Navigating to Another Page within a Form

space1

I'd like to know how to submit a form that takes me to another php page. My problem is that I use the "action" element in the form to refresh itself (used for validating the fields):
<form method="post" name="Form1" action="<?php echo $PHP_SELF ?>" >

and that uses up the action element that I'd usually use to take me to the next page (action="NextPage.php") . So how do I get to the next page after the validation?

Thank you!
Andrea

Here's the whole thing if it helps:

<?php
if ($submit)
{
if ($FirstName=='' || $LastName=='' || $Email=='' || $Zip=='' || $Birthyear=='')
{
$error = "<font face='verdana, arial' size=1 color=red><strong>Sorry, some required fields are missing data.
They have a * next to them. Thanks!</strong></font>";

} 
else 
{		
	// process form
}

}

if ( (!$submit) || ($error) )

{
echo $error;

}
?>
<TABLE> 
<TR>
<TD valign="top">
<font face="verdana,arial" size=2><strong><br>
Input Info<br><br></strong>
<form method="post" name="Form1" action="<?php echo $PHP_SELF ?>" >
</TD>
</TR>

<TR>
<td width=90 ><font face="verdana,arial" size=1>First Name <font color=orange>*</font></td>
<td><input type="text" name="FirstName" value="<?php echo $FirstName ?>"></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><font face="verdana,arial" size=1>Email <font color=orange>*</font></td>
<td><input type="text" name="Email" value="<?php echo $Email ?>"></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><font face="verdana,arial" size=1>Home Phone </td>
<td><input type="text" name="HomePhone" value="<?php echo $HomePhone ?>"><font color =#999999 size="1">  (###) ###-#### </font><BR></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><font face="verdana,arial" size=1>Birthdate (year only) <font color=orange>*</font> </td>

<td><font face="verdana,arial" size=1>
<input type="text" name="Birthyear" value="<?php echo $Birthyear ?>">
<font face="verdana,arial" size=1 color =#999999>  Example: 1968 </font>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><font face="verdana,arial" size=1>Gender <font color=orange>*</font> </td>
<td><INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="Gender" VALUE="Male" CHECKED><font face="verdana,arial" size=2>Male
<INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="Gender" VALUE="Female" ><font face="verdana,arial" size=2>Female</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td valign="baseline"><font face="verdana,arial" size=1>Your University </td>

<td valign="baseline"><font face="verdana,arial" size=1>
<input type="text" name="University" value=""><BR><font face="verdana,arial" size=1 color =#999999>(the college from which you graduated...like for a multi-school social or sports event)</font>
</td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><font face="verdana,arial" size=1>How did you hear about<br> Space City Mixer?</font></td>
<td><INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="HeardAboutIt" size=40> <BR> </td>
</tr>

<tr>
<br>
<td rowspan=2 width="145">
<font face="verdana,arial" size=1>
2's a Company but 3's a Party!! Sign Up a <br>Couple of Friends...<br></td>
<td>
<font face="verdana,arial" size=1>
  Friend's Email #1 <INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="Email_Friend1" size=30></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
<font face="verdana,arial" size=1>
  Friend's Email #2 <INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="Email_Friend2" size=30></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td colspan=2>
<br>
<input type="checkbox" name="Waiver" value="<?php echo $Waiver ?>"><font face="verdana,arial" size=1>I've read and accepted the <a href="LiabilityWaiver.asp">Terms of Participation</a></font><font color=orange size=1> *</font>
<BR>
</td>
</tr>

<tr><td colspan=2>
<font face="verdana,arial" size=1 color="#ff6600"><BR>
You will receive up to 2-3 invites a week. If you find that it's too many emails,
let us <BR>know and we can put you on a "low email" diet! Thanks!
<BR><BR>
</td>
</tr>

nemonoman

change the form action to

action=NextPage.php

and put the capture and management of the form's variables as part in that script.

After that's done, echo whatever html code you want to.

space1

Thank you so much for your reply!!
I tried putting the page in the action area and coding the other parts to do the validation, but I must be doing something wrong. The validation doesn't kick in, it just goes straight to the next page even if the fields are all empty. I know that I'm doing something really wrong, I just can't figure out what it is..I've been working hours on it!!

Please help me!

