Validate Form and give user feedback

[rvr1]

Hi,

This is my first PHP web app and I am I getting stuck with this:

I have a site where the user logs in under a session. Once logged in, there is a web form that has to be filled out. I have a script that validates the input, but I am having problems giving feeback to the user.

What I have done (hope this is enough info):

I use the 'post' action on the form.
This calls the php script that validates the input.
Using the echo command, I give feedback as to what fields have not been filled in correctly.

What I wish to do then is either:

i. Have the form re-displayed under the error message so that the user can modify it.

ii. Have a way to get back to the form with the input data still shown so that the user does not have to re-input all data.

I tried just writing include("nameofformfile.php" under the echo statement that gives the error, but I get the error message:

Warning: Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent.

I hope that makes sense.

As I said, this is my first web application and I would really appreciate some help.

Cheers,

Rob

 

[DRJ478]

1. Warning: Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent means that something has already been sent to the output stream before the header() command which is implicit in session_start(). Even a single space at the top of the file can cause this.

2. I suggest you post to the same script that initially brings up the form. If the form is static I'd consider making it into a template with placeholders that allow for re-display of values and errors. If you don't want to go the template way just produce the necessary HTML with print statements. Your solution (i) is better.