Send form data from product select page to order form page?

David4321

This site has very simple product pages (nothing but images and buy now button) which display within an inline frame on the catalog page in response to the user choices. Clicking the buy now button takes user to the order form page. The order form sends form mail upon submission. (currently using godaddy gdform.php)

I need to get the product selection data (just the item #) from the product page where the user clicks the button, to be included on the existing form mail that goes out upon submission of the order form on the next page. How can I get the data from the product page to the order form page? (or otherwise be made a part of the data sent on the existing form mail)

I know I've seen this before: you fill out something in a form on one page, and when you continue, the next page knows what you entered, or has it pre-filled in. I'm thinking maybe the item # could be sent to a hidden field on the actual order form... or ???

I don't actually know any php, mostly html. Please respond through providing info about what method might usually be used, and if possible a complete script, a link to one, or the right search terms for me to find one. If I'm on the wrong track, please let me know if there is a better method than php.

Thanks...

sneakyimp

when you create a <form>, then you can pass data to some other page. This form has action set to 'form_handler.php' which means the data in it will be sent to a file by that name

<form method="post" action="form_handler.php">
<input type="hidden" name="hidden_variable" value="product #123">
<input type="text" name="my_variable">
<input type="submit" value="submit" name="submit">
</form>

when you enter info in that form and hit 'submit' then the page form_handler.php can look in the variable $POST to see what information was sent. since the name of your input was my_variable, look for that value in $POST:

// form_handler.php
echo 'you submitted:' . $_POST['my_variable'] . '<br>';

// you can also check hidden_variable:
echo 'hidden variable was :' . $_POST['hidden_variable'] . '<br>';

If you made your method="get" in your form then you would look in $GET instead. Interestingly, you can also send vars to $GET via the URL. for instance, sending someone to http://example.com/form_handler.php?some_get_var=Hooray

would mean that you could look in $_GET['some_get_var'] to see what value was sent.

You should be able to use this info to pass your item # from one page to another, either by URL or by form submission.