Quite often when your using CodeIgniter Validation Class you require forms that have validation and default values for example a users profile. Unfortunately this is cannot be handled by this class but with extending the validation class can resolve this issue simply and effectively.

By extending the the validation class it is possible to set the default values. The Validation class takes the values to display from the $_POST variable but for the inital page load these are empty. Also dependingt on the form input type the values are collected at different times. For example an input field is taken at the call to set_field but checkboxes etc have their values reread at the call to set_checkbox. To easily account for both these cases the $_POST variables must have the values to use as the default values set after the call to set_fields.

So now to the practical part. Sub classing the Code Igniter Validation class. Create a file application/libraries/My_Validation.php if the folder is not present create it. Then copy the following code:

01.   <?php  if (!defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');
02.
03.   class MY_Validation extends CI_Validation {
04.
05.       function My_Validation()
06.       {
07.           parent::CI_Validation();
08.       }
09.
10.       function set_default_values($data, $value = null)
11.       {
12.           if (is_array($data) == TRUE)
13.           {
14.               foreach($data as $field => $value)
15.               {
16.                   $this->$field   = $value;
17.                   $_POST[$field]  = $value;
18.               }
19.           }
20.           else
21.           {
22.               $this->$data    = $value;
23.               $_POST[$data]   = $value;
24.           }
25.       }
26.   }
27.   ?>

This new function can be called with:

01.  $this->validation->set_default_values('fieldname', 'value');

or

01.  $data = array ('fieldname'=>'value');
02.  $this->validation->set_default_values($data);

or using a model

01.  $query = $this->some_model->read();
02.  if($query->num_rows() > 0)
03.  {
04.       $this->validation->set_default_values($query->row_query());
05.  }

That’s basically it, remember to call teh set_default_values after the call to $this->validation->set_fields() if there are no values stored in $_POST set the default values required. An example has been included to show the functionality.

HTML:

01.  <?=form_open('/form');?>
02.  <div>
03.    Text:
04.    <input type="text" name="text" value="<?=$this->validation->text;?>" id="text" />
05.  </div>
06.  <div>
07.    Selection:
08.    <select id="select" name="select">
08.      <option value="select1" <?= $this->validation->set_select('select', 'select1');?> >select1</option>
10.      <option value="select2" <?= $this->validation->set_select('select', 'select2');?> >select2</option>
11.      <option value="select3" <?= $this->validation->set_select('select', 'select3');?> >select3</option>
12.    </select>
13.  </div>
14.  <div>
15.    <input type="checkbox" name="check" value="check1" <?= $this->validation->set_checkbox('check', 'check1'); ?> />
16.    <input type="checkbox" name="check" value="check2" <?= $this->validation->set_checkbox('check', 'check2'); ?> />
17.    <input type="checkbox" name="check" value="check3" <?= $this->validation->set_checkbox('check', 'check3'); ?> />
18.  </div>
19.  <div>
20.    <input type="radio" name="radio" value="1" <?= $this->validation->set_radio('radio', 'radio1'); ?> />
21.    <input type="radio" name="radio" value="2" <?= $this->validation->set_radio('radio', 'radio2'); ?> />
22.    <input type="radio" name="radio" value="3" <?= $this->validation->set_radio('radio', 'radio3'); ?> />
23.  </div>
24.  <div>
25.    <button type="submit">Update</button>
26.  </div>
27.  </form>

Controller

01.  <?php  if (!defined('BASEPATH')) exit('No direct script access allowed');
02.
03.  class Form extends Controller {
04.
05.      function index()
06.      {
07.         $this->load->library('validation');
08.         $this->load->helper('form');
09.
10.         $rules['text'] = ‘required’;
11.  	    $rules['option'] = ‘required’;
12.  	    $rules['select'] = ‘required’;
13.  	    $rules['radio'] = ‘required’;
14.  	    $this->validation->set_rules($rules);
15.
16.         $fields['text'] = ‘text field’;
17.  	    $fields['select'] = ’select field’;
18.  	    $fields['check'] = ‘check box field’;
19.  	    $fields['radio'] = ‘radio field’;
20.  	    $this->validation->set_fields($fields);
21.
22.  	    if (count($_POST) == 0)
23.  	    {  // For initial load set defualt values
24.  		$this->validation->set_default_values(’text’, ‘hello world’);
25.  		$this->validation->set_default_values(’select’, ’select2′);
26.  		$this->validation->set_default_values(’check’, ‘check2′);
27.  		$this->validation->set_default_values(’radio’, ‘radio3′);
28.  	    }
29.
30.         if ($this->validation->run() == FALSE)
31.  	    {
32.  		$this->load->view(’form’);
33.  	    }
34.  	    else
35.  	    {
36.  		$this->load->view(’form’);
37.  	    }
38.      }
39.
40.  }
41.  ?>