How to count number of $_POST values

[neljan]

Hi

I have this:

$game1_points = $_POST['game1_points']; // user submitted 16
$game2_points = $_POST['game2_points']; // user submitted 19
$game3_points = $_POST['game3_points']; // user submitted 17

What I would like to do next is to find the total number of games played but I'm not sure what is the best method.

Would it be something like:

if ($game1_points = '') $played_game1 = '0';
else $played_game1 = '1';

if ($game2_points = '') $played_game2 = '0';
else $played_game2 = '1';

if ($game3_points = '') $played_game3 = '0';
else $played_game3 = '1';

$total_games_played = $played_game1 + $played_game2 + $played_game3;

or

if($_POST['game1_points'] == '') {$played_game1 = '0';}
else $played_game1 = '1';

// (etc)

or..?

[bradgrafelman]

You haven't given us much information on what else is going on, but I would probably name the HTML fields like game_points[] so that $_POST['game_points'] would then be an array of all of the game points submitted.

From there, you could do something like:

$game_pts = array_filter($_POST['game_points'], function($val) { return $val !== ''; });

to filter out any empty submissions (while keeping '0', since the string '0' is considered boolean false and/or 'empty' by PHP).

If you wanted the number of games at that point, you'd simply do a [man]count/man on the array of scores.

[neljan]

Thanks very much Brad.

Here's my complete code so you can see more of what I'm trying to do.

There's a syntax error (or two) in here somewhere that I'm trying to find. I think it might be where I've used '=='.

// Result

// rv scores
$rv_gp1 = $_POST['rv_gp1'];
$rv_gp2 = $_POST['rv_gp2'];
$rv_gp3 = $_POST['rv_gp3'];

$rv_3gps = $rv_gp1 + $rv_gp2 + $rv_gp3;

$rv_penalties = $_POST['rv_penalties'];

$rv_score = $rv_3gps - $rv_penalties;

// opponent gp scores
$op_gp1 = $_POST['op_gp1'];
$op_gp2 = $_POST['op_gp2'];
$op_gp3 = $_POST['op_gp3'];

$op_3gps = $op_gp1 + $op_gp2 + $op_gp3;

$op_penalties = $_POST['op_penalties'];

$op_score = $op_3gps - $op_penalties;

// difference
$difference = $rv_score - $op_score;

// outcome tag
if ($rv_score > $op_score) $win = '1';
if ($rv_score == $op_score) $draw = '1';
if ($rv_score < $op_score) $loss = '1';

// Player 1

// Player ID
$player1 = $_POST['player1'];

// Did player play?
if(($_POST['player1_gp1'] == '') && ($_POST['player1_gp2'] == '') && ($_POST['player1_gp3'] == '')) {$p1_war_played = '0';}
else $p1_war_played = '1';

// Get players GP scores
$player1_gp1 = $_POST['player1_gp1'];
$player1_gp2 = $_POST['player1_gp2'];
$player1_gp3 = $_POST['player1_gp3'];

// Get # of GPs played
if($_POST['player1_gp1'] == '') {$p1_played_gp1 = '0';}
else $p1_played_gp1 = '1';
if($_POST['player1_gp2'] == '') {$p1_played_gp2 = '0';}
else $p1_played_gp2 = '1';
if($_POST['player1_gp3'] == '') {$p1_played_gp3 = '0';}
else $p1_played_gp3 = '1';
$p1_gps_played = $p1_played_gp1 + $p1_played_gp2 + $p1_played_gp3;

// Get players war score
$player1_war = $player1_gp1 + $player1_gp2 + $player1_gp3;

// Get biggest GP score
$p1_gp_most_war = max($player1_gp1, $player1_gp2, $player1_gp3);

// Any of those GP scores 60s?
if($_POST['player1_gp1'] == '60') {$p1_gp1_60 = '1';}
else $p1_gp1_60 = '0';
if($_POST['player1_gp2'] == '60') {$p1_gp2_60 = '1';}
else $p1_gp2_60 = '0';
if($_POST['player1_gp3'] == '60') {$p1_gp3_60 = '1';}
else $p1_gp3_60 = '0';
$p1_war_60s = $p1_gp1_60 + $p1_gp2_60 + $p1_gp3_60;

// Get players currently stored stats
$player1qry = safe_query("SELECT * FROM ".PREFIX."individuals WHERE userID='$player1'");
while ($p1 = mysql_fetch_array($player1qry)) { 

