accesssing html form elements using PHP

[thara_roshn]

😕

Hi all,

I am doing one project with Postgresql and PHP on Linux platform. 

	I have an HTML form general.html with text boxes for-consumer number, consumer name, area code and category. There is 

one table conusumer_table with fields consumer_number, consumer_name, area_code and category on postgresql database with

consumer_number as primary key.
Database design is such that during transaction, if consumer_number entered is already in the database, the other fields

should be retrieved from the database. These values should be placed within text boxes of general.html form.
coding for search of database and retrieval of values done. But i don't know how to put these values into the html form text

element. Whether there is any PHP function for accessing the form elements or its values? Also these should happen as soon as focus goes out of

consumer_number text box.
Could someone please help...
Thanks in advance...

with regards,

thara
CET

[Weedpacket]

1. The PHP manual has a section on accessing HTML form elements here. To start you off, the value of the form field named "thingy" will be in $POST['thingy'] or $GET['thingy'] depending on whether you use a POST method or GET method on your form.

2. Having PHP put stuff into the form element is (almost) just a matter of writing it in there: <input type="text" name="thingy" value="<?php echo htmlentities($thingy)?>">. The only trickiness is that $thingy might contain something like " or >, which could upset the browser sorely. htmlentities() fixes that.

3. PHP won't be able to look at the elements' values until the form has been submitted to the server (where PHP is running). Until then, it has no idea what's going on at the client's end.

4. There are more appropriate forums on this site than this one. Because this one sees relatively little traffic, you'd be likely to get a more complete answer sooner (e.g., faster than four and a half hours) on one of the others; I'd recommend this one at this stage as I infer you're just getting started.

[thara_roshn]

HI,
Thanx for your response.

        But I have already one html form with text boxes. After the form is submitted, PHP script  retrieves some values from the database and these values should be placed within already constructed textboxes. 

so i think ,

<input type="text" name="thingy" value="<?php echo htmlentities($thingy)?>">.

will create a new textbox and assign value to it.

This is part of general.html
.............................................
<form name="general" action="bill.php" method="post">

<table border="2" width=750 >
<tr>
<td wiidth = 200 ><strong>Consumer Number</strong></td>
<td width = 200> <input type="text" name="cnumber"></td>
<td width = 100 ><strong>Area Code</strong></td>
<td width = 375> <select name "ac"><option>PL</option><option>AZ</option> </select></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td width = 150 ><strong>Consumer Name</strong></td>
<td width = 200> <input type = "text" name= "cname"></td>
<td width = 100 ><strong>Category</strong></td>
<td width = 375> <select name = "cat" ><option>Domestic</option><option>Non-Domestic</option> </select></td>
</tr>
</table>
<input type="submit" value="submit"></input>
</form>
This is part of bill.php
................................

<?php
require_once("DB.php");
$db1 = new DB('localhost','postgres','','KWA');
if(!$db1->open())
{ die( $db1->error());
}
$cno=$HTTP_POST_VARS['cnumber'];

/ select consumer number if it already exists/
$qr="SELECT consumer_no,consumer_name,area_code,category FROM consumer_table where consumer_no=$cno";

if(!$db1->query($qr))
{ $db1->error();
}
while($row=$db1->fetchobject())
{
$thecn=$row->consumer_name;
$theac=$row->area_code;
$thecat=$row->category;
$cname=$thecn;

}

$db1->freeresult();
$db1->close();
?>

Here I want to get value of $thecn in the textbox. Hope you understand the problem.

thara
CET

[Tracer]

You can either

1) Create a second page that is a mirror image of the first with the exception of the previsouly stated <input value=$yourvalue>. Submit form1.html to check.php. allow check.php to evaluate if the record exists, if it does include form1mirror.html else continur.

2) You can do this dynamically using JavaScript....But Thats Another Forum 🙂

[jinsonm]

combine the HTML code and PHP code as one PHP page and just echo the value you want to display in the textfield

like tis..

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>
<?php
$id=$_GET['id'];
include "dbconnect.php";
$sql="select * from cust_details where uid='$id'";
$result=mysql_query($sql);
if($row=mysql_fetch_array($result))
{

?>
<body><form id="frmuser" name="frmuser" method="post" >
<table width="512" border="1">
<tr>
<td width="105">uid</td>
<td width="391">

<input type="text" name="uname" value="<?php echo $row['uname'];?>">


</td>

</tr>
<tr>
.
.
.
.
.
.<?php

}
?>
</body>
</html>

[Asteway]

Hi Thara,
I was just facing the same problem while working with php and mysql.
I couldn't access html form objects using php and I am now wondering
if that even is possible.
In javascript you can do something like this,
document.form1.txtname.value = "Smith";
and you can run this on whatever event you choose (like 'onclick', 'onchange', 'onblur' ...)
I'm looking for something alternative for this in php.
If you have already found a solution for your problem, please let me know.

Best Regards,

[TheStalker]

post your form back to the same page then just echo the values within your exisiting text boxes like everyone above has said.

<form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>" method="POST"