post html variables ?? ..i got confused

dreamweaver

i'm reading a book " Professional PHP Programming " of Wrox . Inside it , editors told that when a variables in a form submitted to an other page , it will be retrieved by PHP and can show it by echo($username) .
Ex :
my index page :
<html>
<body>
Please type your name here-):<BR>
<form action="process.php" method=post>
<input type=text name="username" value="input your name"> <BR> <BR>
<input type=hidden name="t" value="<?php time() ?>">
<input type=submit value="Submit Data">
</form>
<BR>
<BR>
</body>
</html>
my process.php :
<html>
<body>
<?php
echo($username);
?>
</body>
</html>
It showed that not a variable like username ? [COLOR] . But if i use $username=$_POST['username'] it was ok . Please explain me , this book wrong or my system has problem ?
My system : P4 192 MB
Windows 2000 with IIS 5 and PHP 4.2.3
many thanks

amar

You 'll have to change the php.ini file in winnt directory.
Find:
register_globals = Off

and turn it to :
register_globals = On

Now you won't have to use $_POST[].

It made my life difficult too until I found out...

morphy_6deex

i think that register_globals is off in the php.ini

if u set register_globals to on (and restart the web service if yr php isnt installed as CGI) all the keys of the arrays will be available as global vars like $username... but...

if u r learning... leave it as is and use the $Arrays (like $POST) they r... better...

dreamweaver

Many thanks for replies ;
btw , in php.ini they recommend off register_global too for security reason .
again , many thanks .

hi-liter

this post may help explain a little.

http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?threadid=10214067

it has a working form with globals set to off.

basically with register_globals = on opens your pages to possible security issues. it is wise to not set register_globals=on.

hth.

dreamweaver

many thanks for replies . I turned Global=OFF :-D
Now I has a small problem with passing an array as follow :
mycode : file1.php
<?php
$name=3;
?>
<FORM ACTION="submit.php" METHOD=POST>
<? for($i=1;$i<=$name;$i++) { ?>
<INPUT TYPE="first[]" TYPE=TEXT><BR>
<INPUT TYPE="last[]" TYPE=TEXT><BR>
<? } ?>
<INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" VALUE="SUBMIT">

How can I pass an array like this to submit.php? Please give me an example .
Many thanks

philipolson

I great way to test for values is to do a little debugging. For example, if submit.php simply had this:

<?php
  print '<pre>';
  print_r($_POST);
?>

It will show you all POSTed values. From here you will see the layout of the $_POST array. In your case, it'll be:

print $_POST['first'][0];
print $_POST['first'][1];
print $_POST['first'][2];
print $_POST['last'][0];
print $_POST['last'][1];
...

Of course the number depends on the value of $name in your for loop. In a similar fashion:

<input type="text" name="info[firstname]">
print $_POST['info']['firstname'];

And lastly, the following manual page will be valuable:
http://uk.php.net/manual/en/language.variables.external.php