flatpress/docs/README-SmartyValidate

NAME:

    SmartyValidate: a class/plugin for validating form variables
    within the Smarty template environment.

AUTHOR:
    Monte Ohrt (monte [AT] ohrt [DOT] com)

VERSION:
    2.6
    
DATE:
    February 7th, 2005

WEBSITE:
    http://www.phpinsider.com/php/code/SmartyValidate/
    
DOWNLOAD:
    http://www.phpinsider.com/php/code/SmartyValidate/SmartyValidate-current.tar.gz   
    
ANONYMOUS CVS: (leave password empty)
    cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.phpinsider.com:/export/CVS login
    cvs -d :pserver:anonymous@cvs.phpinsider.com:/export/CVS checkout SmartyValidate

SYNOPSIS:

    index.php
    ---------

    session_start();
    require('Smarty.class.php');
    require('SmartyValidate.class.php');
    
    $smarty =& new Smarty;
    
    
    if(empty($_POST)) {
        SmartyValidate::connect($smarty, true);
        SmartyValidate::register_validator('fname','FullName','notEmpty');
        SmartyValidate::register_validator('fdate','Date','isDate');
      $smarty->display('form.tpl');
    } else {    
        SmartyValidate::connect($smarty);
       // validate after a POST
       if(SmartyValidate::is_valid($_POST)) {
           // no errors, done with SmartyValidate
           SmartyValidate::disconnect();
           $smarty->display('success.tpl');
       } else {
           // error, redraw the form
           $smarty->assign($_POST);
           $smarty->display('form.tpl');
       }
    }
    
    form.tpl
    --------
    
    <form method="POST" action="index.php">
    
    {validate id="fname" message="Full Name cannot be empty"}
    Full Name: <input type="text" name="FullName">
    
    {validate id="fdate" message="Date is not valid"}
    Date: <input type="text" name="Date">
    
    <input type="submit">
    </form>

DESCRIPTION:

    What is SmartyValidate?

    SmartyValidate is a form validation class. Its design goals are to
    leverage the Smarty templating environment and make form validation
    as easy and flexible as possible.

BACKGROUND:

    Form validation is one of the most frequently performed tasks when
    it comes to web application programming. Developing form validation
    can be a tedious and time consuming task. SmartyValidate simplifies
    this effort by abstracting the validation process. You basically
    provide the validation criteria and error messages, SmartyValidate
    does the rest!
        
    On the application side, you call SmartyValidate::connect($smarty) first,
    passing your smarty object as the parameter. Then you register your
    validators with the SmartyValidate::register_validator() function, once for
    each validation criteria on the form. Once the form is posted, you call
    SmartyValidate::is_valid($_POST) and depending on the outcome, you either
    continue with a valid form or begin a form redraw cycle until all the
    validation criteria is met. This keeps the form validation process to a bare
    minimum on the application side.
    
    In the form template, you put {validate ...} tags which handle error
    messages that get displayed upon a validation error.
    

FEATURES:

    Supplied validation criteria includes empty, integer, float, price,
    email syntax, credit card checksums, credit card exp dates, valid
    date syntax, equality between fields, ranges, lengths, regular expression
    matching and custom function calls. Create your own through Smarty plugins,
    PHP functions or class methods.
    
    Transform functions can be applied to form values prior to validation,
    such as trimming, upper-casing, etc. Create your own through Smarty Plugins,
    PHP functions or class methods.

    {validate ...} tags can be located anywhere in your template, regardless of
    where the corresponding fields are located.
    
    Multiple validators may be used for one field. Once one validator fails,
    the remaining validators for that field are ignored. A "halt" parameter can
    also stop validation on remaining fields.


CAVEATS:

    Smarty supports validation on single-level array values such as foo[] and
    foo[bar], but does not (currently) support nested array validation such as
    foo[bar][blah]. So you can do this:
    
    {validate field="foo[bar]" criteria="notEmpty" ...}
    <input type="text" name="foo[bar]">
    
    But not this:

    {validate field="foo[bar][blah]" criteria="notEmpty" ...}
    <input type="text" name="foo[bar][blah]">


REQUIREMENTS:

    You must enable session management prior to using SmartyValidate. Do this
    by calling session_start() at the top of your PHP application.
    SmartyValidate also requires the Smarty template environment.

