passing variable data/drop-down menus

cadams

I am working through a tutorial on lusing sessions. I have a form that works for the most part, passing the variables from one form to another. However, I have a drop-down menu list and the value is not passed. I am including the code below. All the text field values are passed okay. It is the 'color' field that doesn't get passed. The following code is for the page resulting from the form submission. What am I missing?

<?php
session_start();
header("Cache-control: private"); //IE 6 Fix

echo "<strong>Step 2 - Register Session<br />";

// Get the user's input from the form
$first = $POST['first'];
$last = $POST['last'];
$address = $POST['address'];
$city = $POST['city'];
$phone = $POST['phone'];
$email = $email['email'];
$color = $_color['color'];

// Register session key with the value
$SESSION['first'] = $first;
$SESSION['last'] = $last;
$SESSION['address'] = $address;
$SESSION['city'] = $city;
$SESSION['email'] = $email;
$SESSION['phone'] = $phone;
$_SESSION['color'] = $color;

//Display the information:
?>

Welcome to my website <i><? echo $SESSION['first']; ?> <? echo $SESSION['last']; ?></i>
<br />
Can I call you at <strong><? echo $_SESSION['phone']; ?></strong>?

<br />
Are you really from <i><? echo $SESSION['city']; ?></i>?
<br />
Is your favorite color actually <i><? echo $SESSION['color']; ?></i>
<br />
Let's see what happens on the <a href="page3.php">next page.</a><br /><br />

drew010

data from drop down menus should be passed just the same as a text field, what is the basic code for your form?
i just need everything inside <form...></form>

cadams

<?php
session_start();
header("Cache-control: private"); //IE 6 Fix
?>

<html>
<head>
<title>Untitled Document</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<form method="post" action="page2.php">
<p>First
<input type="text" name="first">
</p>
<p>Last
<input type="text" name="last">
</p>
<p>Address
<input type="text" name="address">
</p>
<p>City
<input type="text" name="city">
</p>
<p>Phone
<input type="text" name="phone">
</p>
<p>Email
<input type="text" name="email">
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Select
<select name="color[]">
<option value="Red">Red</option>
<option value="Blue">Blue</option>
<option value="Green">Green</option>
</select>
<input type="SUBMIT" value="Submit">
</p>
</form>
</body>
</html>

drew010

just change
<select name="color[]"> to <select name="color"> since only one value can be chosen anyway, and then just access it using $_POST['color']

cadams

Thanks. Actually, I already had tried just using <Select name='"color"> and accessed it using <? echo $_SESSION['color']; ?>

So, how do I access it using $POST['color']? I tried <? echo $POST['color'];?>, but the result was 'Array'.

You have to realize that all this is new to me and I am experimenting. Thanks for your help.

drew010

well, when you have <select name="color[]"> the brackets tell php to make an array.
so that would give you something like $POST['color'][0] = "Red"
<select name="color"> should just result in $POST['color'] = "Red"

you can do the brackets for things like

Enter your kids' names:<br />
<input type="text" name="child[]"><br />
<input type="text" name="child[]"><br />
<input type="text" name="child[["><br />

and you have
$POST['child'][0] being the first textbox
$POST['child'][1] being the second textbox
$_POST['child'][2] being the third textbox.

cadams

Thank you. Yes, I understood that about arrays and the 'color[]' syntax. I then proceeded to use your suggestion about using $_POST, but the old form page was still in the browser cache. Thus, the 'Array' result.

So, now it works. I guess my question is why my previous statement <? echo $_SESSION['color']; ?> didn't work and it does for the other variables?.

drew010

im not sure about that, maybe it was reading from past data and the color session variable wasnt set yet.