have to hit submit twice to post variables

rachybaby

hey guys!

A bit stuck on a php form that interacts and gets data from my database...

The code I am working with basically is for 2 drop downs. These drop down options are what the query use to get the info from the database. Once the info is obtained, a function is carried out.

<?php
        // posting the options selected in the select options
	if (isset($_POST['formsubmit'])) {
		$type = $_POST['type'];	
		$area = $_POST['area'];
	}
	?>
	<?

function GetAdsa2() {

$query = "SELECT * FROM `urm_advertise` WHERE `advType` = '". $_GET['type'] ."' AND `advLocation` = '". $_GET['area'] ."' ORDER BY `advName` ASC";

// lots of echo things to carry out
}

in the body...

<form name='filterForm' method='post' action='<?php print($_SERVER['PHP_SELF']); ?>?type=<? print($type); ?>&area=<?php print($area); ?>'>
	<table align="right"><tr><td>
	SEARCH WHAT
	<select name='type' size='1'>
	<?
		//define a default
		$type ? $typeSelected = $type : $typeSelected = 'venuemusic';
		$typeValues = Array('venuemusic', 'venueart', 'venuepub');
		foreach($typeValues as $type) {
			print('<option value=\'' . $type . '\'');
			if($typeSelected == $type) print(' selected');
			print('>' . $type . '</option>');
		}

?>
</select>
Filter by location
<select name='area' size='1'>
<?
	//define a default
	$area ? $areaSelected = $area : $areaSelected = 'towna';
	$areaValues = Array('towna', 'townb', 'townc');
	foreach($areaValues as $area) {
		print('<option value=\'' . $area . '\'');
		if($areaSelected == $areaValue) print(' selected');
		print('>' . $area . '</option>');
	}

?>
</select>
	<input name='formsubmit' type='hidden' value='1'>
	<input type="image" name="submit" src="../images/adpage/submit.gif" width="171" height="143">
</td></tr></table>
</form>


<? echo GetAdsa2(); ?>

so at the mo the top url is ..../ads2.php

select options and hit submit the url goes to ....ads2.php?type=&area=

hit submit a 2nd time and the url finally goes to ....ads2.php?type=venuemusic&area=towna

and select another combo of options it does the same - first time nothing, 2nd time up it comes.

Any ideas?

_uk_stuff

I am not 100% sure but when I have used the following form of variable test and assignment they dont look like this:

$type ? $typeSelected = $type : $typeSelected = 'venuemusic';

I would have formatted it as

$typeSelected = ( !empty ( $type) ) ? $type : 'venuemusic';

and again for the area

$area ? $areaSelected = $area : $areaSelected = 'towna';

would be

$areaSelected = (!empty($area)) ? $area : 'towna';

It would make sense that this is the reason it would take two submits to get to the URL you want as well.

Finger crossed it will do the trick.

rachybaby

Hey there! Thanks for getting back to me...STILL 2 clicks of the old submit before the output is printed into the addie bar!

I am stumped still!

bpat1434

Well of course it will take two clicks....

Look at your form and how it works. First, the URL you go to is ads2.php which shows a form. The action of the form is ads2.php?area=&type=. Since $_POST isn't set, there is nothing in the $type and $area variables, so the action of the form looks like the text in blue.

Once you click submit once, the $_POST array is set, so after the first submission the action of the form becomes ads2.php?area=something&type=somethingelse. The URL that you are at now is then the blue text from above. Once you click submit again, the action of the form is finally what you expect it to be and as such, the URL is now what you expect it to be.

To fix this, there are two ways to do it depending upon what you want.

Use a different method
[indent]You could change the method of the form from post to get which would put all form elements inside the URL. So after submitting the URL would look like: ads2.php?type=something&area=somethingelse&formsubmit=1.[/indent]

Use an intermediary script
[indent]You could use a processing script which receives the posted information from the form and redirects to the URL you want. It would look something like:

<?php

$url = 'http://www.domain.tld';

// If the form isn't posted, redirect to the form
if(!isset($_POST['formsubmit']))
    header('Location: '.$url.'/ads2.php');

// Redirect to the correct location based on form input
$type = $_POST['type'];
$area = $_POST['area'];

$url .= '/ads2.php?type='.$type.'&area='.$area;

header('Location: '.$url);

[/indent]

Those are two options. It all depends on what you want revealed through the URL.