[RESOLVED] Problem passing mySQL field data from one page to another

Arryn

I have a page which generates a table of descriptions stored in a mySQL table. Beside each description in the table I want to use an image that users can click on to be able to edit the data that is represented by that description.

If I use a checkbox for selecting which row to edit everything works great, but I want my page to be a little more "web 2.0" so I'm wanting to use a little magnifying glass image instead of the checkbox.

The applicable code in the table that generates the descriptions with the check boxes is:

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {

...

echo "<tr>
	    <td><a href=\"".$g_url.$searchterm."\" target=\"_blank\">".$description."</a></td>
	    <td align=\"center\"><input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"del_me[]\" value=\"".$description."\"/></td>
      </tr>";

After selecting a checkbox the user is sent to a page which has text boxes with all of the fields which can then be edited. The php for that page is:

$del_me = $_POST['del_me'];
$valid_user = $_SESSION['valid_user'];

do_html_header();
check_valid_user();

if (count($del_me) > 0) {
		foreach($del_me as $del_description) {
		 edit_user_search($valid_user, $del_description);
		}
	}

The above works great, but checkboxes, aside from not being visually appealing, allow the user to select more than one record to view and that is outside the scope of what I want to present to them.

I tried changing the line with the checkbox to:

<td>
   <input type=\"hidden\" name=\"del_me\" value=\"".$description."\">
   <a href=\"#\" onClick=\"bm_table.submit();\"><img src=\"magnifier.gif\"></a>
</td>

and removed the foreach loop on the second page (just leaving the function call), but this results in the data for the last line in the description table being output to the second page no matter which row I actually choose.

How can I get the $description table field correctly sent to the second page?

TIA

devinemke

you should pass the row's primary key field as a GET var to the page that handles the edits. you can use whatever image you want for the actual link. the advantage of using check boxes is that you can edit multiple records at time.

Arryn

Thanks for the reply. I tried using GET, but didn't have much more luck. I still keep getting the same value for $description passed to the second php page no matter what row I choose from my table on the first page. In my table my keys are on the username and description fields (it is set up so that a user must have different description fields for all of their entries).

Here is what I changed:

On my first page, search_home.php a table is generated that lists all row entries for a particular user using a while loop (listed in my first post). I changed the <form> line to:

echo "<form name=\"bm_table\" action=\"modify.php?username=\".$username.\"&searchdescription=\".$description.\"\" method=\"get\">";

And then on the modify.php page added $GET['username'] and $GET['searchdescription'] variables.

But, it still keeps retaining the $description value of the last row on search_home.php for ALL rows of data on search_home.php and passing that value to modify.php.

devinemke

if you are using GET vars and do not need check boxes then you do not need a form at all. just provide links that pass the numeric primary key field. it is not entirely clear from your earlier posts but you should definitely be using a numeric auto incrementing primary key field to uniquely identify each row in your table. that is what you should pass as your GET var. something like:

<a href="edit.php?id=123">edit this row</a>

Arryn

OK, thanks I'll do that. I had been debating whether or not to use an auto-incrementing table field. This is my first php project so I've never been entirely sure of "best practices".

Arryn

That worked like a charm. I doubt I would have considered taking the <form> element(s) out and just sticking the id in the url like that if you hadn't pointed it out to me.

Thanks for the advice!