[RESOLVED] form processing strategy neede

sig

First let me say how much I have appreciated the contributors to this forum
and now on to business:
I want to process a form's input within the same script that displays the form. However, I want to have a separate page that demands a proper access code before the form is displayed. Checking for the proper access code is also done
on the second page that displays the form and then processes it's input. And that's where I can not solve the problem. Once the form is displayed, the submit
clicked,the page reloads and the variable holding the access code is blank. (I realize this could easily be solved with JavaScript.) Schematically here's the layout:

Page One:
Html form for access code, method post, action:process_program

Page Two🙁process_program)

               if 'access code'== correct value
               {
               if 'submit'
               {
                  // process input
                 perform queries, etc.
                 }
                 }
               else
                {
                   display form
                  }

bretticus

EDIT: I'm suggesting doing this with two pages, sessions, and redirects as my code below suggests still. However, my object was to show you the bare basics of how I do the same thing you wanted to do. But upon looking again, I realized that I store the page I intended to go to in a session variable BEFORE redirecting away to a login page instead of depending on the referrer. So I edited my stuff just slightly to reflect that (for whatever it's worth.)

Found it easiest to explain this by marking up some sample code...

<?php
//main page
session_start();
if ( !isset($_SESSION['authenticated']) ) {
    $_SESSION['intended_target'] = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];
	header("Location: login.php");
	exit();
}
$errors = array();
// test for submit button being pushed
if ( isset($_POST['btnSubmit']) ) {
	// do form handling
	if ( empty($_POST['name']) ) {
		$errors['name'] = "Enter your name!";
	}
}
?>
<form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>" method="POST">
<input type="text" name="name" value="<?php echo $_POST['name']?>">
<?php
if ( array_key_exists('name', $errors ) {
    echo $errors['name'];
}
?>
<input type="submit" name="btnSubmit" value="Go">
</form>

//--------------------------------------------------------------------

<?php
//login page
session_start();
// test for submit button being pushed
if ( isset($_POST['btnSubmit']) ) {
	// do form handling
	if ( $_POST['access'] == "1234" )  {
		$_SESSION['authenticated'] = true;
		header("Location: " . $_SESSION['intended_target']);
		exit();
	}
}
?>
<form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>" method="POST">
<input type="text" name="access" value="<?php echo $_POST['access']?>">
<input type="submit" name="btnSubmit" value="Go">
</form>

rokchik

Sounds like you want something like this:
login.php

<?php
session_start();
session_register("sessiondata");
$sessiondata[username] = NULL;
$userinfo = strtolower ($REQUEST_METHOD) == 'get' ? $HTTP_GET_VARS : $HTTP_POST_VARS;
if  ($userinfo[action] == 'logout') {
	echo "<center>\n";
	echo "<br><br><br>\n";
	echo "You have been logged out of the MySQL Database\n";
	echo "<br><br><br>\n";
	echo "<a href = \"chapter5_login.php\">Click here to Log ";
	echo "In Again</a>\n";
	echo "</center>\n";
	} else {
	echo "<!doctype html public \"";
	echo "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 //EN\">\n";
	echo "<html>\n";
	echo "<head>\n";
	echo "<title>Instant PHP4 Chapter 5 - ";
	echo "Database Administration</title>\n";
	echo "</head>\n";
	echo "<center>\n";
	echo "<body>\n";
	echo "Chapter 5 - Database Administration - Login\n";
	echo "<br><br><br>\n";
	echo "<form action = \"chapter5_dbMonitor.php\" method = \"post\" >\n";
	echo "<table cellspacing = 5 cellpadding = 5 border = 3 bordercolor = \"0000FF\" >\n";
	echo "<tr>\n<td>\n";
	echo "Username</td> <td><input type = \"text\" name = \"in_username\" size = \"30\" maxlength = \"16\"  selected = true><br>\n";
	echo "</td>\n</tr>\n";
	echo "<tr>\n<td>\n";
	echo "Password</td><td><input type = \"password\" name = \"in_password\" size = \"30\" ><br>\n";
	echo "</td>\n</tr>\n";
	echo "<tr>\n<td>\n";
	echo "Hostname</td><td><input type = \"text\" name = \" in_hostname\" size = \"30\" ><br>\n";
	echo "</td>\n</tr>\n";
	echo "</table>\n";
	echo "<br><br>\n";
	echo "<input type = \"submit\" value = \"Login\" >\n";
	echo "&nbsp; &nbsp;\n";
	echo "<input type = \"reset\" >\n";
	echo "</form>";
	echo "</center>";
	echo "</body>";
	echo "</html>";
	}
?>

