foreach problems

[philweb]

Hi

I have a list of names, emails, a checkbox and a message box, the names and emails are from a database. What I am trying to do to select say 5 of the names from the list via the checkbox and send an email to those who I have picked.

I can't seem to get my head around the foreach function, is it that there has to be a foreach function to collect the email addresses and to see which user has been selected or do they come under the same one.

I have tried to do some of the coding myself, but fear I am getting more and more confused, some help would be great. Here is what I have done so far.

Thanks

Phil

mysql_select_db($database_phcleani_philweb, $phcleani_philweb);
$query_Recordset1 = "SELECT * FROM login";
$Recordset1 = mysql_query($query_Recordset1, $phcleani_philweb) or die(mysql_error());
$row_Recordset1 = mysql_fetch_assoc($Recordset1);
$totalRows_Recordset1 = mysql_num_rows($Recordset1);

// Check $interests[]
if (isset($_POST['interests'])) {

$ints = NULL; // New message to be used.
foreach ($_POST['interests'] as $key => $value) { // Loop through each.
	$ints .= "$value, ";	
}
$ints = substr($ints, 0, -2); // Cut off the last comma-space.
$interests = TRUE;	

} else {
	$interests = NULL;

}

mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers);

$to = $_REQUEST['email'];
$from = "[e-mail]";
$subject = "New Job";
$message = $_REQUEST['message'] ;
$headers = "From: $from";

And the form

<form name="form1" method="post" action="">
<table width="100%"  border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1">

  <?php do { ?>
  <tr>
      <td><?php echo $row_Recordset1['user_id']; ?></td>
      <td><?php echo $row_Recordset1['username']; ?></td>
      <td><?php echo $row_Recordset1['email']; ?></td>
      <td><input name="interests[]" type="checkbox" id="interests[]" value="email"></td>
      <td>&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
  <?php } while ($row_Recordset1 = mysql_fetch_assoc($Recordset1)); ?>
</table>
<p>
  <textarea name="message" cols="50" id="message"></textarea>
</p>
<p>
  <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit">
</p>
</form>

[ixalmida]

You can use foreach() to iterate through ANY array. The important thing is knowing which values amount to arrays. $_POST is an array, as is the result of a call to mysql_fetch_array(). Keep in mind that if you have a multi-dimensional array, you need multiple foreach() statements.

For example, if you used an array in your html form to store checkbox values, i.e. -

<input type="checkbox" name="names[]" value="Jeff Smith">
<input type="checkbox" name="names[]" value="John Smith">
<input type="checkbox" name="names[]" value="Mike Smith">

Then you'll need to iterate not only $POST[], but the sub-array $POST['names']. What I prefer to do is simply use the extract() function, which automatically creates variables based on key names which contain their related values.

So the processing page for the HTML above would read:

extract($_POST);
$namelist = "";
foreach($namelist as $value)
  {
  $namelist .= "$value, ";
  }
$namelist = substr($namelist, 0, -2);
echo $namelist;
// Would echo:  Jeff Smith, John Smith, Mike Smith

Or better yet - when converting array values to a list, use implode()...

extract($_POST);
$namelist = implode(", ", $names);
echo $namelist;
// Would echo:  Jeff Smith, John Smith, Mike Smith

[philweb]

Hi

thanks for the reply.

Can I take this really slowly as it is so far above me at the moment.

Ok, you say to use an array in the html form to store the names, but if the names are dynamic how would you do that.

Like this? <input type="checkbox" name="names[]" value="<?php['name']?>">

there is a checkbox at the end of every line from the database, so there would only be 1 array called names but there might be multiple names checked from the db

Thanks

Phil

[ixalmida]

You are basically correct (except you forgot a variable name in your php code). The "value" of your checkbox becomes the value of the $names array.

I assume you are getting the names for your form from a database, in which case you could simply use the following code for the submitting form:

$query = "SELECT name FROM NamesTable ORDER BY name ASC";
$result = mysql_query($query, $conn);
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
  {
  extract($row);
  echo "<input type='checkbox' name='names[]' value='$name'>";
  // Again, you should probably put a \n (newline) character at the end
  // of the string above if you want your HTML to be more readable
  }

The important thing to remember with checkboxes is that boxes that aren't checked don't post to the processing page. In other words, if you have 5 checkboxes but the user only checks 3, the $names array passed to the $_POST array would only have the 3 boxes that are checked. The two boxes that aren't checked do not exist in the processing page.

[philweb]

Hi

Thanks for the reply, I see what you mean when the box is checked it adds that name in the row to the names array.

Yes I am getting the info from a database and I am using a repeating table. So, I think this should be straight forward, if I were to want the email address to be added to the array instead of the name I would just change $name to $email?

thanks

Phil

[ixalmida]

I think we're on the same page. If your checkboxes contain email address values, then it would be appropriate to name the checkboxes "email[]" with values equal to the email address. Then when you do an extract($_POST), it will create a variable called $email (or $email[], depending on how you use the variable - extract() will not require the brackets).

[philweb]

HI

It is sort of getting a bit confusing here.

I have created a form where the checkbox is named email[] so that when it is checked and submitted it should put the email of that row into the array? Then once it is in the array we will need it to pass onto the mail function so I can send that person an emial.

