Either php corrupt or I'm losing it???

duihou

Hello, all.
Just started out with PHP, Apache, etc. Gave up trying to do it manually, so cheated and installed XAMPP 1.4.4

All seems fine. XAMPP's own test programs work fine. When I try some of the exercises in the SAMS Apache/PHP/MySQL things get weird.

One exercise is to have two files... one is html with an INPUT field using POST to send user name and address. The other file is the html with php to reply. I have triple checked the code, and it is copied and pasted from the CD anyway. Here's what happnens :

html form displays correctly, and allows the user to enter name, etc and click the send button. Once this is clicked the php page loads (according to the title in IE), but is totally blank in its content. I tried adding some debugging code, and got some display. However, the display consisted of all the php code on the page.

Below is the code on the second, php file.....
"<html>

<head>

<title>Listing 9.2 Reading input from a form </title>

</head>
<body>
<?php

echo"<p>My Extra Code HERE</p>";

echo "<p>Welcome <b>$_POST[user]</b></p>";

echo "<p>Your address is:<br><b>$_POST[address]</b></p>";

</body>

</html>"

( ignore the quotes)
Any ideas / comments greatly appreciated.

PallaviDalvi

what are the contents of the first file?

CDHS

Try this:

<html>

<head>

<title>Listing 9.2 Reading input from a form </title>

</head>
<body>
<?php

echo"<p>My Extra Code HERE</p>";

echo "<p>Welcome <b>".$_POST["user"]."</b></p>";

echo "<p>Your address is:<br><b>".$_POST["address"]."</b></p>";

?>

</body>

</html>

duihou

Thanks for the prompt replies, people.

The other listing follows...

"<html>

<head>

<title>Listing 9.1 A simple HTML form</title>

</head>

<body>

<p><strong>Address:</strong><br>

</form>

</body>

</html>"

(ignore quotes)
I have saved the relevant file listings correctly and in the htdocs folder, which is the root folder for html / php running on the apache localhost server.

I tried editing the code and there was absolutely no difference. The XAMPP has its own demo scripts and these work fine, although, there aren't any multi-page scripts; they all work from one script.

Other details... this is localhost on a pc running win98, IE 6.0

Also, the XAMPP program has a status page which says which sections (PHP, Apache, etc) are working, and it says that smtp is deactivated... I don't know if this is of any relevance.

CDHS

for the file listing9.2.php

try this code to check if the values are being posted or not, delete all the html tags n etc.

<?php
echo $POST["user"];
echo $POST["address"];
?>

PallaviDalvi

am sorry... looks like it has some thing to do with Apache setting... i use IIS on XP and ur code works perfect in my case.

CDHS

Pallavi is right.

Works fine at my Apache 2.0.9 + PHP 4.3.7

may be you can try GET?

PallaviDalvi

sorry for treating u like a dumbo... but i have often done things like this...so just cross checking.
the first page is not first.html right??? coz from an HTML page when i try to post a form to a PHP page...i get the PHP code output as it is.
once again sorry for thinking u cud be so dumb...:o

CDHS

i used the files some.html (form) and listing.9.2.php as the other file....it works fine for me?

It did show the accurate results.

duihou

Thanks again, people.

I tried removing all html code as in your posting, CDHS, with no result.
Either "htm" or "html" makes no difference.

Assuming it's going to be some weird setting, where would you suggest looking? It must be fairly weird since the rest of the php works fine.

I think, in the great tradition of php / apache newbies, I'll go quietly mad in the corner and tremble for a bit.

tsinka

Hi,

just to check if POST data exists you could put a

 echo "The POST array:<br>";
 print_r($_POST);

on top of the php script listing.9.2.php. This will print the POST array.

If you don't even see "The POST array:" then something is wrong with the filenames.

Also check the source of the page after you submitted the FORM to see if it contains PHP source code.

Thomas

duihou

Hi, Thomas.

I tried what you said... still a totally blank 2nd page. I then tried adding some plain text in the html section and this was displayed fine, but still nothing from the php. Upon hitting VIEW > SOURCE I get the complete listing... html AND php. I'm completely baffeled at this stage.

As I mentioned in an earlier post in this section, the XAMPP has a diagnostic screen and this says the SMTP is DEACTIVATED. Could this have anything to do with it? I wouldn't have thought so, as I recognise SMTP as being to do with email, but I am completely new to php.

tsinka

Ok,

not sure about the reason, but if the spell checking apache module is enabled apache will guess the correct filename.

Could it be that you edited the php script with notepad or something like that. In this case the filename might be listing.9.2.php.txt. If your explorer settings are to hide the extension of known file types it might be displayed as .php.
Change the explorer settings not to hide extensions.

Just a guess ...

Thomas

duihou

I GIVE UP

Looks like I'll not be able to do php after all :-(

I keep my file extensions non-hidden as I program in Java and need to see a class is a class and not class.txt , but thanks for the input.

In desperation I tried installing XAMPP on a Win2k machine( with service pack 4) and the apache would not start. Error connecting to port 443. Similar on a standalone apache. Despite altering the httpd config file to anything, ANYTHING it STILL said this.

So, I'm calling it quits.

Thanks for all the help, people.

mcs

Dont give up on PHP that easily, try www.php.net to make sure all of your functions are right (which Im sure they are); And to quote PallaviDalvi, the first page is not first.html right? Because if you use .htm or .html extension, with any PHP code in the file, it will NOT work.
Sry if u already answered that it was .php, but I didn't read that anywhere.