[RESOLVED] $_POST[$variable] ?? <- How can I put a variable in $_POST function

r_sole

I'm just making something. It's kind've messy. But my problem, and I don't even know if this is possible -- how do I do this sort of thing:

$_POST[$variable]

.. rather than typing it in, I want that to be determined by a function. It doesn't seem to be working.

Please if anyone has any ideas I'd really appreciate it.

traq

r_sole;11014673 wrote:
how do I do this sort of thing:
$_POST[$variable] 
.. rather than typing it in, I want that to be determined by a function. It doesn't seem to be working.
Please if anyone has any ideas I'd really appreciate it.

...like that

?
what doesn't seem to be working? Can you post the code you're having trouble with? Describe what you're trying to do, what results you expect, and the results you actually get.

r_sole

What I have is one page that lists <input > tags. And the "name" in the input tags is unique (generated from database info that's submitted on a different page). So I don't know exactly what the name is.. it's not static. And in order for me to get that name I have another <input> tag pass the name.

The problem is, that next page.. I can't get the variable which is passed to go work with the POST function. When I do it llike this
Quote:
$_POST[$variable]
it doesn't work.

Here's the page code:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>

<body>
<form action="edit-process.php" method="post">

<?php

$con = mysql_connect ("localhost","USERNAME","PASSWORD");	// ready db connect

if(!$con){
	die("could not connect". mysql_error());
}

mysql_select_db("vanilani_notebooks2",$con); // execute connect and select db

// Find highest ID number -- for when selecting/making the "new category"
$result = mysql_query("SELECT Category FROM Categories ORDER BY Category DESC LIMIT 1"); 
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
	$h = $row['Category'];
}

// Find lowest ID number - to use to know when the ID's in the DB table has increased (and to <br /> and echo the next numbe)
$result = mysql_query("SELECT Category FROM Categories ORDER BY Category ASC LIMIT 1");
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
	$l = $row['Category'];
}

$result = mysql_query("SELECT Categoryname FROM Categories ORDER BY Category ASC "); // ???

$stackcn = array();

// make array of "Categoryname" row
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
	array_push($stackcn, $row['Categoryname']);
}

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Categories ORDER BY Category ASC"); // ???

$stack = array();

// make array of "category" row
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) { 
	array_push($stack, $row['Category']);
}

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Categories ORDER BY Category ASC"); // ???

$stack2 = array();

// make array of "ID" row
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
	array_push($stack2, $row['ID']);
}


if (isset($l)){ // check if $l (the lowest number ID actually exists)
	if ($stackcn[0] != ""){ // check if the first category has a name
		//echo "<span style='font-size:100px;'>".$stackcn[0]."</span>";
		echo "<input type='text' name='Categoryname".$stack[0]."' value='".$stackcn[0]."' style='text-decoration:underline; color:red;' /> 
		<input type='radio' name='Categorynamer' value='".$stack[0].", Categoryname".htmlentities($stack[0],ENT_QUOTES)."' />
		<input type='submit' value='Rename' /> <br />";
		echo "<br /><br />";
	}else{
echo "<span style='font-size:100px;'>".$l."</span>";
echo "<input type='text' name='Categoryname' value='".$l."' /> <input type='submit' value='Rename' /> <br />";
echo "<br /><br />";
	}
}



$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Categories ORDER BY Category ASC"); // ???

$stack3 = array();

// make array of "string" row
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
	array_push($stack3, $row['string']);
}


$category = $l;
$count = 0;

foreach ($stack as $value){
	if($value>$category){ 
		echo $category = $value;//$stack[$count]; 
		if($stackcn[$count] != ""){ // if category.. has a name		
			echo "<br />"; 
			//echo "<span style='font-size:100px;'>".$stackcn[$category]."</span>";
			echo "<input type='text' name='Categoryname'".$stack[$count]." value='".$category."'  style='text-decoration:underline; color:red;' />
			<input type='radio' name='Categorynamer' value='".$stack[$count].", Categoryname".htmlentities($stack[$count],ENT_QUOTES)."' />
			 <input type='submit' value='Rename' /> <br />";
			echo "<br />";
		}else{
			echo "<br />"; 
			//echo "<span style='font-size:100px;'>".$category."</span>";
			echo "<input type='text' name='Categoryname'".$stack[$count]." value='".$category."' style='text-decoration:underline; color:red;' /> 
			<input type='radio' name='Categorynamer' value='".$stack[$count].", Categoryname".htmlentities($stack[$count],ENT_QUOTES)."' />		
			<input type='submit' value='Rename' /> <br />";
			echo "<br />";
		}
	}
//	echo $value;
	$string = $stack3[$count];
	echo "<input type='text' name='string".$stack2[$count]."' value='".htmlentities($string,ENT_QUOTES)."' />";
	echo "<input type='radio' name='string' value='".$stack2[$count].",".htmlentities($string,ENT_QUOTES)."' /> <br />";
	$count++;
}

