empty function return false when it should return true codeigniter

Question

I'm building a delivery website.

If you have an account,for delivery details you have 2 options:

Use the account delivery details(you complete them when you register),
Use different delivery details(you complete them in shopping cart)

I'm making these verifications:

The user is logged in? If yes, verify if he entered some new delivery details(i'm using POST to take the values and i'm making an array with them-$data_pos).If he entered, so empty($data_pos) will be false, make a new array with his name(from account) and the total price and insert the order in database.

If the user is not logged in, he will need to complete the details to proceed.

The problem is that,even if $data_pos(the delivery details that he can complete to overwrite the account delivery details) is empty or not, the function empty always goes on false so even if he enters nothing, it will say that he entered something.

Note: This it's a function i made to print_r an array and die.Just debugging purpose.

echo '<pre>';
      print_r($data);
die();

Model:

        if($this->session->userdata('logged_in')){
            $data_pos = array(
                'telephone' => $this->input->post('phone_pos'),
                'address' => $this->input->post('address_pos'),
                'details' => $this->input->post('details'),
            );
            if(empty($data_pos) == false){
                $data = array(
                    'client_name' => $this->session->userdata('email'),
                    'telephone' => $this->input->post('phone_pos'),
                    'address' => $this->input->post('address_pos'),
                    'details' => $this->input->post('details'),
                    'price' => $this->cart->total(),
                );
                echo '<pre>';
                    print_r($data_pos);
                    echo 'second array is not empty';
                die("\n".'die in '. __FILE__ . ' at line '. __LINE__);
            }else{
                $data = array(
                    'client_name' => $this->session->userdata('email'),
                    'telephone' => $this->session->userdata('phone'),
                    'address' => $this->session->userdata('address'),
                    'details' => $this->input->post('details'),
                    'price' => $this->cart->total(),
                );
                echo '<pre>';
                    print_r($data);
                    echo 'i take informations from account beacuse the second array is empty';
                die("\n".'die in '. __FILE__ . ' at line '. __LINE__);
            }
        }

And as always, read the manual first. The docs for empty explicitly state what is considered an empty array. — fubar
– fubar, Commented May 8, 2018 at 6:42

Nigel Ren · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-08 06:39:44Z

3

The problem is that you are filling the array with the details they have entered, even if they do not enter any data. The key will be in the array with a blank value, so there will be content in the array...

$data_pos = array(
    'telephone' => $this->input->post('phone_pos'),
    'address' => $this->input->post('address_pos'),
    'details' => $this->input->post('details'),
);
if(empty($data_pos) == false){

One way you can do it is you can do is to filter the inputs to remove blank values

$data_pos = array(
    'telephone' => $this->input->post('phone_pos'),
    'address' => $this->input->post('address_pos'),
    'details' => $this->input->post('details'),
);
$data_pos = array_filter($data_pos);
if(empty($data_pos) == false){

answered May 8, 2018 at 6:39

Nigel Ren

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4 Comments

Mitca Vicentiu Over a year ago

I see...I didn't knew about array_filter.Rookie mistake i guess... Thank you! I will accept it as an answer as far as i can

Nigel Ren Over a year ago

A more common approach is to check each individual field to see if it has a value, this means you can also report errors like 'Please enter a name'. You could also make the field mandatory using HTML, so the form isn't submitted until all details are complete.

fubar Over a year ago

A minor point - client side validation should not be used instead of server side validation. It should be used as well as server side validation.

Nigel Ren Over a year ago

@fubar good point. People may think it's overkill to check at both levels but it's worth it.

Anfath Hifans · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-08 06:46:42Z

3

use array_filter to check empty value or not

replace your code

if(empty($data_pos) == false){

to

if(array_filter($data_pos)){
    // true
}else{
    // false
}

if you want to check 3 fields shouldn't be empty value add like this,

if(count(array_filter($data_pos)) == 3){

edited May 8, 2018 at 6:46

answered May 8, 2018 at 6:39

Anfath Hifans

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Comments

Ricard Espinàs Llovet · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-08 06:42:45Z

2

That's because it won't never be empty if you just declare an array with keys defined in the previous lines.

        $data_pos = array(
            'telephone' => $this->input->post('phone_pos'),
            'address' => $this->input->post('address_pos'),
            'details' => $this->input->post('details'),
        );

This array is not empty even when the inputs are NULL. You just create the keys telephone, address and details so... is not empty.

answered May 8, 2018 at 6:42

Ricard Espinàs Llovet

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Comments

Poonam Navapara · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-08 06:51:38Z

-1

You are facing this issue because you initialize the array before checking for empty().

$data_pos = array(
    'telephone' => $this->input->post('phone_pos'),
    'address' => $this->input->post('address_pos'),
    'details' => $this->input->post('details')
);

answered May 8, 2018 at 6:51

Poonam Navapara

1861 silver badge9 bronze badges

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