[Resolved] [Resolved] attaching variable to action attribute in form tag

ent_tx

This is a follow-up to an earlier post that was resolved.

I've searched several posts, and can't find any difference in my code and theirs.

I can get the page to display, but the variable won't pass.

Page1 - reads info from drop-down box & directs user to new page:
*HTML & PHP***
<select name="agency_no">
<form method ="post" action="page2.php?<? echo a_no."=".$agency_no; ?>">
<input type="submit" name="save" value="View Information">

page2 - queries db based on a_no and displays info, but I can't get a_no to print at all . . .
PHP*
?<
$info = $_GET['a_no'];
echo $info;
?>

I tend to miss small things, and, as always, all help is appreciated!

YappyDog

Well your form is using the post method

method ="post" action="page2.php?<? echo a_no."=".$agency_no; ?>">

but you are looking to get your data using the get method.
$info = $_GET['a_no'];

You need to change one or the other

ent_tx

Done. thanks for the reply. like I said, I always miss the small stuff.

However . . . I'm still not getting the variable on page2. All the HTML & PHP not dependent on the variable still show, but no variable. Tried changing form tag to match $GET, then changed both to match $POST, and neither worked.

Any other ideas? thanks for the help.

Current code:
<select name="agency_no">
<form method ="post" action="page2.php?<? echo a_no."=".$agency_no; ?>">
<input type="submit" name="save" value="View Information">

$info = $_POST['a_no'];
echo $info;

jernhenrik

do the select agency_no come from another page ?? than the one with the form on? could you clarify a bit please?

YappyDog

Try this:

And look at the source code before you submit the form to make sure the $agency_no value is there.

TruckStuff

<select name="agency_no"> 
<form method ="post" action="page2.php?<? echo a_no."=".$agency_no; ?>"> 
<input type="submit" name="save" value="View Information"> 

$info = $_POST['a_no'];

This is wrong... it is possible to have both GET and POST variables from the same form. In the above example, 'a_no' is a GET variable, so your original code was correct ($_GET['a_no']). HOWEVER:

<form method ="post" action="page2.php?<? echo a_no."=".$agency_no; ?>">

I'm betting your problem is in this line. Are you getting an error that 'a_no' is an undefined constant? In the code above, 'a_no' is never actually output because it is not in quotes in your PHP code. Try the following:

]<form method ="post" action=<? echo '"page2.php?a_no='.$agency_no.'"'; ?>>

ent_tx

Thanks for the replies. I tried the hidden field; no luck. I also tried changing the form to post to itself to echo the $agency_no field, but that didn't work, either. Not sure if I did that right, tho:

Lemme clarify a bit:
- There are actually four pages I'm using. This db allows users to get information on different businesses (agencies). The first page (page A) allows the user to enter part of the name. The second page (page 😎 queries the db, and decides if more than one record matches the query.

If only one record matches, it automatically goes to the fourth page (page2.php), queries the db, and displays appropriate info. That works fine.
If more than one record matches the query from page B, it goes to the third page (page1.php) and displays a drop down box listing the results of the query. The user then chooses one from the select box and hits the submit button. Then, in theory, the chosen $agency_no is passed to the fourth page (page2.php) and it queries the db and displays the appropriate info.

With the code below, I can't get the agency_no to print on the page, or when I change it to the commented html part, that doesn't work either. So even if the HTML to post to the same page is wrong, it doesn't work the other way, either.

page1.php

include ("contact_functions.php");
//name entered on previous page
$ag_name = $_GET['ag_name'];

connect();

$result = mysql_query ("select agency_no, agency_name from agency where agency_name like \"%$ag_name%\" order by agency_no");

$num_rows = mysql_num_rows ($result);

echo "<font face=\"Comic Sans MS, Tahoma\">";
echo "Your search resulted in more than one agency. Please select an agency from the list below: <BR></p>";
echo "<select name=\"agency_no\">";

while ($a_row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
$a_num = $a_row['agency_no'];
$a_name = $a_row['agency_name'];
$small_num = substr($a_num,0,4);
echo "<option value=\"".$a_num."\">".$small_num." - ".$a_name."</option>";
}
echo "</select></p>";
mysql_close ($link);

?>
<html>
<head>
<title>Agency Information</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>

</html>

page2.php

<?
// include system functions
include ("contact_functions.php");

//get number of agency to be displayed from either select_agency or search_agency
$info = $_POST['a_no'];

connect();

//query db for info
$result = mysql_query ("select agency_no, agency_name, website, ftes, rms, exempt, agency_comm from agency where agency_no = \"$info\"");

//name fields in query
$a_row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
$a_no = $a_row['agency_no'];
$a_name = $a_row['agency_name'];
$a_web = $a_row['website'];
$a_fte = $a_row['ftes'];
$a_rms = $a_row['rms'];
$a_exempt = $a_row['exempt'];
$a_comm = $a_row['agency_comm'];

