how to differentiate between 2 forms on same page

rpsep2

if I have 2 forms on a page with the method of 'post', how do i define which form im referring to when using the $_POST variable?

m_tt

You have a few options...

Post to different scripts or add a variable that you can switch between. e.g. post.php?method=formA
Add a name field to your form e.g. <form name="formA">
Add a hidden input <input type="hidden" name="form" value="formA">

etc...

bradgrafelman

rpsep2;11001719 wrote:
if I have 2 forms on a page with the method of 'post', how do i define which form im referring to when using the $_POST variable?

You don't, because there's only one option you have to choose from. The $_POST array will only contain data from the form that was POST'ed (because you can't POST two separate forms at once... at least not without equating 'two separate forms' with some JavaScript trickery that creates a pseudo-superset of the two forms).

Now, if your question was 'How do you determine which of the two forms was submitted?', then I would say m@tt has led you down the right path. That is, you'd determine that based on some ancillary information contained within the HTTP request (be it a parameter in the query string, an identifying value in the POST'ed data, etc.).

rpsep2

awesome, so what would be the syntax for checking if a specific form, with name="commentForm", had been submitted?

m_tt

I think you can figure it out 🙂 Just do this

print_r($_POST);

bradgrafelman

rpsep2;11001726 wrote:
awesome, so what would be the syntax for checking if a specific form, with name="commentForm", had been submitted?

There is no such syntax, because that can't be done. The name of a <form> element isn't included in the POST'ed data.

m_tt

ahhh sorry, brad is right. I assumed all of the form names were available but never tested it on <form>

I would do something like this. Each form has a hidden value called "method" e.g.

Then you can use a switch for each "method"

$method = $_POST['method'];
switch($method) {
	case 'commentForm':
		// Do something
	break;
}