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PHP Build a Basic PHP Website (2018) Enhancing a Form Escaping Output

Andrew Lenti
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Andrew Lenti
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 7,193 Points
Posted by Andrew Lenti
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Andrew Lenti
Front End Web Development Techdegree Student 7,193 Points

Using the htmlspecialchars function

Hello, I am trying to escape out the two input fields and the textarea field on the attached code but am getting syntax errors. I would appreciate it if someone could lead me in the right direction. Thanks, Andrew

views_listing_edit.php 
<?php require_once("controllers_listing.php"); ?><html>
<body>

    <h1>Edit Listing</h1>

    <form method="post">
        <table>
            <tr>
                <th>
                    <label for="name">Name</label>
                </th>
                <td>
                    <input id="name" name="name" value="<?php if (isset($name)) (echo htmlspecialchars($_POST[$listing_name])); ?>">
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <th>
                    <label for="Link">Link</label>
                </th>
                <td>
                    <input id="link" name="link" value="<?php if (isset ($link)) (echo htmlspecialchars($_POST[$listing_link])); ?>">
                </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
                <th>
                    <label for="Description">Description</label>
                </th>
                <td>
                    <textarea id="description" name="description"><?php echo htmlspecialchars($_POST[$listing_description]); ?></textarea>
                </td>
            </tr>    
        </table>
        <input type="submit" value="Save">
    </form>

</body>
</html>

2 Answers

Jason Anello
Jason Anello
Courses Plus Student 94,610 Points

Hi Andrew,

The 3 variables that are used are coming from an external source and aren't post variables. You only need to pass those 3 variables directly into the htmlspecialchars() function to escape the malicious output.

the first one would look like this:

<?php echo htmlspecialchars($listing_name); ?>
Jason Anello
Jason Anello
Courses Plus Student 94,610 Points

You're welcome. If you're just starting out then it's going to take a lot of practice and you'll make a lot of mistakes.