?>
<html>
<head>
<title>Information</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>

<body bgcolor="#CCCCCC" text="#000099">
<p align="left"><font face="Comic Sans MS, Tahoma" size="5">
<?
$small_num = substr($a_no,0,4);
echo $small_num;
echo " - ";
echo $a_name;
?>
<b>
</font></b></p>
<p align="left"> </p>
<fieldset> <legend><font face="Comic Sans MS, Tahoma" size="4">General Agency Information:</font></legend>
<p align="left"><font face="Comic Sans MS, Tahoma">
</p>
Comments: <? echo $a_comm; ?></font></p>
</fieldset>
<p align="left"><font face="Comic Sans MS, Tahoma"><a href="main_menu.php">Return
to Main Menu</a></font></p>
<p align="left"> </p>
</body>

</html>

Thanks again for all the help. Since I'm the only one here at work learning PHP (the others use Java), this forum is a HUGE help!

ent_tx

Thanks, TruckStuff. Tried it, no dice.

I'm not getting an error message, just HTML code only. I have display_errors = off in the php.ini file. Should I change it?

thanks!

laserlight

Try a simplified version, e.g.

<?php
if (!empty($_POST['submit'])) {
	echo "GET: " . $_GET['testget'] . "<br>\n"
		. "POST (hidden): " . $_POST['testpost'] . "<br>\n"
		. "POST (text): " . $_POST['text'] . "<br>\n";
}
?>
<form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>?testget=hello" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="testpost" value="world">
<input type="text" name="text">
<input type="submit" name="submut" value="Test">
</form>

If it works right, use the idea in your actual script.

ent_tx

With laserlight's help (many thanks) I was able to determine that I'm having problems reading the input from the select box (I can't get it to echo back onto the same page).

Is there maybe a better way to approach this?? This is the first drop-down I've loaded with a loop. I'm stumped.

ent_tx

I've been working with it, and still nothing. I even tried using a hard-coded counter to read from the select box, and I still can't read the input from the select drop-dwon box.

Does anybody have any ideas, or do I just need to trash it and start from scratch?

Here's the current code from the problem page:

PHP
<?
$ag_name = $GET['ag_name'];
$ag_num = $GET['ag_num'];
include ("contact_functions.php");

connect();

//determine whether to search on name, number, or both.
if (!empty($ag_num) && !empty($ag_name))
{
$result = mysql_query ("select agency_no, agency_name from agency where agency_name like \"%$ag_name%\" or agency_no like \"%$ag_num%\" order by agency_no");
}

elseif (!empty($ag_num))
{

$result = mysql_query ("select agency_no, agency_name from agency where agency_no like \"%$ag_num%\" order by agency_no");
}

elseif (!empty($ag_name))
{
$result = mysql_query ("select agency_no, agency_name from agency where agency_name like \"%$ag_name%\" order by agency_no");
}

//counts rows returned for if statement
$num_rows = mysql_num_rows ($result);
echo $num_rows;

//acts on row count; assigns variable to transfer
echo "<font face=\"Comic Sans MS, Tahoma\">";
echo "Your search resulted in more than one agency. Please select an agency from the list below:<BR></p>";
echo "<select name=\"agency_no\">";

while ($a_row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
{
$a_no = $a_row['agency_no'];
$a_name = $a_row['agency_name'];
$small_num = substr ($a_no, 0, 4);
echo "<option value=".$a_no.">".$small_num." - ".$a_name."</option>";
}

echo "</select></p>";

mysql_close ($link);
?>

<html>
<head>
<title>Agency Information</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>

<body bgcolor="#CCCCCC" text="#000099">
<form method ="get" action="agency_info_display.php?a_no=<? echo $agency_no; ?>">
<input type ="submit" name="save" value="View Information">
</form>
</body>
</html>
END

thanks.

YappyDog

Your select box needs to be within your form tags or the data will not be passed on to the next page.

ent_tx

thanks for the reply. I took the whole PHP code, from tag to tag, and inserted it after the <form method . . . > tag.

Still nothing. I'm trying a couple other things, but not very confident in them working.

thanks again.

YappyDog

What code are you using in the second page to get the results from the select box?

ent_tx

The code to read the selection on display_info_agency.php is:
<? php

$info = $_GET['a_no'];
echo "num = ".$info;

I have another page that links to display_info_agency.php through " header ("Location: agency_info_display.php?a_no=$a_no");" and it's working fine, which is why I think the problem's in the select box code.

thanks.

YappyDog

Well, it looks like the name of your select box is "agency_no", so that is the field you should be trying to get from the $_GET array.

Try:

$info = $_GET["agency_no"];
echo "num = ".$info;

ent_tx

WOO-HOO!! I can't believe it was that easy!

Seriously, thank you so much. But I really thought the variable had to be passed through the action tag. Maybe that's just for the "Header: Location" method.

Anyway, it's fixed. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!