form problem

i_dot

Hi...
I got a problem (probably an easy one)... when I use a form to send data it looks alright in a preview but when I send the data back to the form (for changes) I loose the data after the whitespace (textarea & text field)... Does anyone know what I do wrong..?

THANKS!
.anders swe

F_Meijer

It's not going to help you i'm afraid but I got on this board for the exact same reason.

example:

// I get it like this first...
$inputname = $_POST['inputname'];

// Later on I want to send it to action.php like this
<form action="action.php" method="POST">
<input type="hidden" value="$inputname" name="inputname">
</form>

Help on this would be much appreciated, and I think ít's save to say that I speak for the both of us 🙂

F_Meijer

I have no ideas why, but the exmaple I gave above works just fine now .... Strange thing is that while I did not change anything I couldn't get it to work yesterday...?

I'm pretty sure something still isn't right or there's a better way of doing it so anything you guys have to add would be more then welcome :rolleyes:

dar-k

<form action="action.php" method="POST"> 
<input type="hidden" value="<?php echo $_POST['inputname']; ?>" name="inputname"> 
</form>

i_dot

I'm sorry but I've done just as you guys tell me but I still loose the data after the first whitespace when I send it back to the form... and the data is ok the first time i send it but when i insert the data into the form i have lost everything after the first whitespace... Hope someone out there can solve my problem...

.anders

dar-k

plz post the form code after submission.
I don't think I understand what output you're getting.

i_dot

The code...

// the form after submission
print "\t\t<td align=\"right\"><input name=\"name\" type=\"text\" size=\"30\" maxlength=\"20\" value=$name></td>\n";
printf ("\t\t<td align=\"right\"><textarea name=\"educ\" cols=\"29\" rows=\"5\" wrap=\"virtual\">%s</textarea></td>\n", $educ);

// the data is submitted like this
print "<input name=\"name\" type=\"hidden\" value=$name>";
print "<input name=\"educ\" type=\"hidden\" value=$educ>";

print "\t\t<td align=\"right\"><input name=\"back\" type=\"submit\" value=\"tillbaka\"><input name=\"save\" type=\"submit\" value=\"spara\"></td>\n";

// and I get the data like this
$name = $POST['name'];
$educ = $POST['educ'];

THANKS!

F_Meijer

First of all I notice you use print instead of echo like I do... I don't know it actually makes THE differnce but it's worth a shot I guess...

second differnence is;
you: value=$name
me: value=\"$name\"

Although I doubt the second differnce matters...

laserlight

again, double quotes should be used to enclose the values of the input tags.

you should also use htmlspecialchars() on those values, including the textarea.

print is equivalent to echo except that print may return a boolean value.

i_dot

Thanks for your help everyone!

As I thougt it was a stupid, trivial problem... had to use double quotes to enclose the values of the input tags...

Thanks again!

.anders swe

paul088

Just a comment on use of double quotes on values. If you don't use double quotes, you may get just the first word of a more-than-2-word string.

jmarco

Originally posted by laserlight
again, double quotes should be used to enclose the values of the input tags.

you should also use htmlspecialchars() on those values, including the textarea.

print is equivalent to echo except that print may return a boolean value.

I second the use of htmlspecialchars(), it's absolutely neccessary from what I've practiced.

I also embed striplashes() inside it too.

value="<?php htmlspecialchars(stripslashes($string)); ?>"

To cut down on keystrokes I created a class called Input (among other form tools) that can be called by saying:

$input = new Input($type, $name, $value, $size, $maxlength, $tabindex, $selected);

where the 'value' attribute is always sent through htmlspecialchars() and stripslashes(). I have had great success with this method. There is an echo statement inside the constructor that prints the input tag with all of the values specified. Values can be passed as a variable, string or null:

$input = new Input("submit", null, "Send Form", null, null, $i, null);

echos in the source code:

<input type="submit" name="" value="Send Form" size="" maxlength="" tabindex="15"  />

for example.