Use CodeIgniter form validation in a view

I have footer view that's included on all my pages which contains a form. I would like to be able to make use of CI's form validation library to validate the form. Is that possible?

Currently the form posts back to the current page using the PHP_SELF environment variable. I don't want to get 开发者_运维技巧it to post to a controller because when validation fails it loads the controller name in the address bar, which is not the desired behaviour.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thanks,

Gaz

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One way, whilst far from ideal, would be to create a "contact" function in every controller. This could be in the form of a library/helper.

CI doesn't natively let you call one controller from another, although I believe there are extensions that enable this.

Another option would be an AJAX call instead, which would allow you to post to a generic controller, validate etc whilst remaining on the current page.

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In this use case, I would definitely go for an AJAX call to a generic controller. This allows you to show errors even before submitting in the origin page.

Another way (slightly more complex), involves posting your form data to a generic controller method, passing it a hidden input containing the current URL.

The generic controller method handling your form can then redirect to the page on which the user submitted the form, passing it the validation errors or a success message using flash session variables: $this->session->set_flashdata('errors',validation_errors()) might do the trick (untested)

The good thing about this is that you can use the generic form-handling method for both the ajax case (suppressing the redirect) and the non-ajax case

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AJAX would be best, just like everyone else says.

I would redirect the form to one function in one controller, you could make a controller just for the form itself. Then have a hidden value with the return URL. As far as errors go you could send them back with flashdata.

Just remember to never copy paste code, it a bad practice and guarantees bugs.

//make sure you load the proper model
if ($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE){
    // invalid
    $redirect = $this->input->post('url');
    $this->session->set_flashdata('errors',validation_errors());
    redirect($redirect);
} else {
    /*
        success, do what you want here
    */
    redirect('send them where ever');
}