Form Validator ... what's needed?
Form Validator came about quite some time back. It is the result of my company's need for highly secure forms. At the time, we used javascript for browser based security, JQuery form mask for guiding and formatting user input (and in some cases, restricting). Form Validator was a server-based security strategy that was extremely effective.
Since then, we have switched to HTML5 for the first level of security (browser-based) and Form Validator on the server. Form Validator has grown from a basic procedural function to an object-oriented class with no dependencies. The only requirement is PHP version 8.0.0 or greater.
Since its inception, Form Validator has been highly recommended by internet service providers. Form Validator protects your website and their server from hackers attempting to access your forms for malicious purposes.
One aspect of Form Validator that has always been well received is the ability to pass back the original data entered by the user. If an error in made by the user that triggers an error in validation, the data can be put that in the form to avoid the user having to re-type submissions.
Any identified error can be emphasized with arrows and colors making it easy to understand where an error was made. Our examples show how easy this is to accomplish.
Form Validator is extremely effective in validating your forms. To get validated data to your inbox, we highly recommend also using PHPMailer-FE.
PHPMailer-FE is the classic Form2Mail security package also recommended by a considerable number of service providers.
It's historically been one of the most secure ways to get user data from website forms to your inbox. It's server-based, which means it cannot be spoofed by hackers.
Some basic Frequently Asked Questions:
- There are already Javascript and HTML5 security solutions ... why do Form Validator and PHPMailer-FE exist?
Most of the Javascript (and JQuery, Vue, React, Mootools, etc.) solutions work well and so does HTML5. As a matter of fact, we highly recommend using HTML5 at the very least and with a javascript solution if possible. The only issue is that all javascript and HTML5 solutions run in the user's own computer (their browser) and can be tricked, disabled, modified ... in other words, hacked and still send bad payloads.
The only form security solution that can't be accessed by hackers is a server-based solution. You can roll your own or use the classic, proven, PHPMailer-FE. - Is PHPMailer Pro, PHPMailer Lite and/or PHPMailer Mini required to use Form Validator or PHPMailer-FE?
Absolutely not. Both Form Validator PHPMailer-FE can run entirely on its own. PHPMailer-FE has its own mail transport functionality. PHPMailer-FE was originally designed to showcase the functionality of PHPMailer. If the codeworx mail transports are not found, PHPMailer-FE will first attempt to use Sendmail. If not able to, PHPMailer-FE will default to using PHP's Mail() function.
You can use your own coding to transfer validated data from Form Validator to your inbox, but we highly recommend using PHPMailer-FE. - Are Form Validator PHPMailer-FE still PHP functions?
No, as of the December 2023 release, both Form Validator and PHPMailer-FE are now an object-oriented class with no dependencies. The only requirement is a PHP version of 8.0.0 or greater. - Form Validating is pretty static ... why bother with a package?
Well, that's not quite right. Form validating is not really static, there are constant changes that require regular changes and updates. For example, when Form Validator first came out, the longest TLD was three characters. Essentially, the choice was a two-character or three character TLD. TLD's in 2024 are up to 9 characters long.
There is also the issue of multi-lingual characters used in domain names and email addresses. - Do you ever see a day where PHPMailer-FE and Form Validator will be one single package?
It's an interesting concept. We would have to think about that. I am an advocate for small, effective, and efficient tools that are user-intuitive. PHPMailer-FE is about 52Kb and Form Validator is about 25 Kb. At this point, I'm not sure there would be efficiencies of scale in merging the two.
The software and Changelog are described on thePHPMailer Pro website.