CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptphphtmljson
Barskey
Barskey

Reputation: 463

How to check if a certain element exists using php

I have a html form which I can append using JavaScript, I use PHP to save the data to a JSON file. However, when I click the submit button while there is no form (not appended yet) it still saves data to the JSON file:

 [{"language":null,"time_in_words":null,"time_hours":null,"time_mins":null,"audio":null}]

Is there a way to check if the form (or a div wrapped around the form) actually exists? (using PHP)

Edit: Here's my PHP for submitting the form and sending it to the JSON file

if(isset($_POST["submit"])){
   $_POST = array_filter($_POST);
      if(file_exists('data.json')){
          $current_data = file_get_contents('data.json');
          $array_data = json_decode($current_data, true);
          $extra = array(
              'language'         =>       $_POST["language"],
              'time_in_words'          =>       $_POST['time_in_words'],
              'time_hours'         =>       $_POST["time_hours"],
              'time_mins'         =>       $_POST["time_mins"],
              'audio'                  =>       $_POST["audio"],
);
            $array_data[] = $extra;
            $final_data = json_encode($array_data);
            if(file_put_contents('data.json', $final_data)) {
              $message = "Successfully saved";
              echo "<script type='text/javascript'>alert('$message');</script>";
            }
          }
          else
          {
            $error = "data.json does not exist";
            echo "<script type='text/javascript'>alert('$error');</script>";
          }
 }

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1824

Answers (1)

Barskey
Barskey

Reputation: 463

Thanks to ParantapParashar for helping me figure this out. =)

if(isset($_POST["language"])){
  // *submit the form to the json file*
}
else {
  // *tell the user to add an input field*
}

This checks if <input type="text" name="language" required> has any value. If it doesn't exist, it has no value, so the outcome would be false.

If it does exist, it would still have no value, but since i gave the input element the "required" attribute it wouldn't let the user submit before the user gives it a value (by filling in the input field).

So when the user fills in the input field, the outcome would be true.

Upvotes: 1

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