Here is what I am working with, it is throwing up an error in the foreach loop, it says - Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() on line 26

Thanks

<?php require_once('../Connections/phcleani_philweb.php'); ?>
<?php
$maxRows_Recordset1 = 10;
$pageNum_Recordset1 = 0;
if (isset($_GET['pageNum_Recordset1'])) {
  $pageNum_Recordset1 = $_GET['pageNum_Recordset1'];
}
$startRow_Recordset1 = $pageNum_Recordset1 * $maxRows_Recordset1;

mysql_select_db($database_phcleani_philweb, $phcleani_philweb);
$query_Recordset1 = "SELECT * FROM login";
$query_limit_Recordset1 = sprintf("%s LIMIT %d, %d", $query_Recordset1, $startRow_Recordset1, $maxRows_Recordset1);
$Recordset1 = mysql_query($query_limit_Recordset1, $phcleani_philweb) or die(mysql_error());
$row_Recordset1 = mysql_fetch_assoc($Recordset1);

if (isset($_GET['totalRows_Recordset1'])) {
  $totalRows_Recordset1 = $_GET['totalRows_Recordset1'];
} else {
  $all_Recordset1 = mysql_query($query_Recordset1);
  $totalRows_Recordset1 = mysql_num_rows($all_Recordset1);
}
$totalPages_Recordset1 = ceil($totalRows_Recordset1/$maxRows_Recordset1)-1;

extract($_POST);
$email = "";
foreach($email as $value) {
$email .= "$value, ";
}
$email = substr($email, 0, -2);
echo $email;	

?>

and the form is -

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>

<body>
<form name="form1" method="post" action="">

<table width="100%"  border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1">
  <tr>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>
    <td>&nbsp;</td>

  </tr>
  <?php do { ?>
  <tr>
      <td><?php echo $row_Recordset1['user_id']; ?></td>
      <td><?php echo $row_Recordset1['username']; ?></td>
      <td><?php echo $row_Recordset1['email']; ?></td>
      <td><input type="checkbox" name="email[]" value="email"></td>

  </tr>
  <?php } while ($row_Recordset1 = mysql_fetch_assoc($Recordset1)); ?>
  <tr>
    <td colspan="10"><p>
        <textarea name="textarea" cols="50"></textarea>
      </p>
        <p>
          <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit Email">
      </p></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td colspan="10">&nbsp;</td>
  </tr>
</table>

</form>


</body>
</html>

[ixalmida]

extract($_POST); 
$email = ""; 

You're blanking out the $email variable that extract/COLOR just created.


You're also still coding it the hard way.

Here's what you should have after the extract($_POST) statement:

$email_list = implode(", ", $email);
echo $email_list;

[philweb]

Hi

Thanks for the reply, I have inserted the code you suggested but it is still throwing up errors

extract($_POST);
$email_list = implode(", ", $email); 
echo $email_list; 

foreach($email as $value) {
$email .= "$value, ";
}
$email = substr($email, 0, -2);
echo $email;	

I have been looking on php.net at the implode function and most of the examples use a function() preceeding the implode function. So I am still a bit derrrr with it all.

Thanks

Phil

[bike5]

You don't need that foreach if you are using implode like that. Also, what error are you getting?

if(isset($_POST['email']) && is_array($_POST['email']))
{
$email_list = implode(',',$_POST['email']);
}else
{
$email_list = '[e-mail]';
}

[philweb]

Hi Bike

Thanks very much the code doesn't throw up any errors. There are still a few hiccups, when the page loads it sends an email, and also when I tick one of the boxes to email it doesn't send the email to that person - just to me.

I assume the email address is entered into the array when the box is ticked for that person, but passing it to the mail function is another problem.

Ideally, what I would like to do is, send a copy of the email to myself and all of the boxes that are ticked send them a Bcc email so others can't see the others email addresses, is this possible?

Thanks,

Phil

Here is the code

if(isset($_POST['email']) && is_array($_POST['email'])) 
{ 
$email_list = implode(',',$_POST['email']); 
}else 
{ 
$email_list = '[e-mail]'; 
} 

$to = '[e-mail]';
$message = $_REQUEST['message']; //This is the message from the text field in the form
$subject = 'New Job';
$headers .= 'From: [e-mail]' . "\r\n";
$headers .= 'Bcc: [e-mail]' . "\r\n";


// Mail it
mail($to, $subject, $message, $headers);

[bike5]

try

$headers .= 'Bcc: '.$email_list . "\r\n"; 

I think it will allow a comma delim. list in there like that.

[philweb]

Hi Bike

Unfortunately I couldn't get it to work with what you suggested. I don't know which way to go now?

Thanks

Phil

[bike5]

print the headers variable before the mail happens and post it so I can see how it was built.

[philweb]

Hi Bike

How do I do that, is it print_r$headers?

Thanks

Phil

[bike5]

it is just a string so "echo $headers" should be fine.

[philweb]

Hi Bike

Here is the result of echo $headers;

From: [e-mail] Bcc: [e-mail]

Thanks

Phil

[bike5]

well if the default is showing that means the email checkboxes are not being past back from the form. You should also change the default to a real email you would get. After you submit the form, do a "print_r($POST)", keep messing with the php/html until you see the email values showing inside the $POST after you submit the form.

[philweb]

Hi Bike

I have done the print_r($_POST) and I have also changed the name of the checkbox to email1 and have changed the value to email2

Array ( [email1] => Array ( [0] => email2 [1] => email2 ) [message] => [Submit] => Submit Email )

as you can see when two boxes are checked the values of email1 which are email2 (the checkbox)are being inserted to the array, so that seems to be working, but obviously the email address of that line in the db isn't.

Also, I can't figure out how to stop the page sending an email when the page loads.

Thanks

Phil

[bike5]

Well if those values are showing in the POST I am not sure why it is going to the default email and skipping the sent emails. Is your form submitting directly to the file that has the code doing the email? As for not sending when page loads just wrap all the code that should only execute when the form is submitted inside an if statement like (sudo code):
if(isset($_POST['Submit']))
{
// form validation code here
if(form validation passed)
{
//send email
}
}