Form Variables not being passed to php?

pwebb0617

Hi Everyone.

This is driving me nuts. Can someone help me out?

I installed the following on a fresh box:

-Red Hat Linux v7.3, Custom install
(I installed all of the development tools, etc. but none of the "server's", like Apache, Samba, NNTP, etc.
-MySQL v3.23.53a
-Apache Server v1.3.26
-PHP v4.2.3

To install the last three correctly, I used directions from the following link: http://www.ozetechnology.com/howtos/apache.shtml

I got everything up and running just fine, and I tested my PHP install by writing a simple script that echoed something to the effect of "The current time is: mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss" replacing all of the time delimiters with the appropriate values. Since that worked fine, I went on to the next step.

I designed the following html form from a tutorial,
PHP 101 Part 2:

<html>

<head>
<basefont face="Arial">
</head>

<body>

<center>
<form method="GET" action="login.php4">
<table cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5" border="0">

<tr>
<td>
<font size="-1">So what's your name?</font>
</td>
<td align="left">
<input type="text" name="name" size="10">
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">
<input type="submit">
</td>
</tr>

</table>
</form>

</center>
</body>

</html>

...I go to a browser, run this php document, which submits a simple text entry (a name, in this case) to another .php script, login.php. Login.php looks like this:

<html>
<head>
<basefont face="Arial">
</head>

<body>
<center>
<font face="Arial" size="-1">
I wonder if you've heard of Shakespeare, <? echo $name; ?>.
<p>
He postulated that a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.
<p>
What do you think?
</font>
</center>
</body>

</html>

... in the line

I wonder if you've heard of Shakespeare, ____

the _____ should be replaced by a variable, which is passed in the URL as

&name=Username

-- Simple, right? In mine, here is my output, straight from doing a 'View Source:'

<html>
<head>
<basefont face="Arial">
</head>

<body>
<center>
<font face="Arial" size="-1">
I wonder if you've heard of Shakespeare, .
<p>
He postulated that a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.
<p>
What do you think?
</font>
</center>
</body>

</html>

... The variable is obviously not picked up in this code, nor is it picked up in any other piece of code I write. Am I missing something? Were the instructions listed in this PHP101 HOW-TO course written for PHP3 and things have changed in PHP4?

I've tried everything I can think of. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!
-Paul

dantone

It might help you to take a look at this article about PHP and forms.

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-phpform/index.html?n-wa-8222

philipolson

That tutorial relies on the PHP directive register_globals being on, this directive defaults to off as of PHP 4.2.0 and PHP users are encouraged to code with it being off. How you ask? This is described (with many examples) here:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.variables.external.php

You aren't the first to ask this question, nor will you be the last. :-)

pwebb0617

Thanks to both Dan and Phillip for their suggestions. The import_request_variables() command took care of the problems I was having.

Thanks again!
-Paul

dantone

fyi

$first = "david";
$last = "antone";

$bits = array (substr($first,0,1), "$last");
$screen_name = join("", $bits);

No big deal, seems like you made a reasonable assumption; I just don't want everyone calling me Dan.

Dave

pwebb0617

LOL! Sorry Dave!

philipolson

And to keep in the spirit of this thread, Philip has just one L! :-)

And a fyi to those listening at home, another way to create Dave's screen name in PHP:

$screen_name = $first{0} . $last;

I used to have such a screen name (polson) in the old forums but am unable to get it approved again in these new phpbuilder forums :-/