INSTALLATION:

    It is assumed that you are familiar with the Smarty templating
    installation and setup, so I will not explain Smarty template
    directories and such. Please refer to the Smarty documentation for
    that information.
    
    To install SmartyValidate:

    * Copy the 'SmartyValidate.class.php' file to a place within your
      php_include path (or use absolute pathnames when including.)
    * Copy all of the plugins to your Smarty plugin directory. (located
      in the plugins/ directory of the distribution.)

EXAMPLE:

    Here is a full working example of how to use SmartyValidate. Put the
    form.tpl and success.tpl files in your Smarty template directory.

    
    index.php
    ---------

    <?php
    session_start();

    // you will need to setup Smarty if
    // the defaults are not correct.

    require('Smarty.class.php');
    require('SmartyValidate.class.php');
    
    $smarty =& new Smarty;
    
    if(empty($_POST)) {
        // new form, we (re)set the session data
        SmartyValidate::connect($smarty, true);
        // register our validators
        SmartyValidate::register_validator('fullname', 'FullName', 'notEmpty',
            false, false, 'trim');
        SmartyValidate::register_validator('phone', 'Phone', 'isNumber', true,
            false, 'trim');
        SmartyValidate::register_validator('expdate', 'CCExpDate', 'notEmpty',
            false, false, 'trim');
        SmartyValidate::register_validator('email', 'Email', 'isEmail', false,
            false, 'trim');
        SmartyValidate::register_validator('date', 'Date', 'isDate', true,
            false, 'trim');
        SmartyValidate::register_validator('password', 'password:password2', 'isEqual');
        // display form
        $smarty->display('form.tpl');
    } else {    
       // validate after a POST
       SmartyValidate::connect($smarty);
       if(SmartyValidate::is_valid($_POST)) {
           // no errors, done with SmartyValidate
           SmartyValidate::disconnect();
           $smarty->display('success.tpl');
       } else {
           // error, redraw the form
           $smarty->assign($_POST);
           $smarty->display('form.tpl');
       }
    }

    ?>
    
    form.tpl
    --------
    
    <form method="post" action="index.php">
    {validate id="fullname" message="Full Name Cannot Be Empty"}
    Full Name: <input type="text" name="FullName" value="{$FullName|escape}"><br />
    {validate id="phone" message="Phone Number Must be a Number"}
    Phone :<input type="text" name="Phone" value="{$Phone|escape}" empty="yes"><br />
    {validate id="expdate" message="Exp Date not valid"}
    Exp Date: <input type="text" name="CCExpDate" size="8" value="{$CCExpDate|escape}"><br />
    {validate id="email" message="Email not valid"}
    Email: <input type="text" name="Email" size="30" value="{$Email|escape}"><br />
    {validate id="date" message="Date not valid"}
    Date: <input type="text" name="Date" size="10" value="{$Date|escape}"><br />
    {validate id="password" message="passwords do not match"}
    password: <input type="password" name="password" size="10" value="{$password|escape}"><br />
    password2: <input type="password" name="password2" size="10" value="{$password2|escape}"><br />

    <input type="submit">
    </form>   
    
    success.tpl
    -----------
    
    Your form submission succeeded.


PUBLIC METHODS:    

    function connect(&$smarty, $reset = false)
    ------------------------------------------
    
    examples:
    SmartyValidate::connect($smarty);
    SmartyValidate::connect($smarty, true);

    connect() is required on every invocation of SmartyValidate. Pass your
    $smarty object as the parameter. This sets up SmartyValidate with $smarty
    and auto-registers the default form. Passing the optional second param as
    true, the default form registration will get reset.

    function disconnect()
    ---------------------
    
    examples:
    SmartyValidate::disconnect();
    
    This clears the SmartyValidate session data. Call this after you are
    completely finished with SmartyValidate (eg. do NOT call between form
    submissions.)


