HTML forms and PHP

[chris_j_pook]

Hi,

As part of a group project I have been assigned to research how PHP can be used with HTML web forms. What I need to know is, is it possible to automatically fill in a web form using a PHP script? i.e. Fill in the text boxes and such with information passed in to the PHP script.

Please let me know any information you have on this, it will be greatly appreciated...

Thanks

Chris Pook

[LordShryku]

It's possible. It's just a matter of echoing the values of what's passed.

[chris_j_pook]

Im a real begginer, could you maybe put an example of how I might go about this. Sorry for my ignorance...

Thanks

Chris

[LordShryku]

Well, it all depends on how you pass the values to the form. One method being the GET method, in which they're passed through the URL.

So say you page is called using http://yourpage.php?var=blah&var2=moreblah

One yourpage.php, in your form, you do this

<input type="text" name="field1" value="<?=$_GET['var']?>">

<input type="text" name="field2" value="<? echo $_GET['var2']; ?>">

Using <?= or echo are the same thing, either will work. The $_GET array is the variables in the URL

[chris_j_pook]

Just out of interest is there any way of masking the address at the top so the variables passed are not visible to the user ?

I have noticed that when you log in to hotmail a similar method is used, a long string of text is displayed instead of the values. How would I go about doing this ?

Thanks again

Chris

[LordShryku]

Well, there's other methods. You could pull the variables from a database, text file, session, cookie, etc.

To do the long text thing, you could use some encryption scheme.

[chris_j_pook]

So if I take the variables to be passed from a database they won't be visible to the user ?

What if I had a remote database on the same server as the .php page, what would the code look like to retrieve name and address details from the database's tables and insert them in to the HTML form.

Maybe something like this

<input type="text" name="phoneNumber" value="<?=$_GET[(WHAT GOES HERE)]?>">

Should it be something like ...

databaseName.query1(ID = 10433), in order to find the users details in the database ?

As I said im a real beginner in this...

Chris

[LordShryku]

Ok, so it looks like you've got your mind on the database. What kind of database is it? (MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, etc)

[chris_j_pook]

This is all part of a school group project,

We have a MySQL database which stores user details for an online bank. I have been asigned to find a method of filling in a web form using details from the database, however keeping the details secure.

Thanks for your help

Chris

[LordShryku]

Okay, so you can do the query, and fill them in. Read the mysql functions for a better understanding. But here's the basics

// make the connection
$conn  = mysql_connect("server","username","password");

     // select the database
     mysql_select_db("database",$conn);

// create the query
$query = "SELECT name, address
          FROM   table
          WHERE  something = 'something'";

//execute the query or error out
$res   = mysql_query($query) OR die("Error in SQL: ".mysql_error());

// if rows were returned
if(mysql_num_rows($result) > 0) {

   // make the input fields
   while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result) {
      echo "<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" value=\"".$row['name']."\">
            <br />
            <input type=\"text\" name=\"address\" value=\"".$row['address']."\">";
   }
}
else {
   echo "No rows found";
}

// close the connection
mysql_close($conn);

[maxpup979]

Ahhh---you will probably really want to use SSL then--to encrypt the details as they go across the wire. Or, you could create your own strong encryption scheme...however, I think SSL would probably be the easiest path to take.

[chris_j_pook]

Cheers mate, you've been a real help

Just want to check...

$res = mysql_query($query) OR die("Error in SQL: ".mysql_error());

... should that $res be $result ?

Thanks again

Chris

[LordShryku]

My bad, $result.

Just whatever you name it, you need to reference in those other functions