Get elements with JS and send to DB?

TravisB

I have a list of items on a page and the user can drag the items up or down to prioritize them. I can capture the order of the list with javascript using something like this:


function getlist() {

var orderList = '';
orderedNodes = document.getElementById("drivers_list_q").getElementsByTagName("li");

for (var i=0;i < orderedNodes.length;i++) {
orderList += orderedNodes[i].getAttribute('record_id') + ', ';
}
alert(orderList);

}

This sends an alert window with the list in the order shown on the page.

How can I translate this data into something PHP can access and send back to my database?

jmack159

i think you need something like JSON (javascript object notation). i don't know much about it, except that it is an interface between js and php (written in php). I've seen it used for Ajax applications. may be what you need. hope this points you in the right direction

dougal85

Almost right but...

jmack159 wrote:
i think you need something like JSON (javascript object notation). i don't know much about it, except that it is an interface between js and php (written in php).

JSON isn't written in PHP and isn't only for PHP, pretty much all mainstream languages support it.

The easiest way to think about JSON, is as a simple way to represent variables (arrays, objects etc) in a string form. That can then be processed by JavaScript and turned back into these.

You can read more about it at http://www.json.org/

If you just want the good stuff, go to http://www.json.org/js.html (at the very bottom you will find a open source JSON parser.

It will then return a string that you can do what you want with.

If you want something to deal with the JSON in php i believe there are pear modules for it and its built into PHP5

toxic_brain

or just use an ajax call as,

server_page.php?ids=10,11,25,58,60

nd from server side u can explode them back to an array as

$orders = explode(',' , $_GET['ids'] ) ;

TravisB

Thanks for your replies. I read the page for JSON but I am not sure how to implement it. How do I send my data in the array "orderList" to the parser to pass to my PHP?