    function register_object($obj_name,&$object)
    --------------------------------------------
    
    examples:
    SmartyValidate::register_object('myobj',$myobj);
    
    Register an object with SmartyValidate for use with transform and criteria
    functions. Typically do this right after issuing connect(). See the
    register_criteria() method for more details.


    function is_registered_object($obj_name)
    ----------------------------------------
    
    examples:
    if(!SmartyValidate::is_registered_object('myobj')) { ... do something ... }
    
    Test if an object has been registered.


    function register_form($form, $reset = false)
    ---------------------------------------------

    examples:
    SmartyValidate::register_form('myform');
    SmartyValidate::register_form('myform', true);
    
    Register a form to be validated. Each form must be registered before it can
    be validated. You do not have to register the 'default' form, that is done
    automatically by SmartyValidate. If you register a form that is already
    registered, nothing will happen (returns false). If you have the optional
    reset parameter set to true, the form will get reset (essentially
    unregistering and reregistering the form.)


    function is_registered_form($form)
    ----------------------------------
    
    examples:
    if(!SmartyValidate::is_registered_form('myform')) { ... do something ... }
    
    Test if a form has been registered for validation.


    function is_valid(&$formvars, $form = 'default')
    ------------------------------------------------

    examples:
    SmartyValidate::is_valid($_POST);
    SmartyValidate::is_valid($_POST, 'myform');
    
    Tests if the current form is valid. You MUST supply the form variable array
    to this function, typically $_POST. You can optionally pass a form name as
    the second parameter, otherwise the 'default' form is used. Call this after
    the form is submitted.

    
    function register_criteria($name, $func_name, $form = 'default')
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    
    examples:
    SmartyValidate::register_criteria('isPass', 'test_password');
    SmartyValidate::register_criteria('isPass', 'test_password','myform');
    SmartyValidate::register_criteria('isPass', 'myobj::test_password');
    SmartyValidate::register_criteria('isPass', 'myobj->test_password');
    
    Registers a new criteria function. All functions must be registered before
    they can be used (or exist as a plugin.) You can optionally pass a form
    name in the case you are not using the 'default' form. Static method calls
    are also supported such as foo::bar. You can also register a method of an
    object instance such as foo->bar, but you must first register the object
    with SmartyValidate. See the register_object() method. Then use your new
    criteria within the template:
    
    {validate field="Password" criteria="isPass" ... }

    Note: the "isCustom" criteria type is no longer supported (or necessary.)
    See the "BUILDING YOUR OWN" section.

    function is_registered_criteria($func_name, $form = 'default')
    --------------------------------------------------------------
    
    examples:
    if(SmartyValidate::is_registered_criteria('isPass')) { ... }

    Tests to see if a criteria function has been registered.


    function register_transform($name, $func_name, $form = 'default')
    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    
    examples:
    SmartyValidate::register_transform('upper','strtoupper');
    SmartyValidate::register_transform('upper','strtoupper','myform');
    
    Registers a function to use with "transform" parameter. All functions must
    be registered before they can be used (or exist as a plugin.) You can
    optinally pass a form name in the case you are not using the 'default'
    form. 'trim' is already registered by default.


    function is_registered_transform($func_name, $form = 'default')
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    
    examples:
    if(SmartyValidate::is_registered_transform('upper')) { ... }

    Tests to see if a transform function has been registered.
    
    
    function register_validator($id, $field, $criteria, $empty = false, $halt =
    false, $transform = null, $form = 'default')
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    examples:
    
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('fullname', 'FullName', 'notEmpty');
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('fullname', 'FullName', 'notEmpty', true);
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('fullname', 'FullName', 'notEmpty', true,
    false, 'trim', 'myform');
    
    Register a validator with the form. You must register at least one
    validator. If you specify multiple fields, separate them with a colon and
    they will be passed into the validator as params field2, field3, etc.
    
    Example:

    SmartyValidate::register_validator('passcheck', 'pass1:pass2', 'isEqual');

    {validator id="passcheck" message="your passwords must match"}


    function set_page($page, $form = 'default')
    ---------------------------------------------------------------
    
    examples:
    SmartyValidate::set_page('1'));

    When doing multi-page forms, this value must be set proir to drawing each
    page. Each validator must have a page="1" attribute for the given page.

