Error Checking for DirectPay Form ecart5

I searched for error checking code on the forums but did not find any. Hence this request.

Is there code that I can use to check the form fields (Name, credit card, expiry date .. etc)
during the checkout process ? At least a Not empty check ?
Usually how is this implemented in eCart 5 ? If there is a form that captures data, shouldn't there be error checking to go with it ? If a client enters a bad number or forgets to enter some field it is useful for them to be shown what needs to be filled with an asterisk or a list of what was left blank.

USing ecart 5 with Paypal Pro. Using both Express checkout and a local Do Direct Pay option.

Any help will be really appreciated since my knowledge of php is rudimentary.

If you have Validation toolkit or CSS Form Builder, you can apply client validation to check that the form fields are not blank or have valid characters entered into the fields. If you don't have either of these, since you said your understanding of PHP is rudimentary, I wouldn't recommend adding validation code using hand.

I have Extension library and yearly membership subscription, do I get the toolkit and form builder ? Please point me to how I can use these on the existing live eCart 5 checkout page. I do not want to break anything that I just got up and running this morning.

Thankyou.

Well, first thing to do would be to make a backup of the files. Its always a good idea to make a lot of backups up working files.

You would get CSS Form Builder with the extension library membership. You would want to install that and go to Insert->WebAssist->CSS Form Builder->Client Validation. then you would choose the checkout form and then you would add the validations you want for each of the forms. It might be a good idea to go through the Form Builder documentation in the support pages before applying any validations:
css-form-builder/

O.K,

I will try adding validation to the checkout.php created by ecart 5.

Can the existing checkout.php be replaced with the one that gets modified by css form builder ? I do not want to re-do the ecart 5 wizard the newly generated checkout.php to talk to the rest of the ecart 5 files in place (confirm, pp_confirm, checkout_success, etc.,)

That way if it does not work, I can simply revert to my old checkout page and keep the site running.

Thanks

I would recommend just adding client validation rather than using CSS Form Builder and inspecting and rewriting the form. Inspecting and rewriting the form may cause some of the form elements to be renamed so that it doesn't interact with the checkout process unless the names are modified back.

CLient validation is done using the Validation toolkit ? The instructions also say, to uninstall validation toolkit if I am downloading CSS form builder. I signed up less than 30 days ago and I am presented with CSS forms as an extension. I will try to download Validation Tool Kit I hope it is included in my membership

CSS Form builder also has the client validation functionality of Validation Toolkit built in. To quote what I said previously:

  You would get CSS Form Builder with the extension library membership. You would want to install that and go to Insert->WebAssist->CSS Form Builder->Client Validation. then you would choose the checkout form and then you would add the validations you want for each of the forms. It might be a good idea to go through the Form Builder documentation in the support pages before applying any validations:
css-form-builder/  

Ah, understand now. Will try as you have pointed out. Thanks

Great to hear it. If you have any questions on applying the validation process, please post back. If you run into any additional unrelated issues, feel free to open a new thread.