    $p1_total_wars_played = $p1[wars_played];
	$p1_total_wars_won = $p1[wars_won];
	$p1_total_wars_drawn = $p1[wars_drawn];
	$p1_total_wars_lost = $p1[wars_lost];
	$p1_total_gps_played = $p1[gps_played];
	$p1_total_points = $p1[total_points];
	$p1_gp_most = $p1[gp_most];
	$p1_total_60s = $p1[sixties];
	$p1_war_most = $p1[war_most];
}

// set string for 'wars_played' update
$p1_update_wars_played = $p1_total_wars_played + $p1_war_played;

// set string for 'wars_won' update
if (($rv_score > $op_score) && ($p1_war_played == '1')) $p1_update_wars_won = $p1_total_wars_won + 1;

// set string for 'wars_drawn' update
if (($rv_score == $op_score) && ($p1_war_played == '1')) $p1_update_wars_drawn = $p1_total_wars_drawn + 1;

// set string for 'wars_lost' update
if (($rv_score < $op_score) && ($p1_war_played == '1')) $p1_update_wars_lost = $p1_total_wars_lost + 1;

// set string for 'gps_played' update
$p1_update_gps_played = $p1_total_gps_played + $p1_gps_played;

// set string for 'total_points' update
$p1_update_total_points = $p1_total_points + $player1_war;

// set string for 'gp_most' update
if ($p1_gp_most_war > $p1_gp_most) $p1_update_gp_most = $p1_gp_most_war;

// set string for 'sixties' update
$p1_update_total_60s = $p1_total_60s + $p1_war_60s;

// set string for 'war_most' update
if (($player1_war >= $p1_war_most)) $p1_update_war_most = $player1_war;

// set string for 'war_most_cwID' update
if (($player1_war >= $p1_war_most)) $p1_update_war_most_cwID = $cwID;

// set string for 'gp_average' update
$p1_update_gp_average = $p1_update_total_points / $p1_update_gps_played;

// set string for 'win_average' update
$p1_update_win_average = $p1_update_wars_played / $p1_update_wars_won;

$date=mktime(0,0,0,$month,$day,$year);

// get league homepage
$ergebnis = safe_query("SELECT * FROM ".PREFIX."league WHERE name='$league'");
while ($dc = mysql_fetch_array($ergebnis)) { 
    $leaguehp = $dc[homepage];
}

// get opponent data
$erg = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM ".PREFIX."opponents WHERE clanname='$opponent'");
while ($ds = mysql_fetch_array($erg)) {
    $opptag. = $ds[clantag];
    $oppcountry. = $ds[country];
	$opphp. = $ds[homepage];
	$oppID. = $ds[oppID];
}

// clanwars entry
safe_query("INSERT INTO ".PREFIX."clanwars ( date, squad, game, league, leaguehp, opponent, opptag, oppcountry, opphp, oppID, rv_gp1, rv_gp2, rv_gp3, rv_3gps, rv_penalties, rv_score, op_gp1, op_gp2, op_gp3, op_3gps, op_penalties, op_score, difference, win, draw, loss, player1, player2, player3, player4, player5, player6, player7, player1_gp1, player1_gp2, player1_gp3, player2_gp1, player2_gp2, player2_gp3, player3_gp1, player3_gp2, player3_gp3, player4_gp1, player4_gp2, player4_gp3, player5_gp1, player5_gp2, player5_gp3, player6_gp1, player6_gp2, player6_gp3, player7_gp1, player7_gp2, player7_gp3, report, comments, linkpage)
             VALUES( '$date', '$squad', '$game', '".$league."', '$leaguehp', '".$opponent."', '".$opptag."', '$oppcountry', '$opphp', '".$oppID."', '".$rv_gp1."', '".$rv_gp2."', '".$rv_gp3."', '$rv_3gps', '".$rv_penalties."', '$rv_score', '".$op_gp1."', '".$op_gp2."', '".$op_gp3."', '$op_3gps', '".$op_penalties."', '$op_score', '$difference', '$win', '$draw', '$loss', '".$player1."', '".$player2."', '".$player3."', '".$player4."', '".$player5."', '".$player6."', '".$player7."', '".$player1_gp1."', '".$player1_gp2."', '".$player1_gp3."', '".$player2_gp1."', '".$player2_gp2."', '".$player2_gp3."', '".$player3_gp1."', '".$player3_gp2."', '".$player3_gp3."', '".$player4_gp1."', '".$player4_gp2."', '".$player4_gp3."', '".$player5_gp1."', '".$player5_gp2."', '".$player5_gp3."', '".$player6_gp1."', '".$player6_gp2."', '".$player6_gp3."', '".$player7_gp1."', '".$player7_gp2."', '".$player7_gp3."', '".$report."', '$comments', '$linkpage' )");

