[RESOLVED] Switch + For Loop and Array

starfish888

I have created an HTML form with the <input> type of image and added an onClick Event Handler that will run a function to take the clicked <input>'s name and assign it to a hidden field.

After this is done, the form submits itself to a PHP page which I am trying to construct to run the newly assigned "submitted" value against an array for a match. Once the match is found, the matching switch scenario should be fetched and the code executed. However, I am still learning PHP and after rigorous testing, not sure why the code is not working. Can someone please take a look at this and advise?

Thanks,
S

 <?php

	$testEmps = array ('firstName', 'secondName', 'thirdName', 'fourthName', 'fifthName', 'sixthName', 'seventhName', 'eighthname');

            $countEmps = sizeof($testEmps);


	 if (isset($_POST['submitted'])) 
	 { // testing if form submitted


		for($i=0; $i <= $countEmps; $i++) 
		{ // loop through array.
			if($i == $_POST['submitted']) { // trying to validate that the hidden input's value and 1 item in the array found a match
				$clickedCard = $i;

				// Then pass the newly assigned var to the switch to perform the appropriate task.

					switch($clickedCard)
						{ // compares clicked item to the list in array.

						case "firstName":
							//some php code
						break;

						case "secondName":
							//some php code
						break;

						case "thirdName":
							//some php code
						break;

						case "fourthName":
							//some php code
						break;

						case "fifthName":
							//some php code
						break;

						case "sixthName":
							//some php code
						break;

						case "sevenName":
							//some php code
						break;

						case "eighthName":
							//some php code
						break;

						default: 
						echo '<p><font color="red">Please go back and make a selection</font></p>';
						}
			} //end of handling the clicked item.
			else{
				$clickedCard = NULL;

			}
		} // end of for loop.

	 } else {
                    echo '<p><font color="red">Something does not work</font></p>';
}

   ?>

NogDog

The immediate thing that jumps to my attention is that it looks like the switch condition should be:

switch($testEmps[$clickedCard])

PS: And as Brad says, there should be a cleaner, simpler way to do this -- but then that's usually the case. 😉

starfish888

Thank you both for your prompt responses.

and NogDog, I have found your statements to be so true! Yet I still over think it, ha!

Anyhow, I have removed the loops and instead I've opted for the in_Array() "function" I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. I just looked it up and tried implementing it. I will continue working on it. But in the interim, I am not sure at this point what to pass to the switch now that I no longer use the $clickCard as a variable.

Below is a snippet of the updated version: (it doesn't seem to be catching the match even when I tried passing nothing in the switch, or swapping out the variable for the $_POST['submitted'])

 $testEmps = array ('firstName', 'secondName', 'thirdName', 'fourthName', 'fifthName', 'sixthName', 'seventhName', 'eighthname');


     if (isset($_POST['submitted']))
     { // testing if form submitted


            if(in_array($_POST['submitted'],$testEmps))
                   { // find a match in the array
                    switch($testEmps) { 

                ...etc     ...etc    ....etc

NogDog

Try a bit of debugging by printing out the contents of $POST:

echo "<pre>".print_r($_POST, true)."</pre>";

I have found that, depending on the browser, you don't always get what you expect when using an "image" type input tag. You may find a button tag of type="submit" works better for this.

starfish888

Thanks NogDog,

I have implemented the .print_r() I went to look it up in the PHP manual but I'm not sure how to decipher the outcome that was returned.

each employee name is set to the name of each html element. So when I click on the element, the name is then assigned to the value of the hidden element called, "submitted".

here is what the .print_r() returned:

Array
(
[johnDoe_x] => 67
[johnDoe_y] => 68
)

the second time I refreshed and clicked, it returned new random numbers:

Array
(
[johnDoe_x] => 92
[johnDoe_y] => 60
)

I'm not sure why the x and y are appending to the name, it is not like that in the form code. Am I presuming correctly that it is also literally being pushed down further in the array?

NogDog

That's what I thought: you are only getting the x/y coordinates of what was clicked in the image. Some browsers also send the "value", but others don't. Therefore my suggestion to use a <button> element of type "submit" for this instead of an <input> element of type "image".

starfish888

Thanks NogDog.

I switched all the input tags to buttons with submit type. It seems to pass correctly now:

Array
(
[johnDoe] =>
)

However, nothing is catching from the switch.

 if (isset($_POST['submitted'])) 
		 { // testing if submitted value has been set

			if(in_array($_POST['submitted'],$testEmps)) 
			   { 
					switch($_POST['submitted'])
                                               {
                                  ...etc    ...etc   ...etc

I can't run a print_r on a switch statement, so I'm stumped. Should I change the cases from strings of each employee name ex. "johnDoe" to the integer place represented in the Array?

starfish888

OK, I have managed to test and fix the code so that there is only 1 thing left. I realize the code was not reacting normally due to drupal.

I am not yet able to target the element clicked (value) from the prior page as a first parameter in the in_array() function. attempting to use the $_POST global variable for the hidden 'submited' field is not working.

drupal is the culprit.

starfish888

OK. I've fixed it. Thank you both for your guidance.