After submitting form, if form_validation false, then redirect user to view and show form's filled input values using redirect()

February 12, 2019, at 9:30 PM

In CodeIgniter, after submitting form, when we get POST data in controller function of form action, I am checking for form_validation. But if form_validation checking returns false, I want to redirect the user to view and show him the form's filled values. I have tried with redirect(), but I can't get the form's posted data to view after redirect.

My View File Code =>

<div class="form-group">
<label class="control-label" for="firstname">First Name<span class="required">*</span></label>
<div class="controls">
<?php echo form_input(array('type'=>'text','class'=>'form-control','name'=>'firstname','id'=>'firstname','placeholder'=>'First Name','required'=>'required')); ?>
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label class="control-label" for="lastname">Last Name<span class="required">*</span></label>
<div class="controls">
<?php echo form_input(array('type'=>'text','class'=>'form-control','name'=>'lastname','id'=>'lastname','placeholder'=>'Last Name','required'=>'required')); ?>
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label class="control-label" for="address">Address<span class="required">*</span></label>
<div class="controls">
<?php echo form_textarea(array('class'=>'form-control','name'=>'address','id'=>'address','placeholder'=>'Address','required'=>'required')); ?>
</div>
</div>

My Controller File Code =>

//Getting value
$firstname = trim($this->input->post('firstname'));
$lastname = trim($this->input->post('lastname'));
$address = trim($this->input->post('address'));
// SET VALIDATION RULES
$this->form_validation->set_rules('firstname', 'First Name', 'trim|required');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('lastname', 'Last Name', 'trim|required');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('address', 'Address', 'trim|required');
if( $this->form_validation->run() )
{
    //insert into database function
}
else
{
    //Here, If validation I want to pass my form's filled data to view file i.e. refill form after redirect.
    //I have tried using below, but I can't get filled form in view file after redirect.
    $this->data['fname'] = $firstname;
    $this->data['lname'] = $lastname;
    $this->data['address'] = $address;
    $this->session->set_flashdata('error',validation_errors());
    redirect('employee/add', 'refresh');
}

So please let me know how to get all form data refilled after redirect. Thanks.

Answer 1

In CodeIgniter, If you are using redirect() function, then you can't access your form data using $this->data['anyname'].

But, If you want to access form data you can get it as below.

redirect('employee/edit/'.$firstname.'/'.$lastname.'/'.$address, 'refresh');

then in view file, you can get data using $firstname = $this->uri->segment(3) like that. but this method is not convenient for big forms.

So to get all posted data to view after redirect, you have to use CI's session variable set_flashdata as below.

In Controller file,

if( $this->form_validation->run() )
{
    //insert into database function
}
else
{
    //here $this->input->post() is your posted form data. pass it to set_flashdata.
    $this->session->set_flashdata('formdata',$this->input->post());
    $this->session->set_flashdata('error',validation_errors());
    redirect('employee/add', 'refresh');
}

Then in View file, get flashdata in variable as below. just put below code above your Form's starting tag.

<?php
if( $this->session->flashdata('formdata') )
{
    //echo "<pre>";
    //print_r($this->session->flashdata('formdata'));
    //die();
    $formdata = $this->session->flashdata('formdata');
}
?>

And access this $formdata in input field's value using isset as below. Set 'value' of each input field.

<?php echo form_input(array('type'=>'text','class'=>'form-control','name'=>'firstname','id'=>'firstname','placeholder'=>'First Name','required'=>'required','value'=>isset($formdata)?$formdata['firstname']:'')); ?>

So everytime, when there is an form_validation error, you will be redirected to the View, and you will get form's all posted data filled in Input fields in view file.