[Resolved] Bizarre POST problem

jkurrle

Has anyone ever ran into this?

I am POSTing variables from a form to another page. The first variable POSTs, but the second one doesn't. To make matters even more bizarre, I created a third variable, populated it with the second variable's value and it POSTs just fine. If I then remove the second, nonfunctioning variable, the third variable no longer works.

This is extremely bizarre. I've had no problems posting this variable name before. Any ideas would be helpful...

kburger

Posting the code that causes the problem would be helpful.

jkurrle

Sorry about that. Here are the samples. Some unrelated code has been snipped for brevity.

HTML form page looks like this:

<?php include("...");
$return=$_SERVER['SCRIPT_URI']; ?>

The following main menu items are as follows:<br/>
<?php List_Menu_Items(); ?>
<br/>
Choose from the following main menu options:<br/>

<table>

<form method='post' action='/php/menu/Add_Menu.php'>
<input type='hidden' name='return' value='<?php echo "$return";?>'>

<tr>
  <td>
  Add the following Menu Item:
  </td>
  <td>
  <input type='text' name='Menu_Name'>
  </td>
</tr>

</form>

<form method='post' action='/php/menu/Delete_Menu.php'
<input type='hidden' name='return' value='<?php echo "$return";?>'>
<input type='hidden' name='bubba' value='<?php echo "$return";?>'>

<tr>
  <td>
  Delete Menu Item:
  </td>
  <td>
  <select name='Menu_Number' size='1'>
  <?php Menu_Options();?>
  </select>
  </td>
  <td>
  <input type='submit' value='Delete'>
  </td>
</tr>

</form>

</table>

The PHP form (Delete_Menu.php) has the following code:

<?php
include("/usr/local/apache2/htdocs/php/menu/menu.php");

$Menu_Number=$_POST['Menu_Number'];
$return=$_POST['return'];
$bubba=$_POST['bubba'];


$connection=Connect_To_DB();

$delete="delete from Main_Menu
  where Menu_Number='$Menu_Number'";
$result=mysql_query($delete)
  or die("Delete from Main_Menu table had errors.");

mysql_close($connection);
echo "<meta http-equiv='refresh' content=0;URL='$bubba'>";
?>

The $return variable is a common name I have used throughout all my programming at work. This is simply the return path that the script page returns to, after it has done its work.

For some reason, in the second form, the return variable does not pass to the PHP form. When looking at the source code on the form page, the syntax is correct. When passing it to the PHP page, however, it's as if the variable was never set.

Most bizarre...

kburger

...For some reason, in the second form, the return variable does not pass to the PHP form...

Sorry, I'm confused. Do you mean the HTML form? Here:

<input type='hidden' name='return' value='<?php echo "$return";?>'>
<input type='hidden' name='bubba' value='<?php echo "$return";?>'>

Are you saying the value of $return is not being substituted correctly here? Or are you saying the values of $POST['return'] and $POST['bubba'] are incorrect on Delete_Menu.php? What I see looks correct. But I don't see why you're using the value of $return for 2 different variables. Maybe I'm missing something.

mtmosier

<form method='post' action='/php/menu/Delete_Menu.php'
<input type='hidden' name='return' value='<?php echo "$return";?>'>

You need to close your form tag.

jkurrle

Before I set a second variable name (bubba) to $return, I simply had the variable name set to 'return'. This has worked countless times for me with no problem. I have set up multiple forms within pages with this variable included as a hidden variable. Now, all of a sudden, my 'return' variable doesn't get read by the PHP processing page.

I added a 'bubba' variable just to see what would happen and all of a sudden, 'bubba' passed! So I set my return path to 'bubba' and the script works. I tried deleting the 'return' variable from the form and from the PHP script page. All of a sudden the php script couldn't read the 'bubba' variable!

I've never seen this kind of weirdness before. Usually, I misspell something, or miss a capitalization or something. Here the code appears correct, but something is going on...

Oh, and the form tag is closed in the original code, I accidently snipped it when posting it here.

kburger

Any session variables or cookies named 'return' that might be overwriting your post variable?

jkurrle

Not using session variables or cookies.

The 'return' variable has always worked for me. Not only that, but it isn't tied to the variable name. As I mentioned before, deleting the 'return' variable causes 'bubba' to suddenly not be found by the PHP script.

Totally bizarre behavior. I've programmed around it, but I'm most curious as to why my php script is not able to find the second variable...

kburger

That does seem strange. Have you tried doing a print_r $_POST just to see what's there?

jkurrle

It shows variables 'Menu_Number' and 'bubba' with their respective values. No mention of the 'return' variable.

kburger

Hmmm... Well, I'm stumped. Anybody else? What are we missing?

jkurrle

I traded positions of my 'return' and 'bubba' lines in the posting form and tried again. Now, 'return' works, but 'bubba' doesn't. It's as if when posting, the form can't post the second variable, whatever it is...

jkurrle

mtmosier was correct all along. I did not have a closing bracket on my form tag. I thought he meant I didn't have a </form> closing tag in my code. I added the closing bracket and all works fine now.

Thanks for your help!