Validate with codeigniter - codeigniter

Question

I dont know what am i doing wrong with the validation.
here is my Controller
function update_user() {
$this->load->library('form_validation');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('sirname', 'First Name', 'trim|required|alpha|min_length[3]|max_length[30]|xss_clean');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('name', 'Last Name', 'trim|required|alpha|min_length[3]|max_length[30]|xss_clean');
$this->form_validation->set_rules('email', 'Email ID', 'trim|required|valid_email');
if ($this->form_validation->run() == FALSE)
{
// fails
$this->load->view('update_view');
}
else
{
$data = array(
'surname' => $this->input->post('sirname'),
'name' => $this->input->post('name'),
'email' => $this->input->post('email'),
);
$this->Account_model->update_user(31,$data);
$this->show_user();
$this->session->set_flashdata('msg','<div class="alert alert-success text-center">You are Successfully Updated!</div>');
redirect('home');
}
}
here is my view
<form method="post" action="<?php echo base_url() . "account/update_user"?>" >
<div class="form-group">
<label for="name">First Name</label>
<input class="form-control" name="sirname" placeholder="Your First Name" type="text" value="<?php echo $user->surname; ?>" />
<span class="text-danger"><?php echo form_error('sirname'); ?></span>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="name">Last Name</label>
<input class="form-control" name="name" placeholder="Last Name" type="text" value="<?php echo $user->name; ?>" />
<span class="text-danger"><?php echo form_error('name'); ?></span>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="email">Email ID</label>
<input class="form-control" name="email" placeholder="Email-ID" type="text" value="<?php echo $user->email; ?>" />
<span class="text-danger"><?php echo form_error('email'); ?></span>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<button name="submit" type="submit" class="btn btn-default" onclick="account.php">Update</button>
<button name="cancel" type="reset" class="btn btn-default">Cancel</button>
</div>
<?php echo form_close(); ?>
<?php endforeach; ?>
<?php echo $this->session->flashdata('msg'); ?>
i need to display the value already in the database as im doing an update info for user.. so how do i implement the set_value('name') as well.

Answer 1

First preference is for form_error(),
so in value for each input fields,
value="<?php form_error("surname") ? echo set_value("surname") : echo $user->surname; ?> ?>"
Which means, if form error, then echo set_value() else echo database value.

Answer 2

in home controller where you redirect to success load :
$this->load->library('form_validation');
it will be ok!

Answer 3

You can use CI's built-in set_value function, which lets you set the values of a form field. It has a second (optional) parameter, to set the default value for the field.
<? echo form_label('Last Name', 'name'); ?>
<input class="form-control" name="name" id="name" type="text" value="<? echo set_value('name', $user->name) ?>">
<? echo form_error('name', '<span class="text-danger">','</span>');?>
In the code above, when loaded for the first time, the form will show the value from the database. But when returned after failing form validation, it will show the user input.