transfer form data from one page to the next?

RussellH

I have a form on my site that requests an email address and password from the visitor. Once they click submit they are taken to another page with a different form. The new form asks for their email address and password again (and some other information).

What I want to do is have the email address they typed into the first form show up automatiaclly on the second form in the email text field. And if its possiblle, I would like the password the chose to show up in a hidden field on the second form.

I heard this was possible with sessions? But I have no idea how to get it done. If you can help me with this please give me a start to finish on how to get it done. My tihnking is that I will have to give the page a .php extension, insert the code into the page, upload a file that will manage the session info and then put some more code into the second form to let it know where to output the info?

thanks for any help

Russell

Wave

first page f.e. form1.php

<html>
<body>
<form action=form2.php method=post>
Email: <input type=text name=email>
Pass: <input type=password name=pass>
<input type=submit>
</form>
</body>
</html>

and second - form2.php

<html>
<body>
<form action=form2.php method=post>
Somefield: <input type=text name=somename>
Email: <input type=text name=email value=<?php echo $HTTP_POST_VARS['email']; ?>>
<input type=hidden name=pass value=<?php echo $HTTP_POST_VARS['pass']; ?>>
<input type=submit>
</form>
</body>
</html>

must work

GBahle

You've got a slightly wrong idea of session. Actually, it's probably a lot easier than you think 😉

first, insert the following code into any page that uses the session information (right at the top would be best)

<?php
session_start();
?>

Well, that's it: On any page you wish, you can now store and access session variables. This, depending on your PHP version, can be done in three ways. Here the most current way:
whenever you need a session variable, declare (or access) it with

$_SESSION[theNameasString] = somevalue;

you don't need to upload any files or sth like that for it to work.
There might be some problems when your clients have disabled cookies, but you can read up more specific information at www.php.net ;

About the scenario you outlined: In case the page with form2 is called by the submit action of page1 (i.e. there are no intermediate pages) you won't even need sessions.
All variables that were in the form are available as either $POST[varname] or $GET[varname], depending on submission method (get or post).

Hope this helps
<Gernot>

Edited for the above post:
You should not use $HTTP_POST_VARS. If you're currently using an older PHP version that doesn't support $_POST use the following line to be ready for the future:

$POST = isset($POST) ? $_POST : $HTTP_POST_VARS;

RussellH

Thanks for the help! Unfortunately I couldnt get it to work, when I inserted the following into my page (named test.php) I got the following message...
......................
<?php
session_start();
?>
......................

Warning: Cannot send session cookie - headers already sent by (output started at /home/user/domain.com/test.php:8) in /home/user/domain.com/test.php on line 9

Warning: Cannot send session cache limiter - headers already sent (output started at /home/user/domain.com/test.php:8) in /home/user/domain.com/test.php on line 9

I also tried using the following on my page but with no luck...

<html>
<body>
<form action=form2.php method=post>
Email: <input type=text name=email>
Pass: <input type=password name=pass>
<input type=submit>
</form>
</body>
</html>

and second - form2.php

PHP:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<html>
<body>
<form action=form2.php method=post>
Somefield: <input type=text name=somename>
Email: <input type=text name=email value=<?php echo $HTTP_POST_VARS['email']; ?>>
<input type=hidden name=pass value=<?php echo $HTTP_POST_VARS['pass']; ?>>
<input type=submit>
</form>
</body>
</html>

when I tried it on a normal html page it posted the $HTTP... info in the second form. When I named the second page .php it the form looked as it should with no value. But it didnt transfer the info from the first form to the second.

Also I have another question. Can I use the php code with my perl script already installed or does the form have to be a php form?

thanks again for the help.

Russell

RussellH

ok, I think I got it. The php tag has to go before the <html> tag. I tried that and its not giving me any errors. I'll try adding the form tags a little later and see how it goes.