[RESOLVED] I have tried and failed

yeshuawatso

Ok here's my situation:

I'm building a three part form, the first part is selecting a specific item/s and calulating a total. (which I've got to work with Javascript but not with PHP yet). Then taking those items and totals and posting them to another form in hidden fields. From there, the user fills the other form out (basic info form with validation) and sends it off to Paypal to be processed.

So in a nut shell this is the process I'm taking:

Select certain parts of a form
Calculate those parts into numbers and totals
send the values and totals to another form to be stored in hidden fields
collect user information
Validate that information
upon validation (if TRUE) forward all variables and numbers to PayPal

The parts that I am needing help on are:
#3: sending the calculations to the other form preferribly via POST or sessions
#6: after it's true forward the varibles over

I can get the validation done, but only when the form is submitting to itself. I have no idea how to pass on the variables.

Thanks in advance for the ideas.

bpat1434

Well, after the validation, you should show a message that says something like:
"Information validated. Proceeding to step 2" (or something along those lines)
and have a hidden form with all your previous post data. You'd do that by looping through the $POST array, and dynamically creating your form:

foreach($_POST as $name=>$val)
{
  if($name != 'submit'){
    // We only need the actual info, not the submit button...
    echo '<input type="hidden" name="'.$name.'" value="'.$val.'">';
  }
}

Then, just use some JS to say:
onLoad="this.form.submit()"
and submit the form automatically

Same thing on step 6, except for the fact that your "action" in the form would be to the paypal page, and not one of your creation.

yeshuawatso

I have tried that before, however all I get is an each() type error. I will try your method again to see if it works. Also, I noticed that you mentioned some Javascript, I am trying to prevent from depending on client side java script so is there a PHP function as onLoad()? Or would it be easier to setup a link that says, if your page does not load within X amount of time click here.

bpat1434

Well, PHP is a server-side language, so having it "push forward" through your stuff is difficult. You have a couple options:
1.) Store everything in a session, and get them to press a button to go to PayPal that submits a hidden form (created from session values) to PayPal.
2.) Look into use the cURL function to POST vars from page to page
3.) Require some client-side JS

Obviously, the client-side JS is the easiest. Most browsers won't block the form submission JS code (or not from what I've seen). So personally I don't think you have too much to worry about. The session option is viable, and easy to accomplish as a server-side solution. The cURL solution is a little more invasive and would require you to learn about cURL and how to use it properly.

In all honesty, I'd suggest going with the session route as it won't hurt anything. You can put all you need in there, and it's available until the session is destroyed. But any of them will do what you want.

yeshuawatso

Also how do you get the darn thing to do that, right now it's calculating on a seperate page. What I was thinking of doing is as follows:

Select certain parts of a form
Calculate those parts into numbers and totals
send the values and totals to the user info form to be stored in hidden fields
collect user information
Validate that information on a seperate form
if False, return user back to the info form with the error message to correct
upon validation (if TRUE) forward all variables and numbers to PayPal

So here is my new question, If I validate the info on a seperate page, how do I return the error back to that page to be fixed. I was using an if--else if statements, but the validation was done on the same page.

bpat1434

Once again, just write the valid info to the session, and populate your form based off session data.

Empty Session? Empty values
Session populated? Non-empty valid values!!

yeshuawatso

So let me see if I got this right:

Select certain parts of a form
Calculate those parts into numbers and totals
send the values and totals to the session
redirect to info page
revive the session variables in hidden forms
collect user information
Validate that information on a seperate form - store in sessions
Out put any error messages to session and redirect back --OR--
upon validation (if TRUE) forward all variables and numbers to PayPal using the foreach() function and onLoad="this.form.submit"

bpat1434

remove step 5 and you've got it. Once variables are in the session, they're globally available. So there's no need to re-post them... you can at that point just use a header() redirect....

And on the last page, during validation, you'd need to [man]array_push/man the values of the posted form onto the session, so as not to overwrite anything....

But other than those two minor points, I think you've got the idea!!