PHP, MySQL, jQuery, AJAX: json data returns correct response but frontend returns error
- by Devner
Hi all,
I have a user registration form. I am doing server side validation on the fly via AJAX. The quick summary of my problem is that upon validating 2 fields, I get error for the second field validation. If I comment first field, then the 2nd field does not show any error. It has this weird behavior. More details below:
The HTML, JS and Php code are below:
HTML FORM:
<form id="SignupForm" action="">
<fieldset>
<legend>Free Signup</legend>
<label for="username">Username</label>
<input name="username" type="text" id="username" /><span id="status_username"></span><br />
<label for="email">Email</label>
<input name="email" type="text" id="email" /><span id="status_email"></span><br />
<label for="confirm_email">Confirm Email</label>
<input name="confirm_email" type="text" id="confirm_email" /><span id="status_confirm_email"></span><br />
</fieldset>
<p>
<input id="sbt" type="button" value="Submit form" />
</p>
</form>
JS:
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function()
{
$("#email").blur(function()
{
var email = $("#email").val();
var msgbox2 = $("#status_email");
if(email.length > 3)
{
$.ajax({
type: 'POST',
url: 'check_ajax2.php',
data: "email="+ email,
dataType: 'json',
cache: false,
success: function(data)
{
if(data.success == 'y')
{
alert('Available');
}
else
{
alert('Not Available');
}
}
});
}
return false;
});
$("#confirm_email").blur(function()
{
var confirm_email = $("#confirm_email").val();
var email = $("#email").val();
var msgbox3 = $("#status_confirm_email");
if(confirm_email.length > 3)
{
$.ajax({
type: 'POST',
url: 'check_ajax2.php',
data: 'confirm_email='+ confirm_email + '&email=' + email,
dataType: 'json',
cache: false,
success: function(data)
{
if(data.success == 'y')
{
alert('Available');
}
else
{
alert('Not Available');
}
}
, error: function (data)
{
alert('Some error');
}
});
}
return false;
});
});
</script>
PHP code:
<?php //check_ajax2.php
if(isset($_POST['email']))
{
$email = $_POST['email'];
$res = mysql_query("SELECT uid FROM members WHERE email = '$email' ");
$i_exists = mysql_num_rows($res);
if( 0 == $i_exists )
{
$success = 'y';
$msg_email = 'Email available';
}
else
{
$success = 'n';
$msg_email = 'Email is already in use.</font>';
}
print json_encode(array('success' => $success, 'msg_email' => $msg_email));
}
if(isset($_POST['confirm_email']))
{
$confirm_email = $_POST['confirm_email'];
$email = ( isset($_POST['email']) && trim($_POST['email']) != '' ? $_POST['email'] : '' );
$res = mysql_query("SELECT uid FROM members WHERE email = '$confirm_email' ");
$i_exists = mysql_num_rows($res);
if( 0 == $i_exists )
{
if( isset($email) && isset($confirm_email) && $email == $confirm_email )
{
$success = 'y';
$msg_confirm_email = 'Email available and match';
}
else
{
$success = 'n';
$msg_confirm_email = 'Email and Confirm Email do NOT match.';
}
}
else
{
$success = 'n';
$msg_confirm_email = 'Email already exists.';
}
print json_encode(array('success' => $success, 'msg_confirm_email' => $msg_confirm_email));
}
?>
THE PROBLEM:
As long as I am validating the $_POST['email'] as well as $_POST['confirm_email'] in the check_ajax2.php file, the validation for confirm_email field always returns an error. With my limited knowledge of Firebug, however, I did find out that the following were the responses when I entered email and confirm_email in the fields:
RESPONSE 1:
{"success":"y","msg_email":"Email available"}
RESPONSE 2:
{"success":"y","msg_email":"Email available"}{"success":"n","msg_confirm_email":"Email and Confirm Email do NOT match."}
Although the RESPONSE 2 shows that we are receiving the correct message via msg_confirm_email, in the front end, the alert 'Some error' is popping up (I have enabled the alert for debugging). I have spent 48 hours trying to change every part of the code wherever possible, but with only little success. What is weird about this is that if I comment the validation for $_POST['email'] field completely, then the validation for $_POST['confirm_email'] field is displaying correctly without any errors. If I enable it back, it is validating email field correctly, but when it reaches the point of validating confirm_email field, it is again showing me the error.
I have also tried renaming success variable in check_ajax2.php page to other different names for both $_POST['email'] and $_POST['confirm_email'] but no success. I will be adding more fields in the form and validating within the check_ajax2.php page. So I am not planning on using different ajax pages for validating each of those fields (and I don't think it's smart to do it that way). I am not a jquery or AJAX guru, so all help in resolving this issue is highly appreciated.
Thank you in advance.