mb_strlen() & strlen() don't return correct values from an Ajax call to PHP

Question

How can I add a check in the PHP for the length of the $username passed. The site is UTF-8 but I believe Javascript is using a different encoding. You can see in the comm

Answer 1

From a quick glance, you can clean this up:

if (request.status == 200) {
    if (request.responseText == "available") {
        document.getElementById("txt_username").innerHTML = "NAME AVAILABLE!";
        document.images['img_username'].src=img_smile;
        document.getElementById("continue").disabled = false;
        document.getElementById("field_username").className = 'validated';
    } else if (request.responseText == "taken") {
        document.getElementById("txt_username").innerHTML = "NAME TAKEN!";
        document.images['img_username'].src=img_sad;
        document.getElementById("field_username").className = 'error';
    } else if (request.responseText == "invalid_too_short") {
        document.getElementById("txt_username").innerHTML = "TOO SHORT!";
        document.images['img_username'].src=img_sad;
        document.getElementById("field_username").className = 'error';
    } else {
        document.getElementById("txt_username").innerHTML = "AJAX ERROR!";
                document.images['img_username'].src=img_sad;
        document.getElementById("field_username").className = 'error';
    }
  }

to:

// I prefer triple equals
// Read more at http://javascript.crockford.com/style2.html
if (request.status === 200) {
        // use variables!
        var txtUsername = document.getElementById('txt_username');
        var fieldUsername = document.getElementById('field_username');
        var imgUsername = document.getElementById('img_username');

        var response = request.responseText;

        var error = true;

        // you can do a switch statement here too, if you prefer
        if (response === "available") {
            txtUsername.innerHTML = "NAME AVAILABLE!";

            document.getElementById("continue").disabled = false;

            error = false;

        } else if (response === "taken") {
            txtUsername.innerHTML = "NAME TAKEN!";

        } else if (response === "invalid_too_short") {
            txtUsername.innerHTML = "TOO SHORT!";

        } else {
            txtUsername.innerHTML = "AJAX ERROR!";
        }

        // refactor error actions
        if (error) {
            imgUsername.src = img_sad;
            fieldUsername.className = 'error';
        } else {
            imgUsername.src = img_smile;
            fieldUsername.className = 'validated';
        }
}