AJAX - Form $_POST is not working in PHP file

[akrashdi]

Hi,

I have successfully setup the AJAX functinality (the front-end part), I tested it by generating a static file using PHP.

The problem is my $_POST is not working.

Heres the Javascript code that prepares the Form Array and send it to AJAX function getData(formArray)

	function setFormArray() {
		var formArray = "fromCity=" + document.getElementById("fromCity").value + 
								"&fromState=" + document.getElementById("fromState").value + 
								"&fromZipcode=" + document.getElementById("fromZipcode").value + 
								"&toCity=" + document.getElementById("toCity").value + 
								"&toState=" + document.getElementById("toState").value + 
								"&toZipcode=" + document.getElementById("toZipcode").value + 
								"&rate=" + document.getElementById("rate").value + 
								"&parking=" + document.getElementById("parking").value + 
								"&tolls=" + document.getElementById("tolls").value + 
								"&miles=" + document.getElementById("miles").value + 
								"&taxPercent=" + document.getElementById("taxPercent").value + 
								"&gasPercent=" + document.getElementById("gasPercent").value + 
								"&gasAmount=" + document.getElementById("gasAmount").value;
								getData('process/rates_xml.php',formArray);
	}

Heres the Ajax function getData(formArray)

      var XMLHttpRequestObject = false; 

  if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
    // Create the object if the browser is non-microsoft
    XMLHttpRequestObject = new XMLHttpRequest();
    // Firefox browsers have problems getting XML document, so override the mimetype manually
    XMLHttpRequestObject.overrideMimeType("text/xml");
  } else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
    // or Create the object for microsoft browser
    try {
        XMLHttpRequestObject = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
    } catch (e) {
        try {
            XMLHttpRequestObject = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
        } catch (e) {}
    }
  }

  //  inform users if their browser does not support XMLHttpRequest object
 if (!XMLHttpRequestObject) {
     alert('Your browser doesn\'t support this feature.');
 }


// Making Requet to Server
      function getData(theURL, theForm) 
      { 

    if(XMLHttpRequestObject) {

		  var url = theURL;
		  var formArray = theForm;

			  XMLHttpRequestObject.onreadystatechange = function() 
			  { 
						if (XMLHttpRequestObject.readyState == 4) {
								if (XMLHttpRequestObject.status == 200) { 
										var xmlDocument = XMLHttpRequestObject.responseXML;
										displayData(xmlDocument); 
								} else if (XMLHttpRequestObject.status != 0) { // some versions of IE can return 0
										alert('There was a problem with the request.(Code: ' + XMLHttpRequestObject.status + ')');
								}
						} 
			  } 

				 // make request to server using POST method
				  XMLHttpRequestObject.open("POST", url, true); 
				  XMLHttpRequestObject.setRequestHeader("Content-Type","application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8")
				  XMLHttpRequestObject.send(formArray); 
			}

  }

Heres the function that display the XML

	function displayData(xmldoc) {

	document.getElementById("fromCity").value = getNodeValue(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName("fromCity")[0]);
	document.getElementById("fromState").options[0].text = getNodeValue(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName("fromState")[0]);
	document.getElementById("fromZipcode").value = getNodeValue(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName("fromZipcode")[0]);
	document.getElementById("toCity").value = getNodeValue(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName("toCity")[0]);
	document.getElementById("toState").options[0].text = getNodeValue(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName("toState")[0]);
	document.getElementById("toZipcode").value = getNodeValue(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName("toZipcode")[0]);
	document.getElementById("rate").value = getNodeValue(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName("rate")[0]);
	document.getElementById("parking").value = getNodeValue(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName("parking")[0]);
	document.getElementById("tolls").value = getNodeValue(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName("tolls")[0]);
	document.getElementById("miles").value = getNodeValue(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName("miles")[0]);
	document.getElementById("taxPercent").value = getNodeValue(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName("taxPercent")[0]);
	document.getElementById("gasPercent").value = getNodeValue(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName("gasPercent")[0]);
	document.getElementById("gasAmount").value = getNodeValue(xmldoc.getElementsByTagName("gasAmount")[0]);

}

and Heres the PHP file that generates the XML file.

<?php
print "<?xml version='1.0'?>";
print "<rates>";
print "<fromCity>$_POST['fromCity']</fromCity>";
print "<fromState>$_POST['fromState']</fromState>";
print "<fromZipcode>$_POST['fromZipcode']</fromZipcode>";
print "<toCity>$_POST['toCity']</toCity>";
print "<toState>$_POST['toState']</toState>";
print "<toZipcode>$_POST['toZipcode']</toZipcode>";
print "<rate>$_POST['rate']</rate>";
print "<parking>$_POST['parking']</parking>";
print "<tolls>$_POST['tolls']</tolls>";
print "<miles>$_POST['miles']</miles>";
print "<taxPercent>$_POST['taxPercent']</taxPercent>";
print "<gasPercent>$_POST['gasPercent']</gasPercent>";
print "<gasAmount>$_POST['gasAmount']</gasAmount>";
print "</rates>";
?>

[bpat1434]

One reason could be the double quotes. When dealing with XML, "<?" is considered a PHP tag which might be causing you trouble. Try using:

print '<?xml version='1.0'?>';

instead.

[akrashdi]

Thank you, I tried single quotes, no luck. Actually the XML is not an issue, the $_POST array has nothing in it when it reaches the PHP script

FireFox error console says "el has no properties"
IE says "object required"

this code works fine

<?php
print "<?xml version='1.0'?>";
print "<rates>";
print "<fromCity>Gujranwala</fromCity>";
print "<fromState>Punjab</fromState>";
print "<fromZipcode>52250</fromZipcode>";
print "<toCity>Lahore</toCity>";
print "<toState>Punjab</toState>";
print "<toZipcode>00254</toZipcode>";
print "<rate>1500</rate>";
print "<parking>20</parking>";
print "<tolls>15</tolls>";
print "<miles>50</miles>";
print "<taxPercent>5</taxPercent>";
print "<gasPercent>4</gasPercent>";
print "<gasAmount>400</gasAmount>";
print "</rates>";
?>

But this code does not

<?php

print "<?xml version='1.0'?>";
print "<rates>";
print "<fromCity>$_POST[fromCity]</fromCity>";
print "<fromState>$_POST[fromState]</fromState>";
print "<fromZipcode>$_POST[fromZipcode]</fromZipcode>";
print "<toCity>$_POST[toCity]</toCity>";
print "<toState>$_POST[toState]</toState>";
print "<toZipcode>$_POST[toZipcode]</toZipcode>";
print "<rate>$_POST[rate]</rate>";
print "<parking>$_POST[parking]</parking>";
print "<tolls>$_POST[tolls]</tolls>";
print "<miles>$_POST[miles]</miles>";
print "<taxPercent>$_POST[taxPercent]</taxPercent>";
print "<gasPercent>$_POST[gasPercent]</gasPercent>";
print "<gasAmount>$_POST[gasAmount]</gasAmount>";
print "</rates>";
?>

[bpat1434]

It's a long-shot, but perhaps you need to use encodeURI(string) on all the sent strings... perhaps that's messing up the post array somehow.

Not 100% sure.... I don't typically use home-grown AJAX code. I usually use jQuery or Prototype for that.

[WildcatRudy]

This is a "maybe"...try enclosing those arrays in braces:

print "<fromCity>{$_POST[fromCity]}</fromCity>";
print "<fromState>{$_POST[fromState]}</fromState>";

Untested, but had to do this in a few scripts where arrays weren't understood properly. (IOW, arrays used in functions like print().)