Required fields containing default text

[tvulucy]

I have some fields with default text, for example:

<input name="DOB_Day" type="text" value="Day" size="4" maxlength="3">

This box says 'Day' so users know to type the Day in there, rather than Month or Year.

However, having a default value means that the fields are not recognised as Required fields, as they already have data in them.

Is there any way round this?

Thanks

[russellr]

Hi,

Yes. You need to use conditions. These are documented in formmail.php, but this will get you started for your "Day" test:

<input type="hidden" name="conditions1" value=":@
	 @TEST@DOB_Day !~ /Day/@Please enter a day name for your DOB@" />

[tvulucy]

Hello again

I thought I had it working... I've attached a copy of sampleform.html with a DOB_day field as an example - I haven't been able to make the condition work for the field on this page. Clicking on submit without entering any values at all just brings up two messages:

The form required some values that you did not seem to provide.
Your email address
Your name

Thanks for your help.

Lucy

[russellr]

Hi,

Required fields are checked before conditions. If required fields are missing, then FormMail reports those errors before even checking the conditions.

If you fill in the the name and email without setting DOB_Day, you should get the message you're looking for.

If you want the failed conditions reported at the same time as the required fields, you can put the required fields test in with the conditions instead of using the "required" feature.

[tvulucy]

Brilliant. I've turned all the required fields into conditions instead and it works perfectly.

Actually, to save me racking my brains for too long, do you have a ready-made condition for checking whether an email address is 'structurally' valid? (eg has a '@' sign and a 'dot something' at the end)

Thanks
Lucy

[russellr]

Hi,

I don't guarantee that this is perfect, but here's a reasonable attempt at checking for valid email address:

<input type="hidden" name="conditions" value=":#
 #TEST#email ~ /^[a-z0-9_.]+@[a-z0-9_]+\.([a-z0-9_.]+)*[a-z0-9_.]$/i #
 Please enter a valid email address.#">

Hope that helps!

[tvulucy]

On a related note... how do I apply conditions to a list box, eg:

<select name="Title">
<option value="Please select" selected>Please select</option>
<option value="Mr">Mr</option>
<option value="Mrs">Mrs</option>
<option value="Miss">Miss</option>
</select>

SOLVED: I've managed to answer my own question - I had the !~ the wrong way round in the conditions test. doh.

[tvulucy]

Hello again

Am I correct in deducing that you can only have a maximum of 18 tested fields?

I have about 23 different fields that need testing, but once the user has filled in the first 18 required fields, the other 5 aren't tested and the form is submitted without errors.

Combining fields in one TEST (eg #TEST#FirstName|Surname#Your full name#: ) doesn't make a difference - it's the number of fields, not the number of TEST conditions

Is there a way to adjust this?

Thanks
Lucy

[russellr]

Hi,

No, there's no limit within FormMail on the number of fields that can be tested.

The most likely cause is a syntax error in your conditions statement.

FormMail should detect such an error and report it to you, but maybe it's missing it too.

Can you send me the URL for your form? I'll take a quick look at it.

[russellr]

Hi,

The problem is that the conditions field is being truncated.

This is caused by a security feature in FormMail.

Look for the setting called MAXSTRING. It is 1024 by default and your long conditions field is being truncated by that.

You can increase the value to resolve the problem.

Or, better still, use multiple conditions fields. Like this:

<input type="hidden" name="conditions1" value="..." />
<input type="hidden" name="conditions2" value="..." />
<input type="hidden" name="conditions3" value="..." />

Each conditions field can have multple tests (and will be truncated to MAXSTRING bytes - so keep them below that).

There's no limit to the number of conditions fields you can specify.