Spelling Check in PHP

Question

<table align = "left">


<?php

if ($_POST["word"] == "ship" )
{
echo "Your answer is correct.";
}
else
{
echo "Sorry, you typed the wrong answer. Try Again!";
}


?>

<tr>
<td> <span id="dummy" onclick="playSound(this,'vowels/ship.mp3');">
<img src="pics/i.jpg" onmouseover="this.src='pics/vowel/ship.jpg';this.width=200;this.height=250" onmouseout="this.src='pics/i.jpg';this.width=100;this.height=150"/>

 <form action="act_vowel.php" method="post">
 <h2> <font color = "black">  Type the word: <input type="text" name="word"> </h2> </font>
  <input type="submit" name="check" value="Answer">
  </form>

When I run this code. I always get the error that says like this:

  (Notice: Undefined index: word in C:\xampp\htdocs\dyslexia\sample.php on line 15
  Sorry, you typed the wrong answer. ) 

And how can I design the result as the user type the answer? I want it to be more lively. Thanks!

Answer 1

You need to check if the POST value is defined:

if (isset($_POST["word"])) {
    if ($_POST["word"] == "ship" )
    {
        echo "Your answer is correct.";
    }
    else
    {
        echo "Sorry, you typed the wrong answer. Try Again!";
    }
}

Answer 2

It could be either of the two :

1. Maybe you are posting to the wrong file !!

Well from your error it says

(Notice: Undefined index: word in C:\xampp\htdocs\dyslexia\sample.php on line 15 Sorry, you typed the wrong answer. )

whereas your form posts to page act_vowel.php"

<form action="act_vowel.php" method="post">

Are you sure you are posting to the correct page ? That could be a the source of the error too (not saying it is but it is a possibility )

1. You are not checking if your $_POST["word"] variable is set before comparing its value.

Try the following

if(isset($_POST["word"]) && $_POST["word"]=="ship"){
    echo "Your answer is correct.";
}else{
    echo "Sorry, you typed the wrong answer(Or maybe didnt type it :P). Try Again!";
}

Answer 3

If all of this is on the same PHP page then what's happening is you're checking for the value when you first load the page, instead of after you post the value to it. You'll want to check for the existence of a form post before trying to respond to it:

if (isset($_POST["check"]))
{
    if ($_POST["word"] == "ship" )
    {
        echo "Your answer is correct.";
    }
    else
    {
        echo "Sorry, you typed the wrong answer. Try Again!";
    }
}

As for your last comment:

And how can I design the result as the user type the answer? I want it to be more lively.

One thing you could do is check the spelling in JavaScript instead of PHP so that a form post isn't required. If you want it to happen as the user types, you can respond to the keypress event. Using jQuery for example:

$('input[name=Word]').keypress(function () {
    if ($(this).val() == 'ship') {
        $('#result').text('Your answer is correct.');
    } else {
        $('#result').text('Sorry, you typed the wrong answer. Try Again!');
    }
});

This would update an element of id "result" (which you'd put somewhere on the page) with the response:

<span id="result"></span>

The user experience for responding as the user types might be a little awkward, though. While typing the word they'll be told the whole time that it's wrong until they finish it, which is kind of negative when typing the right answer.

Answer 4

http://jsfiddle.net/bCpLm/1/

change the HTML too, yours is invalid!

Add an id to the form so you can manipulate it more easily with JavaScript

<form action="act_vowel.php" method="post" id="form">
     <h2> <font color = "black">  Type the word: </font> </h2> 
    <input type="text" name="word" />
    <input type="submit" name="check" value="Answer" />
</form>

The below will only work if the user has javascript enabled but it's unlikely you'll come across someone with it disabled but you should always accommodate for everyone!

var form = document.getElementById("form");
form.onsubmit = function () {
    if (document.getElementsByName("word")[0].value.toLowerCase() == 'ship') {
        alert('Your answer is correct.');
    } else {
        alert('Sorry, you typed the wrong answer. Try Again!');
        return false;
    }
}

to accommodate javascript disabled user add the below to the act_vowel.php file

if (isset($_POST["word"])) {
    if (strtolower($_POST["word"]) == "ship" )
    {
        echo "Your answer is correct.";
    }
    else
    {
        echo "Sorry, you typed the wrong answer. Try Again!";
    }
}