Php Form Help - user to choose which form is displayed

[MainStWebGuy]

Hello all,

I'm a newbie at php and have had a blast learning the little i have so far. I've been trying to incorporate more and more php forms into the sites i'm building and would love to build a more 'complex' form on my next project.

I'd like setup a contact form of sorts, but would like a different form to be displayed based on user input. To start, have a look at this:

<?php 

if ($_POST['submit'] == true) {
	echo "Message Sent";
}	else {	
?>	
<form name="form2" method="POST" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>">
	<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2">
		<tr>
			<td>Name:</td>
			<td><input type="text" name="name" /></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Email:</td>
			<td><input type="text" name="email" /></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>What are you inquiring about?</td>
			<td><select name="inquiryType">
					<option>Option 1</option>
					<option>Option 2</option>
					<option>Option 3</option>
					<option>Option 4</option>
				</select>	
			</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>&nbsp;</td>
			<td valign="top"><input type="submit" name="submit" value="Send Form" /></td>	 
	</table>
</form>
<?php 
}
?>

I'd like to have different forms displayed based on the option the user chooses form the drop down list. How can this be done?

Also, is there a way to have the drop down list pass its variable without having the submit button? In other words, can the form relating to the option the user selects be displayed automatically without the user clicking submit?

Thanks in advance!

[MainStWebGuy]

I'd love some input on this! If I'm being to vague with anything or more info would help, please let me know!

[bretticus]

As for submitting a form from the the menu list (or dropdown) simply use the javascript handler for onchange:

<select name="inquiryType" onChange="document.forms['form2'].submit();">
<option>Option 1</option>
<option>Option 2</option>
<option>Option 3</option>
<option>Option 4</option>
</select>

From there, you can echo out content based on which choice was made. I like a switch statement in this scenario:

<?php
//...
switch ($_POST['inquiryType']) {
	case 'Option 1':
		?>
		<input type="text" name="some_text">		
		<?php
		break;
	case 'Option 2':
		?>
		<input type="text" name="some_more_text">
		<?php
		break;
}
//...
?>

Keep in mind, when you re-post the form, you will have to deal with re-populating the form contents with the end users previous entries.

[MainStWebGuy]

Awesome Thanks a bunch man! i'll get to work on that.

[MainStWebGuy]

I'm moving along and have followed you advice and now have a functioning form (using the swtich, which is great by the way!).

I'm having trouble getting my newbie mind around passing the name and email values to re-populate the form. I guess i don't know when to create the variables to use for those values. should it be something like this:

<?php 

if ($_POST['submit'] == true) {
	echo "Message Sent";
}	else {	
?>	
<form name="form2" method="POST" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>">
	<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2">
		<tr>
			<td>Name:</td>
			<td><?php if $_POST['email'] == true {
                                   echo '<input type='text' name='name' value="$_POST['name']" />';
                               }   else {
                                    echo "<input type="text" name="name" />";?>
                        </td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Email:</td>
			<td><?php if $_POST['email'] == true {
                                   echo '<input type='text' name='email' value="$_POST['email']" />';
                               }   else {
                                    echo "<input type="text" name="email" />";?>
                        </td>
		</tr>

Feel free to point and laugh 😃

[mac_php]

Clean up this bit of code, and see what happens:

You had

                                   echo '<input type='text' name='name' value="$_POST['name']" />';
                               }   else {
                                    echo "<input type="text" name="name" />";?> 

Clean to this:

echo'<input type="text" name="name" value="' . $_POST['name'] . '" />';
} else {
echo'<input type="text" name="name" />';

Same with the the email form. You simply need to keep your echos in order.

So if you use

echo'Some String...'
//You can put " " in the string and be fine...
echo'<html value="null">';
//But to insert the value you must...
echo'Some value' . $var . ' more value...';

[MainStWebGuy]

Cool thanks again, I'll clean that up and see where i'm at.

thanks again for the help guys 😃

[MainStWebGuy]

Man guys, I'm sorry to be such a pest but i'm almost there!

I can't seem to figure out what's wrong with this:

<form name="form2" method="POST" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>">
	<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2">
		<tr>
			<td>Name:</td>
			<td>
				<?php
					if ($_POST['name'] == true) {
						echo'<input type="text" name="name" value="'.$_POST['name'].'" />';
					} else {
						echo'<input type="text" name="name" />'; 
				?>	
			</td>
		</tr>

If I replace the code with a regular <input... /> field it works ok, but with the php code and the if else, the form isn't displayed. What am i missing?

[mac_php]

Be sure to end your else:

if ($_POST['name'] == true) {
                        echo'<input type="text" name="name" value="'.$_POST['name'].'" />';
                    } else {
                        echo'<input type="text" name="name" />'; 
                    }

The " } " was missing. (end brace, if I'm not mistaking, is what it's called. I'm still learning too! 😛)

[MainStWebGuy]

haha and here i was double and triple checking for a missing ";" haha thanks man!

[MainStWebGuy]

worked like a charm! Thanks again bretticus and Mac!