Error message not displaying html forms using php

Question

I have a basic form trying to validate that a checkbox is selected, at the moment it is not allowing it to go through (expected) however my error message is not displaying on the same page, it is probably something really small that is missing.

It not displaying the error, a span class can be seen in the html below.

Where's the problem?

php:

     <?php
    require_once 'db/connect.php';
    $error='';  
    $success='';

        if (isset($_POST['submit'])){   

            if ( (isset($_POST['checkbox'])) && (isset($_POST['competitorDelete'])) ) {

                $checkbox = $_POST['checkbox'];
                for ($i=0;$i<count($checkbox);$i++) {

                    $delete_comp = $checkbox[$i];
                    $query = $con->query("SELECT Forename, Surname FROM student WHERE Student_ID = '" . $delete_comp . "'");
                    $row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($query);
                    $success = $row['Forename'] . ' ' . $row['Surname'] . ' has been deleted as a competitor from any events they were submitted for <br>';             
                    $query= $con->query("DELETE FROM competitors WHERE Student_ID = '" . $delete_comp . "'");
                }
            }   

            elseif (isset($_POST['checkbox']))  {
                $checkbox = $_POST['checkbox'];
                for ($i=0;$i<count($checkbox);$i++) { 

                    $delete_student = $checkbox[$i];
                    $query = $con->query("SELECT Forename, Surname FROM student WHERE Student_ID = '" . $delete_student . "'");
                    $row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($query);
                    $success = $row['Forename'] . ' ' . $row['Surname'] . ' has been deleted as a student <br>';                    
                    $query= $con->query("DELETE FROM student WHERE Student_ID = '" . $delete_student . "'");
                }
            }

            else {
                $error = 'A student must be selected';
            }
        }   
?>

html:

 <?php  
    session_start();    
    require_once 'db/checkuserloggedin.php';
    include 'db/header.php';
    include 'deletestudent.php'; 


    echo '<h3> Delete students </h3>';                                                                      
        echo "<form method =\"POST\">";

            if ($student_result = $con->query("SELECT Student.Form, Teacher.Form, Forename, Surname, Student_ID " .
                                                "FROM student, teacher " .
                                                    "WHERE Student.Form = Teacher.Form AND Teacher.Username = '" . $_SESSION['Username'] . "'")) {


                if ($student_result->num_rows) {                                                                                                                                        
                    echo '<table>'; 

                    while ($row1 = $student_result->fetch_assoc()) {

                        echo '<tr>';                            
                            echo '<td>';        
                                echo $row1['Forename'] . ' ' . $row1['Surname'];
                            echo '</td>';

                            echo '<td>';        
                                echo '<input type="checkbox" name="checkbox[]" value="' . $row1['Student_ID'] . '">';
                            echo '</td>';       
                        echo '</tr>';       
                    }                       
                    echo '</table>';                    
                }                                                       
            }                       

            echo 'Delete competitor data only<input type="checkbox" name="competitorDelete">' . '<br>';
            echo '<input type="submit" name="submit" value ="Delete">';                                     
            echo '<input type="reset" value ="Reset">';
            echo '<span class="error"><?php echo $error;?></span>';

        echo "</form>"; 
?>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <title>Entry form</title>
    </head>

    <body>
        <div id="logoutbutton">
        <button class="btn" onclick="location.href='logout.php'">Logout</button>
        </div>

        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="styles.css">
    </body>
</html>

Add error reporting to the top of your file(s) right after your opening PHP tag for example ` — Funk Forty Niner, Apr 05 '15 at 13:52
@Fred-ii- those lines didn't make a difference, i cannot see why this error message is not displaying... I don't think there is any errors involved — Charley Baker, Apr 05 '15 at 14:04
You've got output before `session_start();` and that alone should be producing a notice of headers being already sent; in turn *failing silently* probably. — Funk Forty Niner, Apr 05 '15 at 14:05
@Fred-ii- i've altered the order of code, with session_start at the top now, still when I click submit the error message does not display, just stays on the same page — Charley Baker, Apr 05 '15 at 14:21
You've got `if (isset($_POST['checkbox']))` too many times and could be a contributing factor. Use it only once. — Funk Forty Niner, Apr 05 '15 at 14:23
@Fred-ii- yeah I had an extra line if for that line for some reason, logic is right now, but still don't get the errors displaying. code is updated again to what ive currently got — Charley Baker, Apr 05 '15 at 14:35
There's a bunch wrong with your code. You're echoing your form before the body of your html... — ElefantPhace, Apr 05 '15 at 14:48

Funk Forty Niner · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-05T14:46:06.110

1

The reason why your error is not showing is because you're already inside PHP in doing an echo and have PHP tags.

echo '<span class="error"><?php echo $error;?></span>';

You can either do: (escaping double quotes for the CSS class name)

echo "<span class=\"error\">$error</span>";

or concatenate the $error variable:

echo '<span class="error">'.$error.'</span>';

Plus, variables do not get parsed inside single quotes, unless concatenated.

edited Apr 05 '15 at 14:46

answered Apr 05 '15 at 14:42

Funk Forty Niner

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such a simple thing, see i copied over that line from a page where it was in html that's why... thanks for noticing this, i've been looking at this for ages but its ok now... – Charley Baker Apr 05 '15 at 14:45
@CharleyBaker You're welcome Charley. – Funk Forty Niner Apr 05 '15 at 14:46
@CharleyBaker Remember to mark it as solved just so it doesn't remain in the unanswered category, *cheers* – Funk Forty Niner Apr 05 '15 at 14:49

Error message not displaying html forms using php

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