[Resolved] work-around for numeric variables?

[gabeanderson]

I use the Web-to-case feature of salesforce.com to capture new cases from my site:

http://www.articulate.com/support/contact

It works great, but I've run into a big limitation: If the required field is a custom salesforce field, PHP will not play nicely because salesforce field variables begin with numbers; PHP variables cannot begin with numbers, of course.

Aside from rebuilding my whole contact form in something other than PHP, which I don't want to do, are there any work-arounds to this in PHP? Is there a way I can attach a non-numeric prefix to the variable while the PHP is processing it, then strip away the non-numeric variable before passing into salesforce?

I have no control over the salesforce custom field variables. Here's an example variable from salesforce:

00N30000000i2oN

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

-Gabe

[Installer]

Is "00N30000000i2oN" a variable name or a post or get value? I ask that because it resembles the value passed from your page as the "orgId".

[bradgrafelman]

I agree. Are you trying to tell us you need to create the variable $00N30000000i2oN ? Or you just want the value of $orgId to be "00N30000000i2oN", because the latter of the two presents no problem.

Clarify for us where this "00N30000000i2oN" is coming from, if it's not the value of $orgId ($orgId meaning $_GET['orgId'] = '00N30000000i2oN').

[gabeanderson]

Thanks for the quick replies. 00N30000000i2oN is, indeed, an example of the variable that's defined by salesforce.com.

Here's some sample code that I'd like to use:

<select name="00N30000000i2oN" id="N30000000i2oN">
<option value="">--None--</option>
<option <?php if ($00N30000000i2oN == "Articulate Presenter") {printf("selected"); } ?> value="Articulate Presenter">Articulate Presenter</option>
<option <?php if ($00N30000000i2oN == "Articulate QuizMaker") {printf("selected"); } ?> value="Articulate QuizMaker">Articulate QuizMaker</option>
<option <?php if ($00N30000000i2oN == "Articulate Knowledge Portal") { printf("selected"); } ?> value="Articulate Knowledge Portal">Articulate
Knowledge Portal</option>
</select>

This part of the code retains the selected form option after returning to the page following a check of required fields.

The variable will be passed from page to page (each page of the submission form will display a set of topics that varies depending on product selected).

Does this make sense? Thanks again for any input! 🙂

-Gabe

[bradgrafelman]

Well, don't use that as the variable name then..

$myVar = (empty($_POST['00N30000000i2oN']) ? '' : $_POST['00N30000000i2oN']);

Then, you can use $myVar in your script.

Do you never declare the POST'd variables anyway? If not, then it sounds like you're relying on register_globals, which is a big security risk anyway.

[gabeanderson]

Thanks, Brad! This seems to be just what I need. I know just enough PHP to get by, so no, I don't declare POST'd variables.

Does this code look right? It doesn't seem to be retaining the $product variable when I do the required field check on it.

<?php
$product = (empty($_POST['00N30000000i2oN']) ? '' : $_POST['00N30000000i2oN']);
?>

<select name="00N30000000i2oN" id="00N30000000i2oN">
<option value="">--None--</option>
<option <?php if ($product == "Articulate Presenter") {printf("selected"); } ?> value="Articulate Presenter">Articulate Presenter</option>
<option <?php if ($product == "Articulate QuizMaker") {printf("selected"); } ?> value="Articulate QuizMaker">Articulate QuizMaker</option>
<option <?php if ($product == "Articulate Knowledge Portal") { printf("selected"); } ?> value="Articulate Knowledge Portal">Articulate
Knowledge Portal</option>
</select>

Thanks,
Gabe

[bradgrafelman]

So it's not retaining the value? Try debugging the code a bit:

 <?php 
$product = (empty($_POST['00N30000000i2oN']) ? '' : $_POST['00N30000000i2oN']); 

echo '<br>---Product is: ' . $product . '---<br>';
?> 

<select name="00N30000000i2oN" id="00N30000000i2oN"> 
<option value="">--None--</option> 
<option <?php if ($product == "Articulate Presenter") {printf("selected"); } ?> value="Articulate Presenter">Articulate Presenter</option> 
<option <?php if ($product == "Articulate QuizMaker") {printf("selected"); } ?> value="Articulate QuizMaker">Articulate QuizMaker</option> 
<option <?php if ($product == "Articulate Knowledge Portal") { printf("selected"); } ?> value="Articulate Knowledge Portal">Articulate 
Knowledge Portal</option> 
</select> 

When you POST something, or do whatever is needed to be done for it to check the appropriate option, let me know what the 'product is:' line says.

Also, why are you using [man]printf/man ? A simple [man]print/man or [man]echo/man would be better, since you don't use any special formatting on the text outputted...

[gabeanderson]

Thanks, Brad. Nothing is showing up in the line:

---Product is: ---

You're welcome to check out the new (in progress) version of the form here:

http://blog.articulate.com/support/NEWindex.php?confirm=yes&customer=yes

Also, thanks for the pointer re: not needing to use printf().

-Gabe

[bradgrafelman]

Hrmm.... try replacing this:

$product = (empty($_POST['00N30000000i2oN']) ? '' : $_POST['00N30000000i2oN']);  

with this:

$product = @$_POST['00N30000000i2oN'];

[gabeanderson]

Thanks, Brad, but still no luck. It just doesn't seem to want to stick!

-Gabe

[bradgrafelman]

Try this then:

print_r($_POST);

Give me an URL once you do that, so I can see what's going on.

[gabeanderson]

Select a product, then click proceed, and you'll see the array:

http://blog.articulate.com/support/NEWindex.php?confirm=yes&customer=yes

It looks like the product is being assigned to 00N30000000i2oN and not to product?

Thanks,
Gabe

[Mori]

Maybe:

$product = $_POST['00N30000000i2oN'];

echo "Product: ".$product;

Uhm,a nd BTW, why can't you send this 00 as a hidded input, and name products simple products? And have then $_POST['products']?

[gabeanderson]

I think we may be on to something with the hidden input, Mori. That allows the variable to be successfully passed between pages, but it's not posting to salesforce.

Here's the page that shows how variable is now retained:

http://blog.articulate.com/support/NEWindex.php?confirm=yes&&customer=yes&name=&phone=&product=Articulate%20Presenter

Here's what the form is doing now:

<select name="product">
<input type="hidden" name="00N30000000i2oN" value="<?php $product; ?>">

Is that what you had in mind? Or am I missing something?

Thanks,
Gabe

[gabeanderson]

Good news: I finally got this sorted out!

This did the trick:

<select name="product">

<input type="hidden" name="00N30000000i2oN" value="<?= $product; ?>">

It wasn't so hard after all. 🙂 Thanks, everyone, for all the help!

-Gabe