Cursor Jumps (5?) Points Into Text Area Field On First Click?

[Adrian56 2]

I am trying to confirm entries in the form below using strlen but am stymied by a strange bug/error - in check for entries in subject and message fields

else if((strlen($_POST['subject']) == 0) || (strlen($_POST['message']) == 0)) the first condition works perfectly ($length=0) but strlen($_POST['message'] returns $messagelen=5 or more even when nothing is entered?!

When you first click in the textarea the cursor positions beyond the start point - which is probably causing the error, but why?

 

Thank you for any help.

 

 

<?php

function spamcheck($field)

{

//filter_var() sanitizes the e-mail

//address using FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL

$field=filter_var($field, FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL);

 

//filter_var() validates the e-mail

//address using FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL

if(filter_var($field, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL))

{

return TRUE;

}

else

{

return FALSE;

}

}

 

 

 

if (isset($_POST['email']))

{//if "email" is filled out, proceed

 

//check if the email address is invalid

$mailcheck = spamcheck($_POST['email']);

if ($mailcheck==FALSE)

{

$url = htmlspecialchars($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']);

echo "<a href='$url'>Invalid form entry.<br><br> Please click here to return to form and retry.</a>";

}

// check for entries in subject and message fields

else if((strlen($_POST['subject']) == 0) || (strlen($_POST['message']) == 0))

{

$url = htmlspecialchars($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']);

$length = strlen($_POST['subject']);

$messagelen = strlen($_POST['message']);

echo "<a href='$url'>Please fill in all fields. " . $length . $messagelen . "<br><br> Please click here to return to form and retry.</a>";

}

 

else

{//send email

$email = $_POST['email'] ;

$subject = $_POST['subject'] ;

$message = $_POST['message'] ;

mail("me@example.com", "Subject: $subject",

$message, "From: $email" );

$url = htmlspecialchars($_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER']);

 

echo "Thank you for using our mail form";

 

echo "<a href='$url'>Click here to return</a>";

}

}

else

{//if "email" is not filled out, display the form

echo "<p><b>If you have any questions and wish to contact us,<br /> please fill in the form below.</b></p><br>

 

<form method='post' action='formpage.php'>

<fieldset><legend>Your Contact Information</legend>

Email: <input name='email' type='text' tabindex='1'><br>

Subject: <input name='subject' type='text' tabindex='2'><br>

Message:<br>

<textarea name='message' rows='7' cols='40' tabindex='3'>

</textarea><br>

<input type='submit' id='submit' tabindex='4'>

</fieldset>

</form>";

}

?>

[HartleySan 826]

There is likely some whitespace between the textarea start tag and the textarea end tag. That will be interpreted by the browser as whitespace that you actually want to enter within the textarea.

Try putting your textarea tags together as follows:

<textarea name='message' rows='7' cols='40' tabindex='3'></textarea><br>

[Adrian56 2]

Absolutely spot on!!

I'd added spaces/breaks at that point in the coding for readability. Works perfectly now, thank you. Now I can get on with making the form sticky.

[HartleySan 826]

Yeah, one of the tricky things about HTML is knowing about those edge cases when whitespace actually matters.

Anyway, glad you got what you wanted.

[Adrian56 2]

Okay all that you have said in this and 'Trying To Return To Previous Page From A Form' has worked perfectlybut...

 

below is the source code from the formpage being 'posted' to itself. Every thing looks as though it should be fine but the value of the message field 'dddd' is not displayed.

 

Have I hit the edge again - I'm really not doing very well with this message field!

 

 

<form method='post' action='formpage.php?urlinform=http://localhost:8888/Any_root/anotherpage.html&email=&subject=sssss&message=dddd'>

<fieldset><legend>Your Contact Information</legend>

Email: <input name='email' type='text' value='' tabindex='1'><br>

Subject: <input name='subject' type='text' value='sssss' tabindex='2'><br>

Message:<br>

<textarea name='message' rows='7' cols='40' value='dddd' tabindex='3'></textarea><br>

<input type='hidden' name='urlinform' value='http://localhost:8888/Any_root/anotherpage.html'>

<input type='submit' id='submit' tabindex='4'>

</fieldset>

</form>

[HartleySan 826]

That's because text area values are obtained by the text between the <textarea> and </textarea> tags, not by the value set for the value attribute.

 

In fact, by definition. textarea elements do not have a value attribute.

(Source: http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_textarea.asp)

[Adrian56 2]

Once again I am in your debt. Many thanks