newbie FORM question

[Anon]

Hi guys, i am new to this forum, and new to PHP, but have many other languages under my belt. A client i have asked for PHP so here i am.

I just got out of doing a large ASP project, so my mind is sort of in ASP mode, but it looks like PHP is very similar to ASP.

enough background here is my question: ( i already searched too, but couldnt find the answers i need)

I created "form.htm" it contains 3 input boxes, submit/reset buttons, includes etc.

what i need to do (and ask if it is possible) is to check the information they entered against not a database, but rather a flat txt file that will be provided. the file is tab seperated.

I know with asp you can pass things this way:
myname=request.form("txtLoginUserID")
mypassword=request.form("txtLoginPassword")

or

ID = Request.QueryString("recordID")

but i cant seem to find anthing like this for PHP. There must be something similar to this.

i am not planning on using MySQL to create a temp table and query it, but that might be an optional route if searching the text file (three colums and 76,000 lines takes too long.

i have tried searching the net, forums and code snippets to find answers but the answers seem harder to find than i anticipated. if you guys have any really good site to recommend that would be great! i use PScode.com, php.net, this site, and w3schools.com for links.

many thanks.

[Anon]

with php it's different (I'd never go back to ASP!)

there are several ways to refer to form and querystring variables.

Easiest: if the name of the form element is:

<input type=text name=Email value=(enter email) >

you could refer to it as $Email on the next page. Simple, right?

If there's any doubt about what email refers to, you can also use a prenamed array called $HTTP_POST_VARS, so the above value could be referenced by:

$HTTP_POST_VARS['Email']

This is useful to avoid conflict between the querystring and local variables, and the form collection.

Finally, here's a handy way to view your form collection:

<?php
foreach($HTTP_POST_VARS as $n=>$v){
echo $n . ": " . $v . "<BR>";
}
?>

[Anon]

hmm, thanks for the quick response.

but i have tried this $formItemName

on my form.htm page i have the following:
<FORM NAME="frmMOE" id="frmMOE" method="post" action="formresults.php" >

		PEN (12)<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="txtPEN"><br>
		Last Name (*)<INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="txtLname"><br>

		<INPUT TYPE="submit" NAME="Submit" VALUE="Submit"><INPUT TYPE="reset" NAME="Submit2" VALUE="Reset">

	</FORM>

On the "formresults.php" page i have the following:

<?php //update the textfile

		$fileptr=fopen("data/data.txt","a"); 	// open the file

		fputs($fileptr, $txtPEN."\t"); 			// dump the contents into the file
		fputs($fileptr, $txtLname."\n");
		fputs($fileptr,

fclose($fileptr); // closes the file at $fileptr.
?>

	<?php

	echo($txtPEN);
	echo("<BR>");
	echo($txtLname);
	echo("<BR>");

?>

what am i missing? If i declaire the variables
$txtPEN = "531258477894";
$txtLname = "jones";
it will write it to the text file, but i dont want these hard coded, i want the values of the input boxes on "form.htm".

thanks.

[rrijnders]

see:
http://www.phpbuilder.com/manual/configuration.php

search page for <b>track_vars</b>

-- Rich

[Anon]

I think what you're really asking is this:

instead of:

<input type=text name="firstName">

you want:

<input type=text name="firstName" value="<?php echo $firstName;?>"

Of course the value will only be populated if $firstName has been declared. This works great when you populate a form with database info, or if the form is in error and shows up again, because it will show its own data.

Not sure that's what you want though.

[Anon]

well, what i would like to know is two things:

1) how to get the value of an input box (for example) call it "txtName" from form.htm to formResults.php

2) Is it possible to search a text file for specific values.

(what i want to do is have a user enter info on "form.htm", then have it search a text (flat) file for specific values for validation. If certain values are in the file, then proceed to the next page, otherwise... )

Richard: in my PHP.ini file - "track_vars is ALWAYS enabled as of PHP 4.0.3"

Thanks for the (very) quick help!

[rrijnders]

hmmm...(scratching head)...

Are you accessing the variables inside a function or subroutine? If so, then declare the var as <b>GLOBAL</b> at the top of the function.

-- Rich

[Anon]

at the risk of sounding like a fool, how do i do this in PHP?

[rrijnders]

Say you have a function:

<b>function myFunction($myArgs) {
&nbsp;GLOBAL $myFormVariable;

&nbsp;// do something with $myFormVariable

)</b>

-- Rich

[Anon]

more elegant way I use:

function whatever(){
global $HTTP_POST_VARS;
//this way you get the whole form collection.
//do something
return $HTTP_POST_VARS['myFormElement'];

}

[Anon]

well, it still isnt working and since i am starting with super basic code, i am sure it is the installation or configuration.

i have:
1) uninstalled and reinstalled PHP4 (from http://www.php4win.de/),
2) modified the ini file with the correct extension_dir path,
3) and the correct extension (php_gb.dll),
4) redid the isapi filter in IIS
5) restarted webservices.

it works correct (as you can see)
http://209.53.156.80:88/www/php/phpinfo.php

but i cannot still post data (or get). why?
http://209.53.156.80:88/www/php/examples/BegPHP/ch03/checkbox.html

<<posts to >>

http://209.53.156.80:88/www/php/examples/BegPHP/ch03/checkbox.php

what am i missing? i changed the cgi.force_redirect to "0"

and now get the "PHP Warning: Undefined variable". can someone please shed a ray of light on this for me?

thank you