Codeigniter - form_validation callback function error message

Question

View:

<div class="container">
    <div class="row">
        <div class="col-md-3">
        </div>
        <div class="col-md-6">
        <form method="post" action="<?php echo base_url();?>account/register">
        <?php $form_error = $this->session->flashdata('error'); ?>
          <div class="form-group">
            <label for="username">Username</label>
            <input class="form-control" id="username" name="username" type="input">
            <div id="form_error"><?php echo $form_error['username']; ?></div>
          </div>
          <div class="form-group">
            <label for="password">Password</label>
            <input class="form-control" id="password" name="password" type="password">
            <div id="form_error"><?php echo $form_error['password']; ?></div>
          </div>
          <div class="form-group">
            <label for="confirm_password">Confirm Password</label>
            <input class="form-control" id="confirm_password" name="confirm_password" type="password">
          <div id="form_error"><?php echo $form_error['confirm_password']; ?></div>
          </div>
          <div class="form-group">
            <label for="gender">Gender</label>
            <select class="form-control" id="gender" name="gender">
                <option disabled selected value="">select a gender</option>
                <option value="Male">Male</option>
                <option value="Female">Female</option>
                <option value="Other">Other</option>
            </select>
            <div id="form_error"><?php echo $form_error['gender']; ?></div>
          </div>
          <div class="form-group">
            <label for="birthdate">Birthdate</label>
            <input class="form-control" id="birthdate" name="birthdate" type="date">
            <div id="form_error"><?php echo $form_error['birthdate']; ?></div>
          </div>



          <button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary btn-block">Submit</button>
        </form>
        <div class="text-center">
        <a class="d-block small mt-3" href="<?php echo base_url();?>pages/login_user">Already have an account?</a>
        </div>
        </div>
        <div class="col-md-3">
        </div>
    </div>
</div>
</body>

Account Controller:

public function register(){
$this->form_validation->set_rules('username', 'Username', 'trim|required|is_unique[users.username]');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('password', 'Password', 'trim|required|min_length[8]|max_length[20]');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('confirm_password', 'Confirm Password', 'trim|required|matches[password]');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('gender', 'Gender', 'trim|required|in_list[Male,Female,Other]');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('birthdate', 'Birthdate', 'trim|required|valid_date');

if($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE){
$form_error = array('username' => form_error('username'),
        'password' => form_error('password'),
        'confirm_password' => form_error('confirm_password'),
        'gender' => form_error('gender'),
        'birthdate' => form_error('birthdate'));
$this->session->set_flashdata('error', $form_error);
redirect('pages/register_user');
}else{ 
$data = array('username' => $this->input->post('username'),
            'password' => password_hash($this->input->post('password'),PASSWORD_BCRYPT),
            'gender' => $this->input->post('gender'),
            'birthdate' => $this->input->post('birthdate'),
            'date_created' => mdate('%Y-%m-%d',time()),
            'last_login' => mdate('%Y-%m-%d',time()));
if($this->account_model->create_account($data)){
$this->session->set_flashdata('message','Registration Successful');
redirect('pages/login_user');
}else{
$this->session->set_flashdata('message','Registration Failed');
redirect('pages/register_user');}}
}

//form_validation callback
public function valid_date($birthdate){
    echo 'aw';
if(date('YYYY-MM-DD',strtotime($birthdate))){
return TRUE; }else{
    echo $birthdate;
$this->form_validation->set_message('valid_date', 'Invalid Birthdate');
$form_error['birthdate'] = form_error('valid_date');
$this->session->set_flashdata('error',$form_error);
return FALSE; }
}

Pages Controller:

public function login_user(){
    $data['title'] = 'Login';
    $this->load->view('template/header',$data);
    $this->load->view('template/navbar');
    $this->load->view('pages/login');
    $this->load->view('template/footer');
    }

    public function register_user(){
    $data['title'] = 'Register';
    $this->load->view('template/header',$data);
    $this->load->view('template/navbar');
    $this->load->view('pages/registration');
    $this->load->view('template/footer');
    }

I tried setting flashdata inside the callback function but this is my first time using a callback function to check the validity of the birthdate given. I tested out the input and you can't input any alphabets but you can go over the maximum length. For example the format should be 'YYYY-MM-DD' you can input something like this: 555555-55-55.

All my other error prints out successfully but the valid_date callback function prints an error:

Unable to access an error message corresponding to your field name Birthdate.(valid_date)

If what i'm asking for is impossible/wrong then i'll just add a min_length[10] and max_length[10] and just edit its error to 'invalid date'.

EDIT: Taking inspiration from my statement above about the max and min length, i also added a custom error for the valid_date there and what do you know it works.

