Error with passing an undefined array to a function

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May 5th, 2008, 03:23 PM

yigalm

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Join Date: Aug 2001

Posts: 121

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Error with passing an undefined array to a function

Hi all!

I need a function that validates inputs onSubmit. I have a page that submits to itself a number of times, and input validation is different between the 1st time the page is submitted, and all the subsequent times.

The validation involves making sure that one of 2 groups of checkboxes has at least one of the boxes checked. Basically, on first submission, I need at least one box checked in group 1, but on each subsequent submission, I need at least one box checked from either group.

This sounds simple, but here is the complication:
After the 1st submission, the boxes from group 1 may not appear at all, and the function would be counting a non-existent array. This is where it stop executing and just submits the page.

I tried different ways to prevent it from counting the non-existent array, but nothing I did helped.
I tried all these, if not more:

Code:

if (document[whichForm][array1] instanceof Array)
if (typeof(document[whichForm][array1][i]) != 'undefined') 
if (typeof(document[whichForm][array1][0]) == 'undefined') document[whichForm][array1][0] = 0;
if (document[whichForm][array1][i].type =="checkbox")

Here is my function. The trouble is when array1's values are undefined.

Code:

function howManyChecked(whichForm, array1, array2, myMin) {

	var countCheckedSO = 0;
	var countCheckedAO = 0;
	var err = 0;


	for (var i=0; i<document[whichForm][array1].length; i++) {
		if (document[whichForm][array1][i].checked==true) {
			countCheckedSO++;
		}
	}
	//if (document[whichForm][array2] instanceof Array)
	for (i=0; i<document[whichForm][array2].length; i++) {
		if (document[whichForm][array2][i].checked==true) {
			countCheckedAO++;
		}
	}
	//alert ('so='+countCheckedSO+', ao='+countCheckedAO);
	if (countCheckedSO < myMin && <?=$_POST['this_col']?> == 1) {
		alert('You must select at least '+myMin+' entry for Services');
		err = 1;
	}
	else if (countCheckedSO < myMin && countCheckedAO < myMin) {
		alert('You must select at least '+myMin+' entry');
		err = 1;
	}
	if (err == 1) { return false; }
}

May 5th, 2008, 08:55 PM

Arty Effem

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Location: England

Posts: 214

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Try the first for loop like this. It probably would be sufficient to test just the first element for undefined:

Code:

if (array1 && array1.length)
 for (var i=0; i<array1.length; i++) 
  if (array1[i]!=undefined && array1[i].checked) 
   countCheckedSO++;

May 6th, 2008, 12:37 PM

yigalm

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Join Date: Aug 2001

Posts: 121

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Arty Effem

Try the first for loop like this. It probably would be sufficient to test just the first element for undefined:

Code:

if (array1 && array1.length)
 for (var i=0; i<array1.length; i++) 
  if (array1[i]!=undefined && array1[i].checked) 
   countCheckedSO++;

Thanks. But it still doesn't work. It never increments "countCheckedSO", even though the checkboxes are checked. I also tried "if (array1[i]!='undefined' && array1[i].checked)" (with the quotes), and the result is still the same.

May 6th, 2008, 12:47 PM

Kravvitz

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Location: USA

Posts: 15,149

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yigalm, how are you calling the function anyway?

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May 6th, 2008, 12:52 PM

yigalm

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Kravvitz

yigalm, how are you calling the function anyway?

onsubmit="return howManyChecked('pform', 'sub_opco[]', 'add_on[]', 1);

The function does work when sub_opcos[] (array1) has values.

Thanks.

May 6th, 2008, 12:58 PM

Kravvitz

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Try this.

Code:

function howManyChecked(whichForm, array1, array2, myMin) {

	var countCheckedSO = 0;
	var countCheckedAO = 0;
	var err = 0;
	var f = document[whichForm];

	if(!f) return;

	if(f[array1] && f[array1].length) {
		for (var i=0; i<f[array1].length; i++) {
			if (f[array1][i].checked==true) {
				countCheckedSO++;
			}
		}
	}

May 6th, 2008, 01:15 PM

yigalm

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Kravvitz

Try this.

Code:

function howManyChecked(whichForm, array1, array2, myMin) {

	var countCheckedSO = 0;
	var countCheckedAO = 0;
	var err = 0;
	var f = document[whichForm];

	if(!f) return;

	if(f[array1] && f[array1].length) {
		for (var i=0; i<f[array1].length; i++) {
			if (f[array1][i].checked==true) {
				countCheckedSO++;
			}
		}
	}

This worked! Thanks so much!!!!!

May 6th, 2008, 02:36 PM

Kravvitz

CSS & JS/DOM Adept

Join Date: Jul 2004

Location: USA

Posts: 15,149

Time spent in forums: 3 Months 2 Weeks 2 Days 2 h 47 m 18 sec
Reputation Power: 1294

You're welcome

By the way,

Code:

if (f[array1][i].checked==true)

can be shortened to

Code:

if (f[array1][i].checked)

Comments on this post

yigalm agrees: Thanks a mil! I wasted so much time on this problem.

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