    
SMARTYVALIDATE TEMPLATE VARS:

    For each form, the variable {$validate.formname.is_error} is a boolean set
    to true or false indicating whether the form had any failed validators from
    the last is_valid() call. is_error is initialized to "false". The default
    form is denoted as {$validate.default.is_error}.


SMARTYVALIDATE FUNCTION SYNTAX:    
    
    The basic syntax of the {validate ...} function is as follows:
    
    {validate field="foo" criteria="isNumber" message="foo must be a number"}
    
    Those are the three required attributes to a {validate ...}
    function call. "field" is the form field the validation will
    validate, "criteria" is the validation criteria, and "message" is
    the message that will be displayed when an error occurs.

    
OPTIONAL FUNCTION ATTRIBUTES:

    FORM
    ----

    {validate form="foo" ...}

    If you are using a registered form other than the "default" form,
    you must supply the form name with each corresponding validate tag.


    TRANSFORM
    ---------

    Note: This attribute has been deprecated, please set your transform functions with
    the register_validator() function.

    {validate field="foo" ... transform="trim"}
    {validate field="foo" ... transform="trim,upper"}
    
    "transform" is used to apply a transformation to a form value prior to
    validation. For instance, you may want to trim off extra whitespace from
    the form value before validating.
    
    You can apply multiple transform functions to a single form value by
    separating them with commas. You must register all transformation functions
    with the register_transform() method. By default, 'trim' is registered.
    
    Transformations will apply to every value of an array. If you want the
    transformation applied to the array itself, you must specify with an "@"
    symbol in front of each transform function:
    
    {validate field="foo" ... transform="@notEmpty"}
    
    If you want only a particular array element transformed, you must specify:

    {validate field="foo[4]" ... transform="notEmpty"}
    {validate field="foo[bar]" ... transform="notEmpty"}

    
    TRIM
    ----

    Note: the "trim" attribute has been deprecated, set your "trim" behavior
    with a transform parameter of 'trim' in the register_validator() function.
    Trim will trim whitespace from the form value before being validated, and
    before the "empty" or "default" parameters are tested.

        
    EMPTY
    -----
    
    Note: This attribute has been deprecated, please set your "empty" behavior with
    the register_validator() function.
    
    {validate id="foo" ... empty="yes"}
    
    "empty" determines if the field is allowed to be empty or not. If
    allowed, the validation will be skipped when the field is empty.
    Note this is ignored with the "notEmpty" criteria.

    
    HALT
    ----
 
    Note: This attribute has been deprecated, please set your "halt" behavior with
    the register_validator() function. 
    
    {validate id="foo" ... halt="yes"}
    If the validator fails, "halt" determines if any remaining validators for
    this form will be processed. If "halt" is yes, validation will stop at this
    point.


    ASSIGN
    ------
    
    {validate id="foo" ... assign="error"}
    
    "assign" is used to assign the error message to a template variable
    instead of displaying the value. Use this when you don't want the
    error message displayed right where the {validate ...} function is
    called.


    APPEND
    ------
    
    {validate id="foo" ... append="error"}
    
    "append" is used to append the error message to a template variable as an
    array. This is an alternate to "assign". Use this when you want to loop over
    multiple validation error messages and display them in one place. Example:
    
    {foreach from=$error key="key" item="val"}
       field: {$key} error: {$val}
    {/foreach}


    PAGE
    ----
    
    {validate id="foo" page="1" ... message="fooError"}

    When doing multi-page forms, each validator must have a page attribute to
    identify the page that it belongs to. The SmartyValidator::set_page('1')
    function must be called prior to displaying the given page.



