Basic Form Handling with POST

Code

<?php

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2026 Jeffery L. Paris <jparis@phpog.com>.
 * Free for personal and internal use. Paid project use requires visible credit
 * to Jeffery L. Paris. Corporate use requires a paid license fee unless a
 * separate written license states otherwise.
 */

/**
 * Basic Form Handling with POST.
 *
 * Purpose:
 * Validates a small POST form without merging query data into POST handling, then returns either
 * cleaned values or field-specific errors.
 *
 * @param string $request_method Usually `$_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']`.
 * @param array $post_values Usually `$_POST`.
 * @return array Form handling status, cleaned data, and errors.
 */
function ogSnippetBasicFormHandlingPost(string $request_method, array $post_values): array {
	$errors = array();
	$clean_data = array(
		'pilot_name' => '',
		'contact_email' => '',
		'mission_note' => ''
	);

	if (strtoupper($request_method) !== 'POST') {
		return array(
			'ok' => false,
			'submitted' => false,
			'data' => $clean_data,
			'errors' => $errors
		);
	}

	if (isset($post_values['pilot_name']) === true) {
		$clean_data['pilot_name'] = trim((string) $post_values['pilot_name']);
	}

	if (isset($post_values['contact_email']) === true) {
		$clean_data['contact_email'] = trim((string) $post_values['contact_email']);
	}

	if (isset($post_values['mission_note']) === true) {
		$clean_data['mission_note'] = trim((string) $post_values['mission_note']);
	}

	if ($clean_data['pilot_name'] === '') {
		$errors['pilot_name'] = 'Pilot name is required.';
	}

	if ($clean_data['contact_email'] === '' || filter_var($clean_data['contact_email'], FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL) === false) {
		$errors['contact_email'] = 'A valid contact email is required.';
	}

	if (strlen($clean_data['mission_note']) > 600) {
		$errors['mission_note'] = 'Mission note must be 600 characters or fewer.';
	}

	return array(
		'ok' => count($errors) === 0,
		'submitted' => true,
		'data' => $clean_data,
		'errors' => $errors
	);
}

$current_request_method = '';

if (isset($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD']) === true) {
	$current_request_method = (string) $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'];
}

$form_report = ogSnippetBasicFormHandlingPost($current_request_method, $_POST);

if ($form_report['submitted'] === true && $form_report['ok'] === true) {
	echo 'Firefly dispatch request accepted for '.$form_report['data']['pilot_name'].'.';
}