Toughest PHP Question Ever?

tanaka99

Well, it could be ... 😃

I have a page where our customers register product information:

http://www.tanaka-usa.com/index.php?b=registration&t=1

They fill in the form fields (of which some are required) and click a button. They're sent to a verification page ... Once they've glanced over what they're submitting, they click a submit buttion and they're sent to a thank you page, this has a link on it back to the registration page in the event they have another product to register.

I've registered all my variables, which allows the form on the first page to retain the data, in the event the user needs/wants to make corrections they've noticed while verifying the data (they can click a button to go back and 'Make Changes') ...

After the form data is submitted the form fields are still populated. I cannot seem to clear the data in the form after it's been submitted. I've tried javascript with a reset button, that doesn't seem to work. I've tried setting my variables to "" or unregistering them on the 'Thank you' page before going back to the first page, and that doesn't want towork either.

Here's the question of the century ... What can I do to clear the form fields when a user clicks on a link back to this page?

Please Help!

Thanks, Paul

😕

notionlogic

Have you tried using session_unset() or maybe session_destroy()?

Just a thought...

fil

A couple of thoughts:

Set an expiry time in the past for the form page, to ensure that the browser relaods the page once it goes back (or just redirect the user instead of sending them back)
Do some JavaScript trickery ... a couple of ideas:
In the onLoad handler of the page, check if there is a page in the browser history ahead of the current page (i.e. where they would go if they hit the "forward" button). If one exists, reset the form.
Do some tricks onSubmit ... set up a bunch of hidden fields in your form. When the user submits(), copy (and clear) the values from the user visible forms and put them into the hidden elements.

rubric

I'm assuming you're storing your variables using sessions. After the user has finished everything and is ready for a new form, send a variable along with your session, let's call it $clear, that will flag the next page to erase the variables inside the session.

Example:

$_SESSION["clear"] = true;

the other page with the form should check if that variable is set to true

if (isset($_SESSION["clear"] && $_SESSION["clear"] == true))
{  $_SESSION = array(); }

You DO NOT have to destroy the session. Just clear the variables. You can also be more specific so that you only clear a few variables in the session and not all.

if (isset($_SESSION["clear"] && $_SESSION["clear"] == true))
{
    $_SESSION["formField1"] = "";
    $_SESSION["formField2"] = "";
    // And so on...
}

I use this all the time, except I designate an array variable inside the session that contains all the variables I need for the specific page.

$_SESSION["add_item"] = array($formField1,$formField2);

So, when it comes time to delete, you don't have to worry about other variables. You don't even need to remember what they are called. You will always know that it will be safe to delete that page's specific array variable without losing any other session data.

$_SESSION["add_item"] = array(); // All variables for that page are erased.

I hope this helps.

Rubric