Basic Post Form Howto...

l008com

This is the newbie forum so heres my newbie thread. I have a form on a page with one text field and a submit button. When you click it uses post method and another script as the "action". I simply want to know, in the action script, how do I access the data I posted?

e39m5

wat are you posting the data into? a flatfile database?

l008com

No I'm just trying to use a form to send data to another script for processing

Hitoshi

You need to run an SQL query on another page (or the same page) to retrieve it. it should look something like this

<?php
require_once ('mysql_connect.php');

$sql = "SELECT * FROM place_on_your_db WHERE title = '$title'";

$res = mysql_query($sql) or die("Query Error: ".mysql_error());

$data = mysql_fetch_array($res) or die("".mysql_error());

$text = $data[text];
$author = $data[author];
$title = $data[title];
?>

Now you want to place it somewhere on the page :

<?php echo $title; ?> 
<?php echo $text; ?> 
By, <?php echo $author; ?>

l008com

I have to store my info into a database than read it back out on the next page? I can't just send the data directly from a form to another script using POST? If thats the case I guess I'll use the GET method, but somehow I think it can be done without a database.

e39m5

wat kind of database? flatfile, then i can help u

l008com

Originally posted by e39m5
wat kind of database? flatfile, then i can help u

NO DATABASE
There is no database, I just wanna send data to a script, period.

e39m5

ur going to need a database it can be a flatfile

l008com

I don't understand why i need a database, I just wanna send data from a form on a page to a php script for processing.

Hitoshi

Form validation??

Why are you doing form validation in a server side language?

e39m5

y are u processing the data on a diferent page? cant u just process the data on hthe same page? wat is the action doing?

l008com

oh god.

I just wanna know how do use a form thats all.

Hitoshi

If thats all u want.. I wouldn't use php. Stick with html... You need no more

l008com

OK I figured it out, when you submit a form, the name you give to each element in the form can be accessed as a variable in the script you submit to. For instance, if I am submitting a form with a text field called "formname" then the script that processes this form can access that data simply by using the variable $formname.
That is all I wanted to know.

Hitoshi

well i could have told you that XD

Try to make the point of your post more obvious. Also don't bother posting if you'll be able to work it out yourself that quick

l008com

Did you even read my initial thread? How do you access data submitted by a form? How could I possibly have made it any more clear than that?
Argh!

suntra

A little security tip... you should not use $field_name, but $GET["field_name"] (if request method is GET), or $POST["field_name"] (if request method is POST), or $REQUEST["field_name"] (contains $GET, $POST, $FILES, $_COOKIE)

l008com

Why what does that do?

suntra

See...

http://www.php.net/manual/en/language.variables.predefined.php

http://www.php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.php#reserved.variables.get

http://www.php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.php#reserved.variables.post

http://www.php.net/manual/en/reserved.variables.php#reserved.variables.request

l008com

Originally posted by suntra
A little security tip... you should not use $field_name, but $GET["field_name"] (if request method is GET), or $POST["field_name"] (if request method is POST), or $REQUEST["field_name"] (contains $GET, $POST, $FILES, $_COOKIE)

Oh so its not really a security tip so much as its just a compatibility tip with future versions of PHP