$_POST array problem from a dynamically generated form.

jeepiephp

$_POST array problem from a dynamically generated form.

I'm trying to write a php web program that allows me to produce
custom text that I use often. For example, I might say:

Hello Bob

I will contact you at VARIABLE>>>9:30 AM // this time could change

Thank you

JeepiePHP

Or I might say

Hello Bob

Thank you for contacting me about VARIABLE>>>boxes. Here is the VARIABLE>>>box.doc. // these variables could change

Thank you

JeepiePHP

I am using SQL to pull the text from a MySQL database.

THE PROBLEM

The issue I have is with the use of $POST to collect my custom variables. Here is an example I've coded to show the issue. The key point is there custom controls are written out which the user can then populate and submit. However, $POST only ever holds the last control - why is this? and how do I get all three posted values?

Thanks

JEEPIEPHP

<html>

<title>Forms test</title>

<h1>New Controls POC</h1>

<body>


<?php

//function

//write the left function for cutting variables

function left($string, $length) {
   return substr($string, 0, $length);
}


// Connecting, selecting database
$lk = mysql_connect('localhost', 'jeepiephp', 'password')
   or die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());

//echo 'Connected successfully';

mysql_select_db('test') or die('Could not select database');

// Performing SQL query
$query = 'SELECT  customtext FROM textstore ';
$result = mysql_query($query) or die('Query failed: ' . mysql_error());


echo "<table>\n";



while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
   $customtext = $row['customtext'];

   echo "$customtext<br><br>";

   //String returned the control 1 is called &&&brighteyes and the control 2 is called &&&will the control number 3 is called &&&cash

   }

$vars = explode("&&&", $customtext);


//bin the first element of the array

   $junk = array_shift($vars);


//get the control names

foreach ($vars as $v)


{

$spacepresent = strpos($v, " ");


if ($spacepresent==NULL) {

//this is used to handle last array element

$arraycontrols[] = $v;


} else {

//Used to handle all other array elements


$arraycontrols[] = left($v, $spacepresent);


}

}


//Here is my array of controls in the arraycontrols


//Now I build a form for them

print "<form action=\"$PHP_SELF\" method=\"POST\">\n";


foreach ($arraycontrols as $c) {


   print "<input type=\"text\" name=\"\$c\"> ";


   print "$c<p>\n";

}

echo "<br><br>";

print "<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit Custom Info\">\n</form>\n";


//////THE PROBLEM: THIS ONLY ECHOS OUT THE LAST VALUE///////////////////////////////


 foreach($_POST as $x) {

   print "<br><br>$x<br>";

}

// Free resultset
mysql_free_result($result);

// Closing connection
mysql_close($lk);


?>

</body>

</html>

bpat1434

Umm.... [php] tags? THat's a lot of unformatted code to look at.

Are you posting variables to this page from another form? If not, then you shouldn't get any values in your $_POST array. Otherwise, there is something in your form. Try this as a debugging option:

<?php
 foreach($_POST as $var => $val) {

print "<br><br>".{$var}." => ".$val."<br>";

}
?>

THat will print out variable and value pairs. If you don't see what you expect, look at your form, otherwise look at where you post your variables from (another page perhaps).

The only other thing I can see right off the bat is that this should probably be addition rather than complete replacement:

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
    $customtext = $row['customtext'];

Try using:

$customtext = '';
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
    $customtext .= $row['customtext'];

I'm guessing that that is where it might fall apart as well.

~Brett

jeepiephp

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. Sorry about not using the PHP tag. Will remember in future. My first post.

Using the debugging tip I only get the last value from the $POST array. My
example writes three controls. But only the value from the last one is stored in $POST. This is the issue.


if a, b, c entered in controls.

$c => c

I am going between pages, but was just writing out here for illustrative purposes.

Thanks

bpat1434

Okay, so then do this for me. Please add this line after your form:

var_dump($customtext);

What does that output for you?

What I'm thinking is that all the values aren't written to the variable, and just the last one is. So by checking this, we can start with a more in-depth debug.

~Brett

jeepiephp

Hi,

I'll post back the code test tomorrow as it's on another machine. Thanks. I wasn't aware of this parameter/debugging method.

I think you are right though. My thoughts - I'm newish though - is that because the input boxes of the form are dynamically written by my code for some reason only the last control is posted to the $_POST array.

In my code &&&ControlName is the syntax that I'm using to name the subsitution and the control. Only the last &&&Control value from the input box seems to get stored in $_POST.

I'll confirm by trying your test out. Thanks a million for the advice so far. I've learned a lot already.

Thanks

bpat1434

I'll try and explain what I think is going on versus what you want to happen.

You pull up the page, and populate a variable with information from a database query. You then use that variable to create a form to be submitted back upon itself. Then the $POST array is populated, and the code dealing with $POST will execute and display the results.

What you are actually doing is pulling up a page, and continually resetting a variable back to being whatever the most recent row pulled from the database is. Then you use that one value to populate a form that posts back to itself, and when the $POST code executes, it only has one value to give (the last row, or most recent row from the database) so you only get one $POST value.

You've never said your form has been populated properly, or that there have not been errors in the form's display. I'm assuming that the form isn't showing the way it should be, but if it is, then I also have an idea of what might be going on. I'll wait for your reply with what the results are.

~Brett

jeepiephp

Hi Brett,

Here are the results:


while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {
   $joketext = $row['customtext'];

   echo "$customtext<br><br>";

   //String returned the control 1 is called &&&brighteyes and the control 2 is called &&&will the control number 3 is called &&&cash

   }

$brett = var_dump($customtext);

............


$brett = var_dump($customtext);

print_r($customtext);

I don't think the issue is here. The form works well and prints out fine.

Here is the result:

string(112) "the control 1 is called &&&brighteyes and the control 2 is called &&&will the control number 3 is called &&&cash"

The code will print out three controls called brighteyes, will and cash. But I can't reference their values in the $_POST array as only the value of the last entered control appears in the post array.

Any thoughts.

Cheers

bpat1434

Okay, so check your form. Make sure that the form is set up properly (i.e. each item has its own unique name). If that is okay, then my next thing is to modify your foreach() loop to be:
foreach($_POST as $val => $x).

You could also try adding this before you loop through the $_POST array:

var_dump($_POST); // Don't echo or put it in a variable, just add that line

~Brett

bpat1434

I FIGURED IT OUT!!!

Look here in your code:

foreach ($arraycontrols as $c) {
print "<input type=\"text\" name=\"\$c\"> ";
print "$c";
}

You are escaping the fact that the $c is a variable in the input box, thus you are making each input box the same name, and thus you only get one value as your answer!!

Just remove the one backslash before the "$c" in the input form, and you'll be fine. So your code should read:

print "<input type=\"text\" name=\"$c\"> ";

Wow... who would have thought something so easy would take so long to find.

I found it only after I mimicked your page on my local server. THe way I write PHP, I don't use double quotes unless I have to, and I use single quotes to echo/print everything, and escape the string to input variable values. That causes less trouble for me, so it may be something for you to think about. Here's what my code looked like compared to yours:

// My Code
      foreach($arraycontrols as $c)
      {
          echo '<input type="text" name="'.$c.'" />'.$c.'<br />';
      }

// Your Code
foreach ($arraycontrols as $c) {
    print "<input type=\"text\" name=\"\$c\"> ";
}

Hope that gets you goin....

~Brett

jeepiephp

GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brett,

My sincere thanks. I can understand your explanation perfectly and thanks for the advice. My warped newbie thinking was that in some way $ was special as it precedes a variable. How wrong can you be.

THANK YOU!

See you on the forums.

Bye