[RESOLVED] using includes: html form parse data inside 2nd form.

[ATS16805]

i hope i catch someone who's been following my struggles w/ this hodge podge event scheduler app...

i'm coming down the stretch, so to speak. i've got a lot of the separate things settled that i need for my main "date entry" form. due to the several data items which need to be collected by this form, i've decided to try using includes, which i've found isn't that tricky at all really.

however, one of my includes needs itself to parse it's own little form data to result in the final entry to be submitted in the "date entry" form. perhaps doing this particular bit as an "include" is NOT the best option?

i was considering having a java pop-up a separate window so the data parsing include form (of date info, using mktime() to get a timestamp) could do its thing and get that timestamp data-- but how do i tell the original form-- the bigger picture form-- to record this newly parsed data? in other words, this form w/in a form is grabbing a timestamp for me-- how do i ensure that the new timestamp becomes that which is included by the include, instead of the timestamp parser form itself?

i can show you examples-- the "date entry " form is here (not fully functional), and that which is replacing the "show date" text input entry as an include on the "date entry" form, the timestamp parser, is here. (NOTE: timestamp parser "feedback" is NOT part of the larger file, in case that is not obvious if you look at it. it is of course not the actual file being accessed by the "concert date" form, but merely shown as an example of what data is being parsed by that include)

EDIT: i uploaded the new "Date Entry" file, so what you see at the first link above actually has my "included" version of the "timestamp parser" shown in the bottom right, listed as "show date"
Edit2: I populated my Artist Table w/ my test data so it doesn't look like that part is broken! those 6 drop-downs are an include, so at least that part works! 😉

[bastien]

You can use js to fill in hidden fields on the main form...

[ATS16805]

bastien, i truly appreciate your reply-- but i don't know js (dammit i have to learn some already!!) ... nor am i picking up exactly what you're telling me-- i mean, i guess you're telling me to use javascript to fill in the hidden fields, but which fields, and why go that route?. (this is honest, curious inquiry, not sarcasm)
any javascript you see in my code is something that i either borrowed from another site somewhere, or i got from a forum as a suggested use, or some js site-- but i ain't coding it myself-- if anyone has an idea on a quick primer for me, i would be most grateful-- i've looked for 'em, believe me-- but what i've found makes me just want to sit down w/ a book some day and just "learn" it that way.

ya have to excuse me-- i'm denser than most liquids. 😉

[bastien]

Yo got me confused here. Are you just looking to parse the timestamp back into the various boxes of the datestamp thingy?

[ATS16805]

bastien, no, that's not the point, actually, now that i see what you mean. i need to get the timestamp prepared to go into the mysql_query INSERT statement which is sent by the larger form there.

yeah, i know it is definitely confusing-- especially when i don't know how to explain it that well.

i want to get the timestamp into my database table. that's what i NEED to do. whatever it looks like on the screen-- well, the user will select from the dropdowns-- and i guess the idea is to have the user hit "get timestamp" (i can change the button label of course) and then the time-stamp version of the date will show onscreen for the user to verify just by sight (if they see that they entered an incorrect date, they of course can select again before the greater form sends the mysql_query), and then to go ahead and submit the greater form which will include that timestamp, and all of the other data on that page. my whole point here is how do i parse that timestamp, and get that back into this greater form for the final submission.

TO CLARIFY:
what you see as a result on the "timestamp parser" script itself, if you just hit the second of the two links in my first post-- all that text there is NOT needed to return to the form-- that was just to show the process to another post i made here at phpbuilder earlier when i was demonstrating something. so ignore that-- just the TIMESTAMP is the important part!

the reason i can't just submit the greater form after the dropdowns are selected (before they are parsed) is because at that point, they are not yet a valid timestamp. that's my concern

EDIT2: i feel like what i need to do is use $_GET on the "greater form" to grab the parsed data? but, i don't know how to send it to get from the include file-- i just don't know enough yet period-- and specifically on how to do these types of tasks... but that's why i'm here. 😉

[ATS16805]

bumped because i clarified confusing stuff in my last post.

[bpat1434]

Let me see if I understand this, perhaps i can make it clearer:

You have a form that has all kinds of data in it. This form has a sub-form that allows a user to choose a time from a drop-down and then create a time-stamp which is put into the text-box of the larger form. Then when the larger form is submitted, the time-stamp is submitted with it.

If that's what you want, you're making it really hard. A lot harder than you need to. If you're using my time drop-down that i gave you from a previous post, then if you just do a "mktime()" it will create the proper time-stamp.