$date=date("d.m.Y", $date);

// player 1 update
safe_query("UPDATE ".PREFIX."individuals SET wars_played='".$p1_update_wars_played."',
								 wars_won='".$p1_update_wars_won."',
								 wars_drawn='".$p1_update_wars_drawn."',
								 wars_lost='".$p1_update_wars_lost."',
								 win_average='".$p1_update_win_average."',
								 gps_played='".$p1_update_gps_played."',
								 total_points='".$p1_update_total_points."',
								 gp_average='".$p1_update_gp_average."',
								 gp_most='".$p1_update_gp_most."',
								 sixties='".$p1_update_total_sixties."',
								 war_most='".$p1_update_war_most."',
								 war_most_cwID='".$p1_update_war_most_cwID."'
			WHERE userID='".$_POST['player1']."' ");

[Weedpacket]

I'd go with bradgrafelman's suggestion. I'd also go further and suggest giving the fields explicit indices (e.g. "rv_gp[0]", "rv_gp[1]", etc.) so that there's no potential confusion about which element of $POST['rv_gp'] relates to which element of, say, $POST['player1_gp'] (or is that $_POST['player'][1]['gp']? Surely you're not duplicating all this code for multiple players?)

[neljan]

Weedpacket;10993141 wrote:

Surely you're not duplicating all this code for multiple players?

Yes, 7 players :queasy:

[bradgrafelman]

Sounds like it might be time to start from square one again and rethink how you're going to handle the incoming data (e.g. using arrays as suggested). PHP is perfectly capable of loops, so write the code once and let PHP loop through all of the inputs. Work smarter, not harder, in other words. 😉

[neljan]

hmm ok let's see if my brain can handle an array :p

This is the select menu code that Webspell uses for users to select the players who played:

$gamesquads=safe_query("SELECT * FROM ".PREFIX."squads ORDER BY sort");

    while($ds=mysql_fetch_array($gamesquads)) {
    $hometeam.='<option value="0">'.$ds['name'].'</option>';
    $squadmembers=safe_query("SELECT * FROM ".PREFIX."squads_members WHERE squadID='$ds[squadID]' ORDER BY sort");

	while($dm=mysql_fetch_array($squadmembers)) {
    $hometeam.='<option value="'.$dm['userID'].'">&nbsp; - '.getnickname($dm['userID']).'</option>';
    }

    $hometeam.='<option value="0" disabled="disabled">-------------------------------</option>';
    }

<td class="tablerow"><select name="hometeam[]">$hometeam</select>

How would I extract the individual values from the hometeam[] array so that I can work with them?

Also, if I have several select menus named 'hometeam[]' (one for each of the 7 players) would all submissions go towards the same array?

[bradgrafelman]

neljan;10993244 wrote:

How would I extract the individual values from the hometeam[] array so that I can work with them?

You can loop through an array using a [man]foreach/man loop, but if you've got a form with multiple fields being repeated for each of the 7 players, then you would be better off using a [man]for/man loop instead that increments a counter variable from 0 up to (but not including) the [man]count/man of one of the arrays.

That way, you can access each field in the form for each player, e.g.:

for($i = 0; $i < count($_POST['foo']); $i++)
{
    // process the data for each player here, e.g. using $_POST['foo'][$i],
    //   $_POST['bar'][$i], $_POST['foobar'][$i], ... etc. for all form fields
}

neljan;10993244 wrote:

Also, if I have several select menus named 'hometeam[]' (one for each of the 7 players) would all submissions go towards the same array?

PHP will group all POST'ed entities that share the same name and end with '[]' into an array inside the $_POST array. See this FAQ in the PHP manual for more info.

[neljan]

bradgrafelman;10993251 wrote:

for($i = 0; $i < count($_POST['foo']); $i++)
{
    // process the data for each player here, e.g. using $_POST['foo'][$i],
    //   $_POST['bar'][$i], $_POST['foobar'][$i], ... etc. for all form fields
}

I don't understand. The array is called "hometeam", there's no reference to that here. 😕

[bradgrafelman]

I was just giving you an example of how I usually process the array structure for incoming variables; I left the task of writing the real code up to you. I wouldn't want to cheat you out of a learning experience, y'know! 😉