TRANSFORM FUNCTIONS BUNDLED WITH SMARTYVALIDATE:


    trim
    ----
    
    example:
   
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('fullname','FullName','notEmpty',false,false,'trim');
    
    "trim": this trims whitespace from the beginning and end of the field. This
    is useful to avoid confusing errors just because extra space was typed into
    a field.

    default
    -------
    
    example:
   
   
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('value','Value','isInt',false,false,'default:0');

    {validate id="value" message="..."}
    
    "default": This sets the form value to the given default value in the case
    it is empty. You can pass the default value as a parameter in the
    register_validator() function (see above), or in the template as default="0".

    
    makeDate
    --------
    
    example:
   
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('start','StartDate','isDate',false,false,'makeDate');
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('start','StartDate:year:month:day','isDate',false,false,'makeDate');

    {validate id="start" message="..."}
       
    "makeDate": this creates a date from three other form fields constructed by
    using the "field" parameter as the prefix, such as StartDateYear,
    StartDateMonth, StartDateDay in the first example. This is the common format
    used with date fields generated by {html_select_date}. You can supply three
    specific form fields separated by colons as in the second example above.
    
    Here is a full example of how you might use "makeDate" transform function
    and "isDateOnOrAfter" criteria  function to compare two dates:    

    // in PHP script, setup validators
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('setdate', 'EndDate', 'dummyValid', false, false, 'makeDate');
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('compdate', 'StartDate:EndDate', 'isDateOnOrBefore');


    // template
    {* generate the EndDate value from EndDateYear, EndDateMonth, EndDateDay *}
    {validate id="setdate"}
    {* generate StartDate, then compare to EndDate *}
    {validate is="compdate" message="start date must be on or after end date"}
    {html_select_date prefix="StartDate"}
    {html_select_date prefix="EndDate"}
    {* we need these two hidden form fields to hold the values generated by makeDate *}
    <input type="hidden" name="StartDate">
    <input type="hidden" name="EndDate">
    

CRITERIA BUNDLED WITH SMARTYVALIDATE:

    This is a list of the possible criteria you can use with
    SmartyValidate. Some of them require their own special attributes.
    
    Note: setting criteria in the template is deprecated, use the
    register_validator() function instead.
    
    notEmpty
    --------
    
    Tests if a field is empty (zero length). NOTE: using the "empty" flag with
    this validator has no effect, it is ignored.
    
    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_fullname','FullName','notEmpty');
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="v_fullname" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="FullName">

    
    isInt
    -----

    Tests if a field is an integer value.

    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_age','age','isInt');
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="v_age" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="age">
    
    
    isFloat
    -------

    Tests if a field is a float value.

    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_fraction','fraction','isFloat');
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="v_fraction" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="fraction">
    
    
    isNumber
    --------

    Tests if a field is either an int or float value.    
    
    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_total','total','isNumber');    
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="v_total" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="total">
    
    
    isPrice
    -------

    Tests if a field has number with two decimal places.

    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_price','price','isPrice');    
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="v_price" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="price">
    
 
    
    isEmail
    -------

    Tests if field is valid Email address syntax.
    
    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_email','email','isEmail');    
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="v_email" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="email">
    
    
    
    isCCNum
    -------

    Tests if field is a checksummed credit card number.

    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_ccnum','ccnum','isCCNum');    
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="v_ccnum" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="ccnum">
    
 
    isCCExpDate
    -----------

    Tests if field is valid credit card expiration date.

    example:

    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_ccexp','ccexp','isCCExpDate');    
    
    TEMPLATE:

    {validate id="v_ccexp" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="ccexp">
    
    isDate
    ------

    Tests if field is valid Date (parsible by strtotime()).
    
    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_startDate','startDate','isDate');    
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="v_startDate" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="startDate">
    


    isURL
    ------

    Tests if field is valid URL (http://www.foo.com/)

    
    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_URL','URL','isURL');    
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="v_URL" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="URL">
    
    
    
    isEqual
    -------

    Tests if two fields are equal in value.

    
    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_pass','pass:pass2','isEqual');    
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="v_pass" message="..."}
    <input type="password" name="pass">
    <input type="password" name="pass2">
    
    
    
    isRange
    -------
 
    Tests if field is within a given range. Must give low and high params.
 
