Multiple forms on one page

davidq

Hi - my first posting; but I've been lurking for many months!

I've also posted this to the alt.php newsgroup - but no help yet.....

I'm stripped down a program that was giving me problems. so we now
just have some forms with test output at the top. I know it doesn't
seem to do anything as it is!

<HEAD>
<TITLE>Form test page - DQ 14/2/2001</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0
bgcolor=#1D2868>
<?php
echo
"formaction=$formaction<br>form1=$form1<br>clearskw=$clearskw<br>form1b=$form1b<br>form2=$form2<br>form3=$form3<br>form4=$form4<br>form5=$form5<br><br>";

echo "<FORM method=post action =\"$PHP_SELF\">";
echo "<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=form1 size=20 maxlength=20
value=$form1><br>";
echo "<INPUT TYPE=submit value=\"Continue\">";
echo "<INPUT TYPE=submit VALUE=\"Start again\"
NAME=\"clearskw\"</FORM><br><br>";

echo "<FORM method=post action =\"$PHP_SELF\">";
echo "<INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=form1b size=20 maxlength=20
value=$form1b><br>";
echo "<INPUT TYPE=submit value=\"Continue\">";
echo "<INPUT TYPE=submit VALUE=\"Start again\"
NAME=\"clearskw\"</FORM><br><br>";

echo "<form method=post action=\"$PHP_SELF\">";
echo "<input type =hidden name=formaction value=form2val>";
echo "<input type =submit value=submit2value></form>";

echo "<form method=post action=\"$PHP_SELF\">";
echo "<input type =hidden name=formaction value=form3val>";
echo "<input type =submit value=submit3value></form>";

echo "<form method=post action=\"$PHP_SELF\">";
echo "<input type =hidden name=formaction value=form4val>";
echo "<input type =submit value=submit4value></form>";

echo "<form method=post action=\"$PHP_SELF\">";
echo "<input type =hidden name=formaction value=form5val>";
echo "<input type =submit value=submit5value></form>";

?>
</BODY>

If I enter stuff into either or both of the textboxes, and press
either of the "continue" or "start again" submit buttons - I get the
result I want (i.e. the data is retained). However, mysteriously,
$formaction is set to "form2action" - even though that button is not
pressed.

If I press "submit2value" - that's okay too - and $formaction has the
value I would expect.

However, if I press any of the other buttons, further down the page -
"submit3value" or "submit4value" or submit5value" - the data in the
textboxes is lost.

Why?
What am I doing wrong? It's probably something obvious...

Thanks

Anon

this is no wonder, because only the data between <form> and </form> will be send this way. so the textbox data can only be send via the form, where it is in. between all the other <form> tags there is no data to be submitted (despite the formaction variable) so you can only send textbox data via the submit in the form tags, where the textbox is in. if you want to have more than one submit button you have to use javascript.

davidq

That makes perfect sense - thanks very much Andreas. That's it!

But why then does pressing the submit button in form 2 (form2val) send the textbox data through OK from both the 2 textbox forms?

Why is $formaction set to form2value even if one of the buttons in either of the 2 textbox forms is pushed?

I just want to understand 100% because my full script took advantage of this "error" quite nicely until I added the 2nd non-text form!

I guess I'll have to re-code it in the proper way - rather than relying on my good luck so far?

Anon

You have a missing > (greater than sign) just before the end of the form, so the form isnt closing correctly and its giving you unexpected results.

Change the 2 "Start Again" buttons like this and try it. It will make much more sense.

echo "<INPUT TYPE=submit VALUE=\"Start again\" NAME=\"clearskw\"></FORM><br><br>";

davidq

Thanks David - that's it. That totally explains why weird things were happening. What a pity that the weirdness worked to my advantage until I added the last 3 forms (see my reply to Andreas for the grisly details).

I guess that I should be able to retain the text forms' values by putting them in as hidden values in the other forms?

I'll try it tomorrow when my brain gets back up to speed.

davidq

Just to close off this thread neatly - problem solved and explained by David Garcia Watkins in his answer.

However, Andreas was right too!!!

kparker

if you want to have more than one submit button you have to use
javascript

Not so--you only need to name and label them distinctly so you can tell which one was pressed.