Showing data from a form

jmh09

Hello, I was learning how to use PHP with html forms and I'm having some problems. I think it might be some kind of syntax screwup because it's kind of simple :o .

The form:

		<FORM METHOD="GET" ACTION="results.html">
		Enter your first name:<BR>
		<INPUT NAME="firstName" TYPE="TEXT">
		<BR><BR>
		Enter your last name:<BR>
		<INPUT NAME="lastName" TYPE="TEXT">
		<BR><BR>
		Choose your favorite teams:<BR>
		<SELECT NAME="teams[]" MULTIPLE="TRUE">
			<OPTION>Cincinnati Reds</OPTION>
			<OPTION>Cincinnati Bengals</OPTION>
			<OPTION>Ohio State Buckeyes</OPTION>
		</SELECT>
		<BR><BR>
		<INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" VALUE="Submit"><INPUT TYPE="RESET" VALUE="Reset">
		</form>

the page that displays the results (results.html):

	<?php
		echo "Hello, " , $_GET["firstName"] , " " . $_GET["lastName"] , ".<BR>These are your favorite teams:<BR>";
		foreach ($_GET["team"] as $teamSelected){
			echo $teamSelected, "<BR>";
		}
	?>

Thanks for your help. Also, two questions: what exactly is the difference between the "get" and "post" methods for forms? The book I'm reading makes it seem like they are the same thing, and you should use $_REQUEST to get both. Second, when exactly do you give a file the .php extension? I know PHP will "interpret" from inside an html file, so why name it .php? Is there some kind of convention? Thanks.

Edit: sorry, forgot to say. I'm using PHP 5, and the form part at least looks fine (as in when I view it in a browser.)

Installer

The code looks like it should work. Try "print_r($_GET)" at the top of your second page.

GET values are passed in the URI, e.g. http://example.com/page.php?firstname=Paul&lastname=Lopez. POST values are passed in the response body, after the headers. "$_REQUEST" will give you both, but you should use whichever method you expect from the submitting page, for finer control of your scripting and for security.

A server will interpret any PHP code in ".html" or any other suffixed file only if it is specifically configured to do so. Some configure their servers to do so, and some don't.

Edit: I misspoke there. POST values are sent with the request, after the headers, not in the response. Of course.

jmh09

Thanks for replying. The post and get methods make sense now, too. 😃

I changed the echo's to print_r's and here's what it says on the results page:

These are your favorite teams:
"; foreach ($_POST["team"] as $teamSelected){ print_r $teamSelected, "
"; } ?>