    
    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_mynum','num:1:5','isRange');    

    TEMPLATE:    
    {validate id="v_mynum" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="mynum">


    isLength
    --------

    Tests if field is a given length. parameters 1 and 2 are min and max. use
    -1 for no min or no max.
    
    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_username','username:3:10','isLength');    
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="isLength" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="username">

    
    isRegExp
    --------

    Tests a field against a regular expression. Expression must be fully
    qualified preg_* expression. Note: it is recommended to use a custom plugin
    instead of this validator, otherwise syntax limits may be a problem.

    
    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_username','username:!^\w+$!','isLength');    
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="v_username" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="username">
    
    

    isFileType
    ----------

    Tests if an uploaded file is a given type (just checks the extention
    name.) Note: This function is not backward compatible prior to version 2.4.
    
    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_myfile','myfile:jpg,gif,png','isFileType');    

    TEMPLATE:    
    {validate id="v_myfile" message="..."}
    <input type="file" name="myfile">


    isFileSize
    ----------

    Tests if an uploaded file is under a given size. Size param can be suffixed
    with "b" for bytes (default), "k" for kilobytes, "m" for megabytes and "g"
    for gigabytes (kb, mb, and gb also work.) Note: This function is not
    backward compatible prior to version 2.4.
    
    example:
    
    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_myimage','myimage:50k','isFileSize');    
    
    {validate id="v_myimage" message="..."}
    <input type="file" name="myimage">


    dummyValid
    ----------

    This is a dummy criteria that always validates to true. This is useful to
    apply a transformation to a field without actually applying a validation.
    NOTE: Using the "empty" flag with this validator is ignored, dummyValid
    always validates true anyways.

    
    example:
    
    PHP:
   
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_initdate','StartDate','dummyValid',false,false,'makeDate');    
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="v_initdate"}
    <input type="text name="StartDate">


    isDateEqual
    -----------

    Tests if a date is equal to another. The dates must be parsible by strtotime().

    
    example:

    PHP:
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('date_equal', 'StartDate:EndDate', 'isDateEqual');
    
    TEMPLATE:
    {validate id="date_equal" message="..."}
    <input type="text" name="StartDate">
    <input type="text" name="EndDate">

    
    isDateBefore
    ------------
    isDateAfter
    -----------
    isDateOnOrBefore
    ----------------
    isDateOnOrAfter
    ---------------
    
    These all work similar to "isDateEqual" example above, but testing the dates
    according to their respective function.    

    
    isCustom
    --------

    "isCustom" HAS BEEN REMOVED. Please see BUILDING YOUR OWN directly below.

VALIDATE INIT
-------------

    Note: validate_init is deprecated now that we have register_validator(),
    it shouldn't be necessary any more with no criteria in the templates.

    example:
    {validate_init form="foobar" halt="yes" assign="error_msg"}
    {validate field="name" criteria="notEmpty" message="name cannot be empty"}
    {validate field="pass" criteria="notEmpty" message="pass cannot be empty"}

    {validate_init ... } sets parameter values that are implicitly passed to
    each {validate ... } tag thereafter. This keeps the repeated verbosity of
    {validate ... } tags to a minimum. Any initialized parameter can be
    overridden in each {validate ... } tag. You can re-initialize the
    parameters by calling {validate_init ... } again.


BUILDING YOUR OWN CRITERIA/TRANSFORM FUNCTIONS:

    Building your own custom functions has never been easier. First, we'll make
    up a couple of new functions in the template. We'll make one criteria
    function and one transform function.
    
    "isValidPassword" and "upper" are names we are using in the validator
    registration reference your new custom functions. These are not necessarily
    real PHP function names, it just the names used by the validator.
    
    You can do one of two things: make Smarty plugins so the new functions are
    automatically found and used, or write PHP functions and register them
    directly.
    
