forms - Codeigniter ignore empty array items on update database record -

hey guys i've been working on few days can't seem work :(

here situation.

i have "edit profile" page. on page can, name implies, edit profile information.

for example here i'm trying do.

database record:

||-------||----------||-----------|| || name  ||  surname ||   email   || ||-------||----------||-----------|| ||  amy  ||   nuts   || an@no.com || ||-------||----------||-----------|| 

i have form gives user ability enter own data , change of fields.

the form fields have names corrospond database fields.

<input name="name" ...... <input name="surname" ...... <input name="email" ..... 

this logical , easy.

the problem have when submit form. build website html5 , use placeholders form fields. because looks nice imo , can experiment it. when want update surname, other fields stay empty. codeigniter default returns "false" in case of empty post item.

maybe can see problem.

when send post data model , updates database record, remove data "name" , "email" fields , update surname.

the array looks this:

array(     "name"    =>     "surname" => new     "email"   => ) 

after running through update function of codeigniter database record looks this

||-------||----------||-----------|| || name  ||  surname ||   email   || ||-------||----------||-----------|| ||       ||   new    ||           || ||-------||----------||-----------|| 

what want know is, if there posibility let codeigniter ignore array items not have data.

i hope guys can out. i'm @ loss here.

use array_filter($data) remove empty fields before sending database.

also looks dont validate data update ?

can please show code in model store updates ?

example

$data['name']=$this->input->post('name'); $data['lastname']=$this->input->post('lastname');  $data=array_filter($data); //will remove empty keys  or  if($this->input->post('name')) $data['name']=$this->input->post('name'); if($this->input->post('lastname')) $data['name']=$this->input->post('lastname'); 

in cases should validate data before submitting database;

just general note:

i recommend have 2 layers of validations;

1. at controller validate form (using ci form_validation)
2. at model validate data (also using ci form_validation)

never trust controller alone. best dry method use in ci in model use variable

models/demo_model.php

public $validate =array( ['field' => 'login','label' => 'lang:user_login','rules' => 'trim|required|min_length[5]|max_length[100]|xss_clean'], ['field' => 'password','label' => 'lang:user_password','rules' => 'trim|required|min_length[5]|max_length[35]|xss_clean']);  function is_valid($data,$mode=null){  if(!$this->validate || empty($data) )return false; //nothing validate !  $config=array();  //if updating normal variables missing //so lets apply rules data going update; make sure xss_clean, not exceed database size, trim, etc;; if($mode = 'update'){      foreach($this->validate $rule)if( ! empty( $data[ $rule['field'] ] )$config[]=$rule }else{     $config = $this->validate }  $this->form_validation->reset_validation(); $this->form_validation->set_data($data); #we not using $_post; $this->form_validation->set_rules($config);  return ($this->form_validation->run() === true)  } 

now in every database call before use $this->db->insert; or update; u use

$this->is_valid($data,'update'); // dont set 2nd param if inserting , want rules apply; 

and validate requests;

also note codeigniter form_validation can used modifing submitted values also; example using trim rule, or md5 rule on password field

well sorry might hv extended answer long, hope answered question.