Repopulating checkboxes in Codeigniter after Unsuccessful Form Validation

Question

I have a problem repopulating a set of checkboxes after an unsuccessful form validation returns the user back to the same form. Dropdown menus and text inputs could be repopulat

Answer 1

In order for set_checkbox to work properly, an actual validation rule needs to be used on that element. I ran into this problem and could not get the value to show on a resubmit until I included:

$this->form_validation->set_rules('checkbox_name', 'checkbox_title', 'trim');

Then, everything worked perfect.

Answer 2

I actually found that it only works if you use like this:

form_checkbox('ambience[]', 'value', set_checkbox('ambience[]', 'value'));

You need the square array brackets on the name for it to work properly.

Answer 3

You set_checkbox calls are wrong. When you're using an array like "ambience[]" in form_checkbox, you don't want to include the square brackets ([]) in your set_checkbox call. The other problem is that set_checkbox requires a second parameter which you've only included in the first 2 checkboxes.

The set_checkbox should always be like this:

set_checkbox('ambience', 'value');

Where 'value' is the second parameter of the form_checkbox call. Like this:

form_checkbox('ambience[]', 'value', set_checkbox('ambience', 'value'));

Answer 4

I tried all the solutions here none worked. So i collected all the data, packed it into an array, then use a loop to check if the values in the array match the value of the selected box, if so change the checked attribute to checked.

Here is the html code:

<div class="col-sm-10 tags">
    <label>
        <input class="tags" type="checkbox" name="tags[]" value="love" >Love                            
    </label>
    <label>
        <input class="tags" type="checkbox" name="tags[]" value="God" >God
    </label>
    <label>
        <input class="tags" type="checkbox" name="tags[]" value="Reality" >Reality
    </label>
    <label>
        <input class="tags" type="checkbox" name="tags[]" value="Entrepreneurship">Entrepreneurship
    </label>
</div>

Here is the javascript code in a function

(function(){
    var tag_string = '<?php echo $_post['tags']; ?>',
        tags = tag_string.split(', ');
    boxes = document.getElementsByClassName('tags');
    for(i = 0; i< boxes.length;i++ ){
        if(tags.toString().includes(boxes[i].value)){
            boxes[i].checked = "checked";
        }
    }
})();

Answer 5

function set_checkbox_array($field, $value)
{
    $arr = isset($_POST[$field]) ? $_POST[$field] : FALSE;
    return ($arr !== FALSE && is_array($arr) && in_array($value, $arr)) ? 'checked="checked"' : '';
}

Answer 6

Here's a working example. You are required to include the array name with brackets [] in each of $this->form_validation->set_rules(), form_checkbox() and set_checkbox().

In the controller:

    $this->load->library('form_validation');

    $this->form_validation->set_rules('set_reminder_days[]', 'Reminder Day', 'trim');

    if( $this->form_validation->run() == FALSE ) //Field validation failed.
    {
        //form validation errors will show up automatically
    }
    else //Validation success.
    {
        //This is an array of all checked checkboxes
        $reminder_days = $this->input->post('set_reminder_days');
    }

In the view:

    $day_options = array(
        'S' => 'Sunday',
        'M' => 'Monday',
        'T' => 'Tuesday',
        'W' => 'Wednesday',
        'Th' => 'Thursday',
        'F' => 'Friday',
        'Sa' => 'Saturday'
    );

    foreach( $day_options as $key => $day_option ) {
        echo form_checkbox('set_reminder_days[]', $key, set_checkbox('set_reminder_days[]', $key), 'class="form-checkbox"');
    }