Member Avatar for Taffd

I'm beginning to believe that nobody actually knows how to validate simple forms and insert that validation code into a dreamweaver page.

I there anybody out there who believes they can accomplish this. If so, are you prepared to help me accomplish this, at which time we could post here a relevant tutorial/explanation.

I have been playing around with preg_match and preg_match_all, along with various regexpressions but they do not seem to give the expected results.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jbennet

Dani AI

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raised the common issue that PHP regexes often do not behave as expected, and suggested reading material. Below is a concise, practical approach that fits into a Dreamweaver workflow and shows why preg_match/preg_match_all are frequently misused.

A minimal server-side validation flow: trim inputs, check required fields, validate with built-ins where possible, then use regex only when a pattern is really needed. filter_var is the preferred validator for emails and URLs; regex should be anchored and use the correct modifiers. preg_match_all counts/fills matches and is not a substitute for whole-string validation — use preg_match with ^ and $ for that.

Example skeleton (place processing at top of a .php page before any output):

<?php
$errors = [];
$name = trim($_POST['name'] ?? '');
$email = trim($_POST['email'] ?? '');
if ($name === '') {
$errors[] = 'Name is required';
} elseif (!preg_match('/^[\p{L} \'-]{1,100}$/u', $name)) {
$errors[] = 'Invalid name';
}
if (!filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) {
$errors[] = 'Invalid email';
}
if (empty($errors)) {
// sanitize for output with htmlspecialchars() and insert using prepared statements
}
?>

Dreamweaver notes: save pages with a .php extension, edit PHP in Code view or use editable regions in templates, and either post the form to the same script or to a dedicated processor. Avoid relying solely on Dreamweaver GUI helpers; they may produce code that needs manual review.

Security and reference notes: prefer prepared statements for DB inserts and escape output with htmlspecialchars. See the PHP docs for filter_var and preg_match, the PDO prepared-statement docs at PDO prepared statements, and OWASP guidance on input validation at OWASP Input Validation Cheat Sheet.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

Try and buy/rent the book "How to do everything PHP MYSQL" By Vikram Vaswami. It has a chapter on validating form input in the way you ask

Member Avatar for Taffd

Well done jbennet. You could post your answer to any question in this php section. A simple 'No' would have been quite sufficient.

Member Avatar for jbennet

the answer is yes, im saying its in that book, because i have it but cant be bothered typing the source onto this site as its like 3 pages of code

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