checklogin.php

<?php
echo "<!doctype html public \"-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 // EN\" >\n";
echo "<html>\n";
echo "<head>\n";
echo "<title>Instant PHP 4 Chapter 5 - Database Administrator</title>\n";
echo "</head>\n";
echo "<body>\n";
echo "<center>Chapter 5 - Database Administration</center>";
echo "<br><br>\n";
echo "<center>\n";
echo "<table border = 5 bordercolor = \"0000FF\" cellpadding = 2 cellspacing = 5>\n";
echo "<tr>\n";
echo "<td><a href = \"chapter5_login.php\">Login</a></td>\n";
echo "<td><a href = \"chapter5_userAdmin.php\">User Admin</a></td>\n";
echo "<td><a href = \"chapter5_dbAdmin.php\">DB Admin</a></td>\n";
echo "<td><a href = \"chapter5_dbMonitor.php\">DB Monitor</a></td>\n";
echo "<td><a href = \"chapter5_tableAdmin.php\">Table Admin</a></td>\n";
echo "<td><a href = \"chapter5_sql.php\">SQL Admin</a></td>\n";
echo "<td><a href = \"chapter5_login.php?action=logout\">Logout</a></td>\n";
echo "</tr>\n";
echo "</table>\n";
echo "</center>\n";
echo "<tr>\n";
echo "<br><br>\n";

// Retrieve input variables from HTTP get or post
$userinfo = strtolower($REQUEST_METHOD) == 'get' ? $HTTP_GET_VARS : $HTTP_POST_VARS;
$loggedin = TRUE;
// echo $loggedin;
// If no username in sessiondata or form data then they are not logged in and are not trying to 
if ($userinfo[in_username] == NULL && empty ($sessiondata[username])) {
	echo "<center>\n";
	echo "<br><br><br>\n";
	echo "You are not logged in!\n";
	echo "<br>\n";
	echo "<a href = \"chapter5_login.php\">Click here to Log In</a>\n";
	echo "</center>";
	$loggedin = FALSE;
}

// If they are logging in, set the session data
else if (empty($sessiondata[username])) {
	$sessiondata[username] = $userinfo[in_username];
	$sessiondata[password] = $userinfo[in_password];
	$sessiondata[hostname] = $userinfo[in_hostname];
}

$myDBConn = new DBConnection($sessiondata[hostname], $sessiondata[username], $sessiondata[password]);
// If their connection fails, ask them to try logging in again
if (empty($myDBConn -> linkid) && $loggedin) {
	echo "<center>\n";
	echo "Login failed!\n";
	echo "<br>\n";
	echo "<a href = \"chapter5_login.php\">Click here to try again</a>\n";
	$loggedin = FALSE;
}
?>

Feel free to adjust it to your own needs.

rokchik

Also, use a foreach() where php refuses to assign the form variables.

sig

Thank you bretticus,
your code suggestion worked fine; I never would have considered the header function on my
own.
I have a follow-up question for rokchik (and thank you very much for your code as well); can
you illustrate briefly your statment "use a foreach() where php refuses to assign the form
variables" as I have also encountered this problem before. Thanks fellas.

bretticus

sig;10877834 wrote:
Thank you bretticus,
your code suggestion worked fine; I never would have considered the header function on my
own.

You are welcome. I just wanted to point out that the reason for the redirect method is so you can authenticate a user for an entire site (ie. that code goes above every page that needs to be password protected. Consider a function or an include for portability.) That way, the user logs in only once. Afterwards, he or she can surf to all the pages while still logged in. A session can timeout too after a period of inactivity. Using this method will simply redirect to the login page after timeout and redirect them back to the intended page.

rokchik

foreach ($_GET as $key => $value) {
$array = array();
$array[$key] = $value;
}

sig

Of course,
how newbewish of me. Thanks again

sig

I've always wondered what Php textbook or reference forum members would recommend? I'll start but realize my selection is qualified because I am a newbie.
I find myself most often reaching for one of the following two books:
Php Solutions by David Powers
Php and Mysql by Larry Ullman

rokchik

I'm currently reading 'Instant php4' by Michael J. Walker, Robert M. Cox and Neal Anders. It comes with a cd, but the scripts on the cd are not exactly the same as the ones in the book - it's like they were written by two different people with the same brief. It's all exercises, as the writer assumes that the reader has a reference book or access to websites such as php.net already.

You're welcome, btw.

Drakla

Rokchik, the code you posted will make most of the members here wince as it contains ancient stuff that's on the way to the scrapheap. You shouldn't use session_register any more, just inject stuff straight into the $SESSION super global. HTTP_GET_VARS and HTTP_POST_VARS should be replaced with $GET and $_POST. If they're from the book you're reading then throw it away and find some tutorials from the net or something. There are so many bad php books out there that immediately ingrain bad habits.

rokchik

I know, Drakla - I've been thinking similar things myself but I didn't want to swap one bad book for another. I'm checking out the tuts links in your sig now.
Thanks