    SMARTY_PLUGIN METHOD:
    
    In your Smarty plugin directory, create a new file named
    validate_TYPE.NAME.php where TYPE is either 'criteria' or 'transform', and
    NAME is the name of the new function. The corresponding function names in
    the plugin files must follow the convention smarty_validate_TYPE_NAME()
    where TYPE and NAME are the same TYPE and NAME from the filename. The NAME
    is the criteria/transform name that will be used in the template. In our
    example, the filenames will be validate_criteria.isValidPassword.php, and
    validate_transform.upper.php. (The template will be calling
    criteria="isValidPassword" and transform="upper")
    
    
    validate_criteria_isValidPassword.php
    -------------------------------------

    <?php
    
    function smarty_validate_criteria_isValidPassword($value, $empty, &$params, &$formvars) {
        if(strlen($value) == 0)
            return $empty;
         // we might have a function we call to test the password
         // against a database   
         return is_valid_password($formvars['username'], $value);
    }

    ?>
    
    validate_transform_upper.php
    ----------------------------
    
    <?php
    
    function smarty_validate_transform_upper($value, &$params, &$formvars) {
        return strtoupper($value);
    }
    
    ?>

    Your criteria functions must contain the four parameters given in the
    example above. The first parameter is the form field value being validated.
    The second is the boolean "empty" value given as a parameter to the
    validator (or false if none was given). $params contains all the parameters
    passed to the validator, and $formavars contains all the form information.
    The last two are passed by reference so you can edit the original values if
    need be.
    
    All custom criteria should return a boolean "true" or "false" value to
    indicate to SmartyValidate that the validation passed or failed. You do NOT
    print error messages inside the function, except for errors dealing with a
    misconfiguration of the validator such as a missing parameter. If the
    validator fails, the error message for the person filling out the form
    should already be set in the template {validator ... message="error!"}

    Transform functions have three parameters, the first being the field value
    being transformed, and the second is all the parameters passed to the
    validator, and the third is the form variables.  The last two are passed by
    reference so you can edit the original values if need be. The transform
    function should return the transformed value of $value.

    If the file names and function names follow the above convention, no
    registration of the functions are necessary, SmartyValidate will locate and
    use the plugins. All of the functions that ship with SmartyValidate are plugins.
    

MANUAL REGISTER METHOD:
    
    You can manually register your functions instead of using plugins. This is
    useful if you have a function specific to one application and a Smarty
    plugin may not be the most practical place for it. You can also register
    class methods this way.
    
    First example will be a straight forward PHP function:
    
    function check_pass($value, $empty, &$params, &$formvars) {
        // do your logic here, check password, return true or false
    }
    
    After your function exists, you can register it with SmartyValidate:
    
    SmartyValidate::register_criteria('isValidPassword','check_pass');
    
    Transformation functions are done the same way:

    SmartyValidate::register_transform('upper','my_upper_func');
    
    You can also register class methods. First, you must register the object
    with SmartyValidate, then register the method(s):
    
    SmartyValidate::register_object('my_obj', $my_obj);
    SmartyValidate::register_criteria('isValidPassword','myobj->check_pass');
    SmartyValidate::register_transform('upper','myobj->my_upper_method');
    
    Calling PHP functions or class methods look exactly the same, you just use
    the registered name(s) like so:
    
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_foo','foo','isValidPassword',false,false,'upper');    
    
    Just like functions that come with SmartyValidator, all functions are
    applied to every element of an array coming from the form. If you want your
    function to act on the array itself, you must specify that in the
    registration:
       
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_foo','foo','@isValidPassword',false,false,'@upper');    
    
    If you want a specific array element validated, you must specify:
    
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_foo','foo[4]','isValidPassword',false,false,'upper');    
    SmartyValidate::register_validator('v_foo','foo[bar]','isValidPassword',false,false,'upper');    
    
    

CREDITS:

    Thanks to the many people who have submitted bug reports, suggestions, etc.
    
    Edwin Protomo
    John Blyberg
    Alexey Kuimov
    boots (from forums)
    xces (from forums)
    electr0n (from forums)
    Justin (from forums)
    hristov (form forums)
    
    Anyone I missed, let me know!


COPYRIGHT:
    Copyright(c) 2004-2005 New Digital Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

    This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
    the Free Software Foundation; either version 2.1 of the License, or (at
    your option) any later version.

    This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
    ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
    FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU Lesser General Public
    License for more details.