?>
<br /><br />
<input type="number" name="Category" value="" />
<input type="submit" value="Change category" />

<input type="submit" name="delete" value="Delete" src="edit-process.php" />

</form>
</body>
</html>

It's pretty messy and stuff.. I'm not very good with php yet.

r_sole

Oh sorry that was one page.. and this is the other:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>

<body>
<?php

$delete = $_POST["delete"];
$Category = $_POST["Category"];
$stringinfo = explode(",", $_POST["string"]);
$string2ID = $stringinfo[0];
$string2 = $_POST["string".$string2ID];
echo $_POST["Categorynamer"];
$Categoryrinfo = explode(",", $_POST["Categorynamer"]);
$Categoryno = $Categoryrinfo[0];
$Categorytext = $Categoryrinfo[1];
$Categorytext2 = $_POST[$Categorytext];

$con = mysql_connect ("localhost","USERNAME","PASSWORD");	// ready db connect

if(!$con){
	die("could not connect". mysql_error());
}

mysql_select_db("vanilani_notebooks2",$con); // execute connect and select db

if(isset($delete)){ // if delete was selected

mysql_query("DELETE FROM Categories WHERE ID='".$string2ID."'");

echo $string2." <br /> Deleted";

} else if(isset($Category)){ // or else, if a number was put in

mysql_query("UPDATE Categories SET Category='".$Category."', string='".$string2."' WHERE ID='".$string2ID."'"); // update DB

echo $string2." <br /><br /> changed to category ".$Category;

} else if (isset($Categorytext2)){

echo "test";

}

?>
<br />
<a href="index.php">Go back</a>
</body>
</html>

Weedpacket

From your code the important line is

echo "<input type='text' name='string".$stack2[$count]."' value='".htmlentities($string,ENT_QUOTES)."' />";

Try naming it [font=monospace]name='strings[" . $stack2[$count] . "]'[/font]. Then you'll get an array.

From the Variables from External Sources page:

PHP also understands arrays in the context of form variables (see the related faq). You may, for example, group related variables together, or use this feature to retrieve values from a multiple select input. For example, let's post a form to itself and upon submission display the data:

See Example #3.

In passing, you can get the key names of all the elements in the $_POST array using [man]array_keys[/man]. That will tell you the names of all the fields that got submitted.

r_sole

Thanks man. I think you're right on the money.

I renamed it like you said but..

print_r(array_keys($_POST["string"]));

on the next page I put this and I got this error:

Warning: array_keys() expects parameter 1 to be array, string given in /home/vanilani/public_html/notebooks/2/edit-process.php on line 24

Can you help me out a bit more please.

traq

Weedpacket;11014685 wrote:
In passing, you can get the key names of all the elements in the $POST array using [man]array_keys[/man]. That will tell you the names of all the fields that got submitted.

meaning,

array_keys( $_POST );

not

r_sole;11014723 wrote:

array_keys($_POST["string"]);[/pHP][/QUOTE]

besides, he was talking about changing this[code=php]"name='string".$stack2[$count]."'"

to this

"name='string[".$stack2[$count]."]'"

the array_keys suggestion was incidental.

r_sole

Thanks again. That's so helpful.

Are you suggesting I use <select multiple name="string[]"> instead of <input>?

Weedpacket

Who said anything about changing the type of input field? See Variables from External Sources - Example 3.

r_sole

Can you please tell me exactly how I would get the variables from that array one the next page?

