Submitting form without using the Submit button

ywickham

I have a signup form which collects a bunch of information, in addition to the preferred username of the person signing up. Once they click the submit button, I check the database to see if the username has already been selected. If it has, I return the page to them with an error message at the top to enter a new username, with all the information in other fields still filled in.

If the username is not in use, and all the other information has validated, I can continue to send the data to the external web server. I just don't know how to do that in PHP without forcing a user to click the submit button again.

Is there a way that I can use the Post action to submit a form, but not require the user to click the submit button?

lanjoky

Ive been looking and cant find the correct syntax but there is a way to force a submit using javascript ... if u run that right before you want the page submit ... then all the fields will transfer over to ur other page... but I cant find the syntax... I used it once but since then got rid of the code cause I updated it ... anyway sorry I wanst more helpful but at least it gives ya something to look for.

batman

What's wrong with hitting submit again?

ywickham

I feel that it's an extra step. If the user has filled in the form correctly, they shouldn't be asked to hit the Submit button a second time on the same form just to get it to process.

I also feel that the more steps you have, the less likely a person to complete a sale.

Just my opinion...

Originally posted by batman
What's wrong with hitting submit again?

ywickham

Thanks Logan.

I googled "javascript force submit" and believe I found a solution that might work. I'm duplicating it at the moment on my server to see if this is sufficient.

You were very helpful. 🙂

Originally posted by lanjoky
Ive been looking and cant find the correct syntax but there is a way to force a submit using javascript ... if u run that right before you want the page submit ... then all the fields will transfer over to ur other page... but I cant find the syntax... I used it once but since then got rid of the code cause I updated it ... anyway sorry I wanst more helpful but at least it gives ya something to look for.

Rayn

<form>

</form>

Would work

kevinsequeira

header("location:http://yourserver/page");

reg
kevin

lipus

u can always try

this one submits the form after a tab in the last field (when exiting last form field)

not really sure about the grammatics.., sometimes u need to add use :

"submit();return true;" instead of just "submit();"

or even "javascript: submit();"

dont recall other way of detecting exiting the field ...

hope it helps

ywickham

Thanks Kevin, but this isn't heading to a server under my control.

Yazmin

Originally posted by kevinsequeira
header("location:http://yourserver/page");

reg
kevin

ywickham

I was actually looking more for an automatic submit after the form has been submitted to itself once, so adding this script for the key out would not work as a solution for me.

Thank you for the reply. I appreciate it.

Yazmin

Originally posted by lipus
u can always try

<input type="text" name="fieldname" size=4 onKeyup="submit();" maxlength=3>

this one submits the form after a tab in the last field (when exiting last form field)

hope it helps

ywickham

So I am still struggling with this issue. When the user name is not in use, the form is not forwarding to the posting URL. For a recap:

User fills in form with user name.
Form submits to itself.
Check for in use user name.
If user name is in use, return form with error message set to submit to itself.
If user name is not in use, change the post variable to post to processing URL (on a server out of my control.)

#5 is usually where I come into the problem. Whether or not this is the user's first or subsequent submit, the code runs through the block that would change the posting URL, but the page doesn't automatically forward with the JavaScript. So, below is my code. Any suggestions, recommendations, etc... are highly appreciated:

<?
$post_action = "$PHP_SELF";

//Pull user id from cookie
$xnum = $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS['bbuserid'];

//Check if user is cookied
If (!empty($xnum)) {

//Connect to database server
$dbcnx = @mysql_connect($db_server, $db_server_user, $db_server_user_password);
if (!$dbcnx) {
	die( '<p>Unable to connect to the ' .
		 'database server at this time.</p>' );
}

//Select the TAPN database
if (! @mysql_select_db($db_database) ) {
	die( '<p>Unable to locate the nuke ' .
		 'database at this time.</p>' );
}

//Get user data from database to fill in form fields
$query = "SELECT username, email, field2, field3, field4, field6, field7, field8, field9, field10, field11, field12
			FROM user, userfield
			WHERE user.userid = userfield.userid
			AND userfield.userid = $xnum;";
$result = mysql_query($query);

$row_value = mysql_fetch_array($result);

//Set form processing information
$post_action = "join-results-yw.php";

}//end of 'if cookie' check

//Check user name entry against database records
if ($submit == "Start My Membership Now") {

$error_msg = "";

//Connect to database server
$dbcnx = @mysql_connect($db_server, $db_server_user, $db_server_user_password);
if (!$dbcnx) {
	die( '<p>Unable to connect to the ' .
		 'database server at this time.</p>' );
}

//Select the TAPN database
if (! @mysql_select_db($db_database) ) {
	die( '<p>Unable to locate the nuke ' .
		 'database at this time.</p>' );
}

//Check for existing username
$query = "SELECT username FROM user WHERE username = '$username';";
$result = mysql_query($query);

//if username already exists in database
if (mysql_num_rows($result) > 0) {

	//setup error message
	$error_msg = "<p class="error">Error: The username you selected is already in use. Please select another username.</p>";

} else {

	//set variable for automatic form posting
	$post_action = "join-results-yw.php";
	$jscript_submit = " onLoad=\"javascript:void(document.frmMain.submit())\"";
}
}

?>

Now, these are the two different javascript solutions I've tried, the first with the "onLoad" handler in the body tag:

 
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"<?=$jscript_submit; ?>>

And the second without the "onLoad" handler in the body tag, but with a script to submit after the forms have been loaded:

 
<script type="javascript">
<!--
<?
	if ($post_action == "join-results-yw.php") { ?>
		document.frmMain.submit();
		document.subform.submit(); <?
	}
?>
//-->
</script>

Help! 😐

bad76

Hi,
i think the second work better. Put it at last line.
And make some modify: you can call only ONE form and you have to put in the field the right value.

<script type="javascript"> 
<!-- 
<? 
    if ($post_action == "join-results-yw.php") { 
?> 
        document.frmMain.field1=<?=$field1?>; // you have to reput
        document.frmMain.field2=<?=$field2?>; // the value in each
        document.frmMain.field3=<?=$field3?>; // field...
        document.frmMain.field4=<?=$field4?>;

    document.frmMain.submit();
    // document.subform.submit(); <- you can't do this
<? 
    } 
?> 
//--> 
</script>

i hope this help you