/l]
[select]
      Hint: Since it's a drop-down box, it will always return a value,...
      Not necessarily. Nothing prevents a malicious or a lousy client from submitting bad data. Nothing prevents your program from accepting it except your paranoia.
[reply]
      Hi.

      I tried ( in vain ) to check for a null value in the popup box. It still didn't flag it as an empty field ( and therefore display the message ). Sorry if my question seems naive but this is my first program that uses Dr. Stein's CGI.pm module. Do you ( or anyone else ) have another suggestion?
      Thanks for all the help by the way.

      -Cait.
[reply]
        Please post the code that checks the drop-down box and the html code of the box.

        I'll help you from there.

        Best regards,

        my ($author_nickname, $author_email) = ("DaWolf","erabbott\@terra.com.br") if ($author_name eq "Er Galvão Abbott");
[reply]
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