populating form fields from an array

[Anon]

hi
i'm pulling info out of a mysql db with

<pre>

if (!($conn = db_connect()))
return false;
$result = mysql_query( "select *
from user
where email = '$valid_user'");
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
echo "Welcome&nbsp;<b>".$row['firstname']."&nbsp;".$row['lastname']."</b>";

//above, i'm pulling array elements and displaying them
echo "<br>".$row['city']; echo "<br>".$row[2];

//same thing above

</pre>

now i'd like to display a form on the page and have text fields and drop downlists preselected with the info in the db corresponding to the particular row i copied into the array $row[].

i've tried

<pre>
echo "<input type="text" name="textfield" value=".$row['firstname'].">";

</pre>

but this gives me
Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING, expecting ',' or ';' in /usr/local/www/data.default/testapp/app_pg1.php on line 18

how is this done?

thanks
dumbass

[Anon]

I am pretty sure this will work:

echo '<input type="text" name="textfield" value="'.$row['firstname'].'">';

OR this:

echo "<input type=\"text\" name=\"textfield\" value=\"".$row['firstname']."\">";

-your problem is the quotes, you can't just echo the double quotes inside the two outside quotes without backslashing them, or you have to use single quotes on the outside. hope this helps.

[Anon]

worked like a charm🙂
thanks

[Anon]

one other question - wouldn't the double quotes be automatically escaped if i have magicquotes turned on?

[Anon]

i have another question, sorry -

if i wanted to populate the textboxes/dropdown lists of a long form, then i'd have to issue echo.. statements for each line of html code, then alter my syntax like you did to allow me to populate these items with elements from the array using .$row['item'].

is there a better way to do this, as in making a function that breaks down the elements of a row and then pass them to another function that just echoes the html for the forum and populating the form with <? $item; ?>, instead of having to watch my syntax?

[Anon]

not really sure (I believe that is what it is supposed to do), I DO KNOW that it doesn't work for me...but that may be just me!

[Anon]

I guess you could make functions to handle all that, seems like it would be more trouble than its worth, and take more time for the script to complete, but this is a possibility if I understand what you are asking...

<?
$firstname = $row[firstname];
echo "<input type=\"text\" name=\"textfield\" value=\"$firstname\">";
?>

OR

<?
$firstname = $row[firstname];
?>
<input type="text" name="textfield" value="<?echo $firstname;?>">";

-maybe this will help.

[Anon]

sorry no "; at the end of that last one!