What is AJAX?
AJAX allows web pages to be updated asynchronously by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes. This means that it is possible to update parts of a web page, without reloading the whole page.
The flow of the form is :
So here I am using twitter bootstrap, so files which we need are :-
- data.php - (here we will write our PHP code)
- script.js - (here we will write our ajax jquery code)
- validate.js - (jqueryvalidation plugin)
- index.php and style.css
So the fields of our form will be Name, Email, Number, City, Area, Message, Submit
Here our city and area will also be using AJAX i.e. on city change area will also be changed.
index.php
[html]
<?php require_once('data.php'); ?>
<div class="hero-unit">
<h2>Contact Us</h2>
<form id="contactUs" name="contactUs" onsubmit="return false;">
<table cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<td><label for="name">Name:</label></td>
<td><input type="text" value="" name="name" id="name" class="required name"/></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><label for="email">Email:</label></td>
<td><input type="text" value="" name="email" id="email" class="required email"/></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><label for="number">Contact Number:</label></td>
<td><input type="text" value="" name="number" id="number" class="required number" minlength="8"/></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><label for="city">City:</label></td>
<td>
<select id="city" name="city" onchange="javascript:changeArea('#city', '#area');">
<option value="Any">Any</option>
<?php echo getCities();?>
</select>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><label for="area">Area:</label></td>
<td><select id="area" name="area" disabled="disabled"></select></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><label for="message">Message:</label></td>
<td><textarea id="message" name="message" class="required"></textarea></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">
<input type="hidden" name="contactFormSubmit" value="Yes" />
<input type="submit" value="Submit" class="btn" onclick="javascript:formSubmit('#contactUs','#responseText');"/>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">
<div id="responseText"></div>
</td>
</tr>
</form>
</div>
[/html]
Here we just made a simple html structure of form inside a table.
To make a field mandatory, just add
class="required" to input.If you want to validate it with only email or number then add
class="required email" or class="required number"If I add a attribute
minlength="8" to the number field then that field should contain at least 8 digits of number.data.php
[php]
<?php
$cities = array('1'=>'Mumbai',
'2'=>'Chennai',
'3'=>'Noida',
'4'=>'Bangalore');
$areas = array( 'Airoli' => '1',
'Andheri' => '1',
'Bandra' => '1',
'Bhandup' => '1',
'Bhayandar' => '1',
'Boisar' => '1',
'Borivali' => '1',
'Chembur' => '1',
'Gopalapuram' => '2',
'Mount Road' => '2',
'Noida Expressway' => '3',
'Sector 1' => '3',
' Sector 128' => '3',
'Sector 129' => '3',
'Yamuna Expressway' => '3',
'Anekal ' => '4',
'Banashankari ' => '4',
'Banasvadi ' => '4',
'Banaswadi ' => '4',
'Begur ' => '4',
'Bellary Road ' => '4',
'Dobespet ' => '4',
'Electronics City' => '4');
if(isset($_REQUEST['cityID']) && $_REQUEST['cityID'] != 'Any'){
getAreas($_REQUEST['cityID']);
}
if(isset($_REQUEST['contactFormSubmit'])){
if(!isValidEmail($_REQUEST['email'])){
echo 'Enter a valid email ID';
}elseif(!is_mobileNumber($_REQUEST['number'])){
echo 'Enter a valid number';
}elseif($_REQUEST['name'] == '' || $_REQUEST['message'] == ''){
echo 'Enter valid name or message';
}else{
?>
<p><b>Thank you for contacting us, your given information : </b></p>
<table cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5" border="1">
<tr>
<td>Name:</td>
<td><?php echo $_REQUEST['name']?></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Email:</td>
<td><?php echo $_REQUEST['email']?></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Contact Number:</td>
<td><?php echo $_REQUEST['number']?></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>City:</td>
<td><?php echo $_REQUEST['city']?></td>
</tr>
<?php if(isset($_REQUEST['area'])) : ?>
<tr>
<td>Area:</td>
<td><?php echo $_REQUEST['area']?></td>
</tr>
<?php endif; ?>
<tr>
<td>Message:</td>
<td><?php echo $_REQUEST['message']?></td>
</tr>
</table>
<?php
}
}
function getCities(){
global $cities;
foreach($cities as $Idx => $city){
echo '<option value="'.$Idx.'">'.$city.'</option>';
}
}
function getAreas($cityID = ''){
global $areas;
foreach($areas as $area => $Idx){
if($Idx == $cityID){
echo '<option value="'.$Idx.'">'.$area.'</option>';
}
}
}
function isValidEmail($email){
return eregi("^[_a-z0-9-]+(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*@[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,3})$", $email);
}
function is_mobileNumber($mobile) {
$regex1 = '123456789';
$regex2 = '1234567890';
$regex3 = '0123456789';
if(preg_match('/^([0-9])\1*$/', $mobile)){
return false;
}elseif($mobile == $regex1){
return false;
}elseif($mobile == $regex2){
return false;
}elseif($mobile == $regex3){
return false;
}elseif(preg_match("/[^0-9]/", $mobile)){
return false;
}else{
return true;
}
}
?>
[/php]
PHP code is simple, I am making an array of cities and area, made 2 functions to get areas and cities and getting the parameters from URL and passing it to functions.
Now the ajax function :
script.js
[js]
function changeArea(cityBox, areaBox) {
jQuery(function($) {
$(areaBox).attr('disabled','disabled');
$(areaBox).addClass('loading');
$.ajax({ //Starting the AJAX
url : 'data.php', //File to be called or pass the data
data : { //Extra paramters
"cityID" : $(cityBox+' option:selected').attr('value')
},
success : function(data) { // The result from data.php file comes as data
window.setTimeout(function(){
$(areaBox).removeAttr('disabled');
$(areaBox).removeClass('loading');
$(areaBox).html('');
$(areaBox).html(data);
}, 2000);
}
});
});
}
[/js]
The above function is is taking two parameters, the
select id of City and area. Then I am saving the value of city in a variable, and inside ajax I am passing the value of city to data.php file.Inside data.php I wrote a function to return areas according to the city ID. Inside success function I am inserting entire result into the area
select box.Simlarly I am going to make another function which will validate the form and if no error then ajax is called and mail is sent.
script.js
[js]
/* Submission of form */
function formSubmit(formID, displayMssgID) {
jQuery(function($) {
var qstring = $(formID).serialize();
var val = $(formID).validate().form();
if (val) {
$(displayMssgID).html('Registering your Request ... Please Wait ...');
$.ajax( {
url : "data.php",
data : qstring,
success : function(data) {
$(displayMssgID).html('');
$(displayMssgID).html(data);
window.setTimeout(function() {
$(displayMssgID).fadeOut();
}, 6000);
}
});
}
});
}
[/js]
This function takes two parameters, ID of the form and result message div. First I am serializing the form, which will take all the form data and store it in a variable. Then I am validating it, if validation is true then our AJAX is called and entire form data is passed to data.php file.
This is return will give some output which I am showing it in
id="responseText"This is a simple way to make AJAX forms, there might be many other tutorials on other websites but I find this very simple. This way you can make any AJAX form. Try out the demo.
Thanks to Jacob for server validation tip.
