Help needed with simple form

NSC

How do I stop the aray $saved_list from being cleared? If Submit is clicked without selecting any cities, I need it to remember the previously selected cities.

The script is loaded at http://openhousenow.ca/test.php
Thanks

<html>
<body>

<form method="POST" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>">
Pick Cities: <select name="city[]" multiple>
<option value="Surrey"> Surey</option>
<option value="Langley"> Langley</option>
<option value="Cloverdale"> Cloverdale</option>
<option value="Victoria"> Victoria</option>
</select>
<input type="submit" name="Order">
</form>


</body>
</html>
<?PHP
if(!isset($_POST[Order])){
   if (empty($saved_list)){
      $city_list = "empty";
      $note = " nothing has ben entered since loading the script ";
      }
   else {
      $city_list = $saved_list;
      $note = "have not pressed enter but cities should be saved from before";
                         //  Problem! How do I stop $saved_list from being cleared?
      }
   }


if(isset($_POST[Order])and isset($_POST[city])){
   $saved_list = $_POST[city];
   $city_list = $saved_list;
   unset($_POST[Order]);
   $note = "cities selected and entered. Post order has been cleared";
   }
if(isset($_POST[Order])and !isset($_POST[city])){
   if (empty($saved_list)){
   $city_list = "empty";
   $note = " clicked enter but nothing was selected first ";
   unset($_POST[Order]);
   }
   else {
   $city_list = $saved_list;
 //  Problem! How do I stop $saved_list from being cleared? 
  $note = " I hit enter without selecting cities. city list should be the old saved list  and post order should be cleared ";
   unset($_POST[Order]);
   }
}

echo "post order is ";
var_dump($_POST[Order]);
echo "</p>post city is ";
var_dump($_POST[city]);
echo "</p>saved list is ";
var_dump($saved_list);
echo "</p>city list is ";
var_dump($city_list);
var_dump($note);

?>

meigwil

From what I can see, you need some hidden fields in there to keep any city lists that have been chosen. However, it would be difficult to keep track of these lists indefinitely without a database.

Could you give some information on what you are trying to acheive with your script? This will help us to give you the correct advice.

Cheers,

Mei

bogu

Keep all the selected values in a session.
Session Handling Functions

ionathas

Maybe you could find a way to use

header("Location: test.php?saved_list=" . $saved_list);

But its not really a clean way to do it...

Horizon88

As bogu said, sessions would work well here. What I like to do is use self-submitting forms in something like this:

if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST') {
   // posted form
   $arPost = &$_POST; // load $_POST into an array that's a bit easier to type and
                                   // manipulate
   if ($arPost['field_name'] == 'required value here') {
      // do code here
   }
   else {
       // set a message giving an error
       $error = 'Field_name must equal required value';
   }
}
else {
    $arPost = array('field_name' => ''); // set default values to prevent warnings
}
if ($error) {
   echo $error;
}
else {
   // echo form tags and start stuff
   echo 'Field Name: <input type="text" name="field_name" value="'.$arPost['field_name'].'" />';
   // since $arPost[] is either what they submitted or '', we're okay here.
}

Does that make sense?

NSC

First, I thank all of you who responded to my call for help. My problem clearly stems from my lack of programming knowledge. I have painfuly learned what programming101 teaches - variables are not kept from one execution of the script to the next execution of the script.
So, meigwil and bogu, you are right. A Session and database is needed. However, to access the needed row within the database, I would need to reference the row by session_id. My problem is that the script that is called by my script is associated with a different session and session_id. Is there a way of referencing the session_id from another script instead of using the session that is active during my script?

ionathas mentions the use of headers. Could headers be used to pass another session's variables back to my script?

Thank you Horizon88 for sharing your script also.

benracer

ionathas wrote:
Maybe you could find a way to use
header("Location: test.php?saved_list=" . $saved_list);
But its not really a clean way to do it...

You could do this by serialize the array first then unserialize later.