Thank you,
Andrea

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head><title>SignUp4.php</title></head>
<body>

<?php

//------------------------
$username = "uxxx";
$password = "1xxx";
$hostname = "mysqlhost";

$db = mysql_connect($hostname, $username, $password)
or die("Unable to connect to MySQL");
print "Connected to MySQL<br>";
mysql_select_db("d52778201",$db);

//------------------------
?>

<?php
echo "submit = " . $submit. "<br>";
echo "FirstName = " . $FirstName. "<br>";
if ($submit)
{
if ($FirstName=='' || $LastName=='' || $Email=='' || $Zip=='' || $Birthyear=='')
{
$error = "<font face='verdana, arial' size=1 color=red><strong>Sorry, some required fields are missing data.
They have a * next to them. Thanks!</strong></font>";
exit;

} 
else 
{		
	// process form
}

}

if ( ($error) )

{
echo $error;
exit;

}
if ( (!$submit) )

{
echo "here you are.";
pShowForm();
exit;

}

?>
<?php
Function pShowForm ()
{
?>
<TABLE> 
<TR>
<TD valign="top">
<font face="verdana,arial" size=2><strong><br>
Input Info<br><br></strong>
<form method="post" name="Form1" action="SignUp3.php" onsubmit="pValidateNew()">
</TD>
</TR>

<TR>
<td width=90 ><font face="verdana,arial" size=1>First Name <font color=orange>*</font></td>
<td><input type="text" name="FirstName" value="<?php echo $FirstName ?>"></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><font face="verdana,arial" size=1>Email <font color=orange>*</font></td>
<td><input type="text" name="Email" value="<?php echo $Email ?>"></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><font face="verdana,arial" size=1>How did you hear about<br> Space City Mixer?</font></td>
<td><INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="HeardAboutIt" size=40> <BR> </td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td>
<font face="verdana,arial" size=1>
  Friend's Email #2 <INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="Email_Friend2" size=30></td>
</tr>

<?php
function pValidateNew()
{
echo "In pValidateNew";
echo "FirstName=". $FirstName;

if ($FirstName=='' || $LastName=='' || $Email=='' || $Zip=='' || $Birthyear=='')
{

$error = "<font face='verdana, arial' size=1 color=red><strong>Sorry, some required fields are missing data. 
          They have a * next to them. Thanks!</strong></font>";
echo $error;	
return false; 
exit;
} 
return true;

}
?>

</body>
</html>

nemonoman

PHP is a SERVER language. The page content ONLY gets looked at by the server after the submit button is pressed.

You want a BROWSWER based review. That means javascript

to quote http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/javascript/formvalidation.html

"One of the primary reasons JavaScript was assembled was to check whether the values entered into forms by readers were correct, thereby bypassing the lengthy trip to a CGI program to do the check"

That article offers a tutorial on javascript form validation. There are literally hundreds of such tutorials, as the task is useful and simple.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=javascript+onsubmit+validate+form+tutorial&btnG=Google+Search

space1

Hi there,

I tried the header function, but it gave me that error that you were talking about. It seems like what I'm doing (using a form, validating the data and then sending the user to another page) would be a common task...how do other PHP users do this?

Up until now, I've done the validation part using javascript, but I'd like to move into using php only. Is this possible?

Thanks!
Andrea

nemonoman

I haven't tested this example code, so there may be a few typos, but it will give you the idea.

//testnumber is part of the basic form

$testnumber=$_POST['testnumber'];

//if testnumber isn't set, it means the form has not yet been displayed

if(!$testnumber){
displaytestform();
}

if($testnumber<>2){
displayfailurepage();
}

if($testnumber==2){
displaysuccesspage();
}

function displaytestform(){

//here's the form that defines testnumber.

echo "<html><body>
<form method=post action=$PHP_SELF>
Enter 2 here: <input type=text name=testnumber>
<input type=submit value='CLICK ME'>
</form></body></html>";

//even if the user doesn't fill in testnumber, there will be a variable called $_POST['testnumber'] when the form is submitted
}

function displayfailurepage(){
echo "<html><body>
FAILED.
<a href=$PHP_SELF>Click here to try again.</a></body></html>";

//the link to PHP_SELF wil cause $_POST['testnumber'] to be unset, so the form will display again.
}

function displaysuccesspage(){
echo "<html><body>
SUCCESS!!!
</body></html>";
}

One php page handles everything.

If you wanted you could make up other HTML/PHP pages and change the function like:

function displayfailurepage(){
include 'failurepage.php';
}

One of those two strategies is what most programmers do w. php, it appears to me.

You can also do an actual REDIRECT via the HEADER function of PHP. Some browsers have controls to stop redirects, however.