Judging from what pages you posted, you are just giving the user feed-back about what they just put in. Except it's the exact same as what they just put in. You really don't need to give them that feedback, or show them what the timestamp looks like. Drop it.

Then, just go about parsing and creating the time-stamp as usual from the $_POST array.

~Brett

[ATS16805]

bpat1434 wrote:

you are just giving the user feed-back about what they just put in. Except it's the exact same as what they just put in. You really don't need to give them that feedback, or show them what the timestamp looks like.

hahaha. did anyone here actually think that's what that text was for? i can't stop laughing... seriously.

anyway. as i explained above, that "feedback" text was to illustrate the process of the timestamp being added from the dropdowns-- totally relevant to the post i made elsewhere here regarding my progress w/ the timestamp parsing, and in case anyone who was reading that post wanted to take the code for their own use-- as you can see there's a link to the txt version at the bottom-- and totally irrelevant to anything else. it is obviously not part of the "larger form"

i don't understand why no one has addressed the issue of getting the parsed data out of the include-- that's what i need to know. obviously, i don't need to put the dropdowns in as an include, but i am trying to avoid a 400 line file. that's all i'm really trying to do-- and to learn something about includes of course.

[bastien]

Not sure about the 400 line limit, I routinely run 2000-4000 line files...As far as i see it and what I've always done is to let the user input the date (variety of methods, not relevant as long as its a valid date) and then timestamp the thing on the way into the db. No muss, no fuss and to take it out to show the user I just run series of date('format',$row['timestamp']) to match the predefined array elements to make the presentation work...

Perhaps I just don't understand the goal of the exercise...

[ATS16805]

bastien wrote:

timestamp the thing on the way into the db. No muss, no fuss and to take it out to show the user ... to make the presentation work...

this is precisely what i'm trying to figure out-- only it takes me 1000 words to say it--

using the current setup (which btw has absolutely no real linked relationship, and logistically nothing to do with the standalone textual feedback thing which caused confusion earlier-- the implied relationship is that the timestamp is processed in the same manner, because the include uses an identical script to that which processes the timestamp in the standalone example. i brought it into the conversation earlier merely to demonstrate what type of timestamp feedback data i might need to put into the presentation which is at issue, as described below)...

how do i show the user that he has entered a valid date; that she has entered an invalid date and must try again? it's the presentation part, i think, that's at issue here-- and why i was trying to get the data from the results of the include back into the "presentation" one would see when one first comes upon that page; to appear as it would before any user input-- only this time it will have the date verification displayed somewhere, and the timestamp will be loaded into a variable, ready to send to the db w/ the rest of the form $_POST data.
include, or no-include, i guess it comes down to being a form within a form.

NOTE: for me, the complication here lies in the fact that i'm trying to make the presentation look "pretty". the goal being to allow the user to select the date, and take care of all of that timestamp / date validation fuss BEFORE all items of the greater form are finally submitted as a cumulative whole to make for a new row entry in the db.
why do it this way instead of validating the date at the time ALL data is submitted? i don't want the user to have to go back and re-select ALL options again just because she submitted an invalid date. i'm trying to make it easy on the user.

if my current setup is cumbersome / inappropriate, then what do you suggest i do as an alternative?

EDIT: as per a suggestion somewhere along the lines of this project, i've been learning javascript with the expectation that i will be able to use it to populate the feedback on the user's date input. just FYI. i don't know that javascript is my best option necessarily, but at least i'll be armed w/ that option-- although i'm not yet savvy enough w/ it to write what i need for this purpose. in other words-- i'll most likely need to read a tutorial or something to show me how.

[bastien]

Ah, so the real issue is that if they mess up the form, going back is a pain since they loose all the values....that is something that is easy to deal with. What I do is make the form a function. All the form code sits inside the function call and each element has the value="<?php echo $somefield;?>" as the value attribute...then if a mistake is found in the processing code, like a missing / invalid field entry, I can clear the entry, add to an error message and call the form function again, passing in the error message and data (as an array (less typing)) and refill all the correct fields...

Here is an example of doing all this in one page...maybe this will help you in working out a better solution...

[ATS16805]

Bastien,

phew (wipes brow)...
man, i'm glad that's over! i haven't studied your code yet at the URL you provided, but i think you hit the nail on the head. i copied your code and i'll definitely experiment with it directly.

with time and experience, i hope to become more articulate in describing my problems, and what's at issue. it is definitely challenging at times to get everyone else to "see" what i'm trying to say-- my guess is that i'm not the only one w/ this problem.

kudos to you all for joining in the struggle for clarity!
😉