How do I handle a form with unknown amount of fields?

rushy2uk

I've had a look around various forums but cannot find exactly what I'm looking for.

I have a section of a form which has 3 fields to record printer details (make, model, year of install):
Click to see pic

If that were the only 3 fields to process then I could do it like this:

$make= $_POST["make"];
$model= $_POST["model"];
$year_install= $_POST["year_install"];

however, there is a button in the Printer Details section of the form that dynamically adds another row of the 3 input fields, so now I have 'make2', 'model2', 'year_install2'...if pressed again I have fields 'make3', 'model3', 'year_install3' etc:
Click to see pic

I'm presuming that I'd need some type of loop to iterate through the fields but am unsure how to do it. Would an array be useful here?

Also, once the fields are assigned to variables, would I have to make seperate sql queries for each entry eg:

$query = "INSERT INTO `customers` VALUES ('$make1', '$model1', '$year_install1')";

or again, could I use a loop?

If anybody can help I'd be very grateful.

Weedpacket

Yes, you could use a loop. When $i is 3, $POST['make'.$i] would be $POST['make3'].

rushy2uk

Thanks for the reply Weedpacket.

Naming the fields 'make[]', 'model[]' and 'year_install[]' were suggested on another forum which I have tested and it works, but I need help with the rest of the solution (getting the data out of the arrays and into a MySQL Database).

Here's what was suggested:

You'll need to loop thru $_POST['model'] array, combine model, make and year into string ('model', 'make', 'year') and save this string in a $data array. After the loop join $data with comma and create sql statement "insert ... values $imploded_data".

Can anybody provide a working example or some links that show this in more detail?

rushy2uk

I had these replies form mwolfe & stereofrog on another forum and thought I'd share them. They have both helped me out bigtime. I managed to alter mwolfe's code slightly to get a result:

PHP Code:
$make = $POST['make'];
$model = $POST['model'];
$year = $_POST['year_install'];
$amount = count($make);
$sql = "INSERT INTO machines (machines_id,customers_id,make,model,year_install) VALUES ";
$amount = count($make);

for ($i=0; $i < $amount; $i++) {
$currMake = $make[$i];
$currModel = $model[$i];
$currYear = $year[$i];
$sql .= "('', '$cust_id', '$currMake', '$currModel', '$currYear-01-01'),";
}

$sql = substr_replace($sql,"",-1); //remove the last comma

However, I really like stereofrog's code as it looks neater...I just don't understand what's going on there...I'll have to look it up:

PHP Code:
if(isset($REQUEST['go'])) {
$sql = array();
foreach($REQUEST['r'] as $row) {
$sql[] = sprintf("('%s', '%s', %d)",
mysql_real_escape_string($row['model']),
mysql_real_escape_string($row['make']),
intval(@$row['order'])
);
}
$sql = implode(", ", $sql);
$sql = "INSERT INTO tbl(make,model,order) VALUES $sql";
echo "<div>$sql</div>";
// mysql_query stuff here
}

There are not multiple checkboxes, so I'm ok with the javascript I already have...plus I'm not too hot on javascript, having only started reading Stuart Langridge's DHTML book this week: http://www.sitepoint.com/books/dhtml1/.

Now I'm onto my next task...implementing a email verification system...I presume I'll have to include a link with some sort of identifier...maybe hashed...any ideas?