Heres my updated controller:

public function register(){
    $this->form_validation->set_rules('username', 'Username', 'trim|required|is_unique[users.username]');
    $this->form_validation->set_rules('password', 'Password', 'trim|required|min_length[8]|max_length[20]');
    $this->form_validation->set_rules('confirm_password', 'Confirm Password', 'trim|required|matches[password]');
    $this->form_validation->set_rules('gender', 'Gender', 'trim|required|in_list[Male,Female,Other]');
    $this->form_validation->set_rules('birthdate', 'Birthdate', 'trim|required|valid_date',
    array('valid_date' => 'Invalid Date of birth'));

    if($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE){
    $form_error = array('username' => form_error('username'),
            'password' => form_error('password'),
            'confirm_password' => form_error('confirm_password'),
            'gender' => form_error('gender'),
            'birthdate' => form_error('birthdate'));
    $this->session->set_flashdata('error', $form_error);
    redirect('pages/register_user');
    }else{ 
    $data = array('username' => $this->input->post('username'),
                'password' => password_hash($this->input->post('password'),PASSWORD_BCRYPT),
                'gender' => $this->input->post('gender'),
                'birthdate' => $this->input->post('birthdate'),
                'date_created' => mdate('%Y-%m-%d',time()),
                'last_login' => mdate('%Y-%m-%d',time()));
    if($this->account_model->create_account($data)){
    $this->session->set_flashdata('message','Registration Successful');
    redirect('pages/login_user');
    }else{
    $this->session->set_flashdata('message','Registration Failed');
    redirect('pages/register_user');}}
    }

    //form_validation callback
    public function valid_date($birthdate){
    if(date('YYYY-MM-DD',strtotime($birthdate))){
    return TRUE; }else{return FALSE; }
    }

I'm still not sure if it really works or just by fluke.

Answer 1

hey try this to use callback

$this->form_validation->set_rules('birthdate', 'Birthdate', 'trim|required|callback_validdate',

//form_validation callback
public function validdate($birthdate){

    $birthdate = $this->input->post('birthdate');

    if( date('YYYY-MM-DD',strtotime($birthdate)) )
    {
        return true;
    }

    $this->form_validation->set_message('validdate','Check the birthday input to match a format like this YYYY-MM-DD');
    return false;

}

Callbacks: Your own Validation Methods

The validation system supports callbacks to your own validation methods. This permits you to extend the validation class to meet your needs. For example, if you need to run a database query to see if the user is choosing a unique username, you can create a callback method that does that

More Detail read https://codeigniter.com/user_guide/libraries/form_validation.html#callbacks-your-own-validation-methods

Answer 2

You should call this way:

$this->form_validation->set_rules('birthdate', 'Birthdate', 'trim|required|callback_valid_date');

Answer 3

Register code:

public function register() {
    $this->form_validation->set_rules('username', 'Username', 'trim|required|is_unique[users.username]');
    $this->form_validation->set_rules('password', 'Password', 'trim|required|min_length[8]|max_length[20]');
    $this->form_validation->set_rules('confirm_password', 'Confirm Password', 'trim|required|matches[password]');
    $this->form_validation->set_rules('gender', 'Gender', 'trim|required|in_list[Male,Female,Other]');
    $this->form_validation->set_rules('birthdate', 'Birthdate', 'trim|required|callback_valid_date');

    if ($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE) {
        // let's see what's going on under the hood...
        print_r($this->form_validation->error_array());
        exit;
        $form_error = array('username' => form_error('username'),
            'password' => form_error('password'),
            'confirm_password' => form_error('confirm_password'),
            'gender' => form_error('gender'),
            'birthdate' => form_error('birthdate'));
        $this->session->set_flashdata('error', $form_error);
        redirect('pages/register_user');
    } else {
        $data = array('username' => $this->input->post('username'),
            'password' => password_hash($this->input->post('password'), PASSWORD_BCRYPT),
            'gender' => $this->input->post('gender'),
            'birthdate' => $this->input->post('birthdate'),
            'date_created' => mdate('%Y-%m-%d', time()),
            'last_login' => mdate('%Y-%m-%d', time()));
        if ($this->account_model->create_account($data)) {
            $this->session->set_flashdata('message', 'Registration Successful');
            redirect('pages/login_user');
        } else {
            $this->session->set_flashdata('message', 'Registration Failed');
            redirect('pages/register_user');
        }
    }
}

Referencing a callback necessitates the function be called via callback_func_name.

Revised callback:

Note: item does not start with callback_

See: Correctly determine if date string is a valid date in that format (read: test cases)

public function valid_date($date) {
    $format = 'Y-m-d';
    $d = DateTime::createFromFormat($format, $date);
    if ($d && $d->format($format) == $date) {
        return TRUE;
    } else {
        $this->form_validation->set_message('valid_date', 'Invalid Birthdate.');
        return FALSE;
    }
}

Doing date('YYYY-MM-DD') is wrong as it yields: 2018201820182018-FebFeb-SatSat. See date docs.