[Resolved] Output from Input

Ironmann00

I am trying to output an HTML page from the input of a form. How can I do that?

Thanks in advance.

paulnaj

Here's a template ...

form.html

htmloutput.php

<html><head><title></title></head><body>
<?php

// This displays the encoded string
echo $_POST["encoded_html"];
echo "<hr>";

$html = urldecode ($_POST["encoded_html"]);
// This creates an html page 
echo $html;
echo "<hr>";

// This displays the html
echo htmlspecialchars($html);

?>
</body></html>

Ironmann00

Originally posted by paulnaj
Here's a template ...

form.html

<html><head><title></title></head><body>
<form action="htmloutput.php" method="post" name="frm" id="frm">
<input type="hidden" name="encoded_html" value="">
<textarea cols="40" rows="20" name="html"
onChange="this.form.encoded_html.value = escape(this.form.html.value);"></textarea>
<input type="submit">
</form>
</body></html>.........

Thanks ever so much. What does the onChange do? Does it encode the HTML (Stupid questions, aren't they 😃 )? Thanks for you help.

paulnaj

The onChange event is called every time a change is made to the text, which is the best point to update the 'hidden' text.

Using the JS escape() function turns the text into (I can't remember the name) code that can be safely transferred to the server, keeping its integrity. The PHP function urldecode() is the PHP equivalent to the JS unescape().

Once it's back into normal text, you can do what you want ... either use it as 'real' html, i.e. to layout a page ... or display the html itself to the user using htmlspecialchars().

You don't need to escape/unescape all form data, but its a good idea for large pieces of text that needs to keep its integrity.

Ironmann00

I see. Thanks a lot.