Simple form writing to file not working?!?

midlantica

I'm have a simple form I'm trying to write to a flat file 'data.txt' these simple variables $name, $email, $comments. Once the form is filled out, it submits to itself and explodes the info from data.txt. onto the same page. But it doesn't write the variables to data.txt. It DOES write the the two tabs and <BR> though, just not with the variables. And yes the data.txt file has 777 permissions.

See it here:
http://ulybusch.com/stevoandmelisse/message_board_long.php

NOTE: For testing purposes I created some fake entries on the data.txt file to see that the ReadFromFile function is indeed working.

<?php

	/** This function takes 3 arguments, which will be written to an external file. */
	function WriteToFile ($name,$email,$comments) {
		$TheFile = "data.txt";
		$Open = fopen ($TheFile, "a");
		if ($Open) {
			fwrite ($Open, "$name\t$email\t$comments\n");
			fclose ($Open);
			$Worked = TRUE;
			} else {
			$Worked = FALSE;
			}
			return $Worked;
		} 
		// END of WriteToFile function

/ TESTING - This is what I'm trying to achieve, most recent one first /
echo "<strong>$name</strong>,\n<BR><a href=\"mailto:$email\">$email</a>,\n<BR>$comments\n<BR><BR>";

	/** ReadFromFile function, displays info from data.txt  */	
	function ReadFromFile () {
		$TheFile = "data.txt";
		$Open = fopen ($TheFile, "r");
			if ($Open) {
				echo "Comments submitted:<P>\n";
				$Data = file ($TheFile);
				for ($n=0; $n < count($Data); $n++) {
					$GetLine = explode("\t",$Data[$n]);
					echo ("$GetLine[0]<BR>\n$GetLine[1]<BR>\n$GetLine[2]<BR>\n");
					}
					fclose ($Open);
					echo "<HR><P>\n";
				} else {
					echo "Unable to read from data.txt!<BR>\n";
				}
		} 
		// End of ReadFromFile function

/** Diplays HTML Form stuff */
function CreateForm() {
echo "<FORM ACTION=\"message_board_long.php\" METHOD=POST>\n";
echo "Name: <INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=\"name\" SIZE=\"25\">\n<BR>";
echo "Email: <INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=\"email\" SIZE=\"25\">\n<BR>";
echo "<BR>\n";
echo "Comments:<BR>\n";
echo "<textarea name=\"comments\" cols=\"40\" rows=\"3\"></textarea><BR><BR>\n";
echo "<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=\"BeenSubmitted\" VALUE=\"TRUE\">\n";
echo "<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT NAME=\"SUBMIT\" VALUE=\"Submit\">\n";
echo "</FORM>\n";
}
// End of CreateForm function

/** Handle Form function */
function HandleForm() {
global $Array;
$CallFunction = WriteToFile ($Array["name"],$Array["email"],$Array["comments"]);
if ($CallFunction) {
echo "Thank you $name, your comment has been submitted<br /><HR>\n";
} else {
echo "Sorry there was a system error<BR>\n";
}
}
// End of HandleForm function

/ $BeenSubmitted = TRUE? /
if ($BeenSubmitted) {
HandleForm();
}
CreateForm();
ReadFromFile();
?>

Any help very much appreciated. 🙂

Norman_Graham

Hi Midlantica

What is $Array["name"]? If I'm reading your code correctly, $Array["name"] etc is nothing at all - an empty variable. The variable you want is simply $name, as far as I can see.

Your HandleForm() function seems to overwrite your WritetoFile() function by doing something completely different. I don't understand it. If you want to add items to an array, you need array_push() or something.

I recommend a database for this kind of info, but it's up to you.

HTH

Norm

midlantica

Thanks for your response. The reason it doesn't work is because I have hacked it from the original code, from a Visual Quickstart book (Larry Ullman) which is here:

<?php
function WriteToFile ($URL, $Description) {
// Function WriteToFile takes two arguments - URL and Description - which will be written to an external file.
$TheFile = "data.txt";
$Open = fopen ($TheFile, "a");
if ($Open) {
fwrite ($Open, "$URL\t$Description\n");
fclose ($Open);
$Worked = TRUE;
} else {
$Worked = FALSE;
}
return $Worked;
} // End of WriteToFile function

function CreateForm () {
// Function CreatForm will display the HTML form.
echo ("Add a URL to the data file:\n");
echo ("<FORM ACTION=\"urls.php\" METHOD=POST>\n");
echo ("URL <INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=\"Array\" SIZE=60<BR>\n");
echo ("Description <TEXTAREA NAME=\"Array[Description]\" ROWS=5 COLS=40></TEXTAREA><BR>\n");
echo ("<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=\"BeenSubmitted\" VALUE=\"TRUE\">\n");
echo ("<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT NAME=\"SUBMIT\" VALUE=\"Submit!\"></FORM>\n");
} // End of CreateForm Function.

function HandleForm () {
global $Array;
$Pattern = "([url]http://)?([^{[:space:]]+)([[:alnum:].,-_?/&=])";}
if (eregi($Pattern, $Array["URL"])) {
$Replace = "<a href= \"http://\2\3\" target=\"_new\">\2\3</a>";
$Array["URL"] = eregi_replace ($Pattern, $Replace, $Array["URL"]);
$CallFunction = WriteToFile ($Array["URL"], $Array["Description"]);
if ($CallFunction) {
echo ("Your submission $Array[URL] has been received!<P><HR><P>\n");
} else {
echo ("Your submission was not processed due to a system error!<BR>\n");
}
} else {
echo ("Please enter a valid web address!\n");
}
} // End of HandleForm function.

// This next conditional determines when to handle the form, depending upon whether or not $BeenSubmitted is TRUE.
if ($BeenSubmitted) {
HandleForm();
}
ReadFromFile();
CreateForm();
?>

I thought I could just change a couple of things and be done... Regarding the using of a db, I agree, but this is such a tiny 'wedding-ware' website... At most there'll be 100 responses... then no more... And plus I wanted to learn...

The original code was set up for web urls... I changed it to email... etc... Figured I'd do the email check with javascript...

Drew

Norman_Graham

Hi Drew

I can see what's gone wrong here. If you look at the original code, you'll see that $Array[URL] is the name of the form variable. You've changed those variables to $name and $email etc., but you still have "$Array" in your functions.

I think calling any variable $array is bad news because array() is a PHP command.

However, I've just tested the code from Larry Ullman and it works. Change all the variables to the names you want: $name etc. Get rid of the 'array' stuff and use your own variable names. You may want some regexp to check the e-mail address - check the net for examples.

HTH

Norm