Joomla email registration

Question

I have a Joomla website with an extension that handles user registration. This extension has two fields for Name & E-mail so users have to fill in their name and e-mail address twice in the form:

Screenshot of the registration

I've tried to change the form to use the data from the first section (name and e-mail) and use it in the "e-mail notification" section as well. Unfortunately it didn't work..

here is the code for the first section(name & mail):

<div class="control-group">
          <label class="control-label" for="account_name"> <?php echo JText::_( 'ACCOUNT_NAME' ); ?></label>
          <div class="controls">
            <input class="inputbox" type="text" name="account_name" id="account_name" size="80" maxlength="250" value="<?php echo $this->account->account_name;?>" <?php if(!$this->account->id) echo "autofocus='autofocus'"; ?> />
          </div>
      </div>
      <div class="control-group newJoomlaAccountField hidden" id="acc_email_group">
          <label class="control-label" for="account_email"> <?php echo JText::_( 'ACCOUNT_EMAIL' ); ?></label>
          <div class="controls">
              <input class="inputbox" type="text" name="account_email" id="account_email" size="80" maxlength="250"/>
              <span class="help-inline hidden" id="account_email_error"><?php echo JText::_( 'REQUIRED' ); ?></span>
          </div>
      </div>

and here is the code for the second "e-mail notification":

<div class="control-group">
        <label class="control-label" for="name"> <?php echo JText::_( 'YOUR_NAME' ); ?></label>
        <div class="controls">
          <input class="inputbox" type="text" name="name" id="name" size="80" maxlength="250" value="<?php echo $this->account->name;?>" />
        </div>
      </div>
      <div class="control-group">
        <label class="control-label" for="email"> <?php echo JText::_( 'EMAIL' ); ?></label>
        <div class="controls">
          <input class="inputbox" type="text" name="email" id="email" size="80" maxlength="250" value="<?php echo $this->account->email;?>" />
        </div>
      </div>

Unfortunately if a user doesn't fill in the second section they wouldn't get any e-mail notification at all because the extension shows a blank e-mail and name for them in the admin.. Any idea to have these fields only once but use the data in two separate places? :)

Answer 1

One validation method which I like because it's really flexible and can be easily customised for different use cases is jQuery validate

You include the jQuery plugin either site-wide or just on the form page and add the validation rules

Here's a sample to check that a name and a valid email address have been entered on a form. View this live

This is a relatively simple application of the validation plugin, here are some way more sophisticated examples, with more complex validation and the rules passed via the javascript:
https://jqueryvalidation.org/files/demo/

Hope this helps!

HTML

<!-- load jquery validate from CDN -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery-validate/1.16.0/jquery.validate.min.js"></script>


<form action="" name="registration">

  <label for="firstname">First Name</label>
  <input type="text" name="firstname" id="firstname" placeholder="John"><br>


  <label for="email">Email</label>
  <input type="email" name="email" id="email" placeholder="john@doe.com"><br>


  <button type="submit">Register</button>
</form>


 <!-- validate form when it's submitted -->

 <script type="text/javascript"> 
        (function($) {
    $(document).ready(function() {

      $("form[name='registration']").validate({
        // Specify validation rules
        rules: {

          firstname: "required",

          email: {
            required: true,
            email: true
          }

        },
        // Specify validation error messages
        messages: {
          firstname: "Please enter your firstname",
          email: "Please enter a valid email address"
        },

        submitHandler: function(form) {
          form.submit();
        }
      });
    });
  })(jQuery);
</script>