hi,

i'm looking to create a form that makes other fields required based on certain dropdown selections.

example

if YES is selected on this dropdown, than make the next 3 fields required.

anyone have any tips on how to go about this?

thanks so much!!

test if the checkbox exists in the POST or GET variable list and check the fields, if it doesn't. ....

... don't check them.

Like what Chris said... here's an example, only with a drop-down menu

PHP Code:

<?php 
$option1 = $_REQUEST['1'] ; 
$option2 = $_REQUEST['2'] ; 
$option3 = $_REQUEST['3'] ;
$validate = $_REQUEST['validate'] ;
                 
if($_POST['submit']){
    if($validate == 'yes') {
        if($option1 == '') {
            echo "Fill out option 1";
        } else { 
        if($option2 == '') {
            echo "Fill out option 2";
        } else { 
        if($option3 == '') {
            echo "Fill out option 3";
        } else { 
            echo "Everything was Validated!  You pass!";
        } 
        }
        }
    } else {
        echo "Nothing Validated, but you pass anyway.";
    }
}
?> 

<form method="post">
<select name="validate">
<option value="no">Don't Validate</option>
<option value="yes" selected="selected">Validate Form</option>
</select><br />
Option 1: <br />
<input type="text" name="1" />
<br />
Option 2:<br />
<input type="text" name="2" />
<br />
Option 3:<br />
<input type="text" name="3" />
<br />
<input type="submit" value="Send" class="custombutton" name="submit"/>
</form>

- Steve

awesome - thanks so much!!!!!!

I believe that that could also be done with Javascript, correct me if I am wrong.

Originally Posted by gravedig2

I believe that that could also be done with Javascript, correct me if I am wrong.

I believe that is correct. However, I tend to lean towards php because it is server-side code, which is very reliable, and not client-side like JavaScript, which tends to be rather unreliable (because either a browser does not support it, or the user has it turned off).

- Steve

I always validate server-side no matter what. I get that figured out first, and usually add some javascript validation to let the user know immediately what is wrong with their input to cut down on http requests.

At the very least, validate server-side, because anyone can post anything to your server.

Ok, my form sends data to a processor php file. @stevej - can I implement your code into the processor file or does it have to be present on the same page as the form? Here's the code from my processor.php. Thanks again!

PHP Code:

<?php
if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {

$name = $_POST['name'];
$account = $_POST['account'];
$return = $_POST['return'];
$hw_a = $_POST['hw_a'];
$hwq_a = $_POST['hwq_a'];
$hw_b = $_POST['hw_b'];
$hwq_b = $_POST['hwq_b'];
$hw_c = $_POST['hw_c'];
$hwq_c = $_POST['hwq_c'];
$cc = $_POST['cc'];
$cn = $_POST['cn'];
$ac = $_POST['ac'];
$comments = $_POST['comments'];

$to = "my email addresses";
$subject = "my subject";



$body = "

here's my html body

";

$formattedtext = wordwrap($body, 100, "\n", true);


// To send HTML mail, the Content-type header must be set
$headers = 'MIME-Version: 1.0' . "\r\n";
$headers .= 'Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1' . "\r\n";

mail($to, $subject, $formattedtext, $headers);

include("thanks.php");

} else {

echo "blarg!";

}
?>