Weedpacket

The same way you'd get any other variables from the [font=monospace]$POST[/font] array; as you can see from running that example, it will have an array as one of its elements. If the fields in the HTML form end up being named [font=monospace]CategoryName[0][/font], [font=monospace]CategoryName[1][/font], and so on, when you process it there will be variables [font=monospace]$POST['CategoryName'][0][/font], [font=monospace]$_POST['CategoryName'][1][/font], and so on.

r_sole

Thank you

r_sole

I got it. Thanks guys. Here's the final code:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>

<body>
<form action="edit-process.php" method="post">

<?php

$con = mysql_connect ("localhost","USERNAME","PASSWORD");	// ready db connect

if(!$con){
	die("could not connect". mysql_error());
}

mysql_select_db("vanilani_notebooks2",$con); // execute connect and select db

// Find highest ID number -- for when selecting/making the "new category"
$result = mysql_query("SELECT Category FROM Categories ORDER BY Category DESC LIMIT 1"); 
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
	$h = $row['Category'];
}

// Find lowest ID number - to use to know when the ID's in the DB table has increased (and to <br /> and echo the next numbe)
$result = mysql_query("SELECT Category FROM Categories ORDER BY Category ASC LIMIT 1");

while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
	$l = $row['Category'];
}

$result = mysql_query("SELECT Categoryname FROM Categories ORDER BY Category ASC "); // ???

$stackcn = array();

// make array of "Categoryname" row
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
	array_push($stackcn, $row['Categoryname']);
}

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Categories ORDER BY Category ASC"); // ???

$stack = array();

// make array of "category" row
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) { 
	array_push($stack, $row['Category']);
}

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Categories ORDER BY Category ASC"); // ???

$stack2 = array();

// make array of "ID" row
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
	array_push($stack2, $row['ID']);
}


if (isset($l)){ // check if $l (the lowest number ID actually exists)
	if ($stackcn[0] != ""){ // check if the first category has a name
		echo "no: ".$l;
		echo "<br />";
		//echo "<span style='font-size:100px;'>".$stackcn[0]."</span>";
		echo "<input type='text' name='Categorynames[".$l."]' value='".$l."' style='text-decoration:underline; color:red;' /> 
		<input type='radio' name='Categorynamer' value='".$l."' />
		<input type='submit' name='Rename' value='Rename' /> <br />";
		echo "<br /><br />";
	}else{
		echo "no: ".$l;
		echo "<br />";
echo "<span style='font-size:100px;'>".$l."</span>";
echo "<input type='text' name='Categoryname' value='".$l."' /> <input type='submit' value='Rename' /> <br />";
echo "<br /><br />";
	}
}

/*
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
	 if($row['Category']>$l){ 
	 $l++; 
	 echo "<br />"; 
	 echo "<span style='font-size:100px;'>".$l."</span>";
	 }
	$string = $row['string'];
	//echo $row['string']."<br />";
	//echo "<input type='hidden' name='ID' value='".$row["ID"]."' />";
	echo "<input type='text' name='string".$row['ID']."' value='".htmlentities($string,ENT_QUOTES)."' />";
	echo "<input type='radio' name='string' value='".$row['ID'].",".htmlentities($string,ENT_QUOTES)."' /> <br />";
}
*/

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Categories ORDER BY Category ASC"); // ???

$stack3 = array();

// make array of "string" row
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result)) {
	array_push($stack3, $row['string']);
}

//print_r ($stack);
//print_r ($stack2);
// print_r ($stack3);


$category = $l;
$count = 0;

foreach ($stack as $value){
	if($value>$category){ 
		$category = $value;//$stack[$count]; 
		echo  "<br />"."no: ".$category;
			if($stackcn[$count] != ""){ // if category.. has a name		
			echo "<br />"; 
			//echo "<span style='font-size:100px;'>".$stackcn[$category]."</span>";
			// echo "<input type='text' name='Categoryname".$stackcn."' value='".$stackcn[$count]."'  style='text-decoration:underline; color:red;' />
			echo "<input type='text' name='Categorynames[".$category."]' value='".$stackcn[$count]."'  style='text-decoration:underline; color:red;' />
			<input type='radio' name='Categorynamer' value='".$category."' />
			 <input type='submit' name='Rename' value='Rename' /> <br />";
			echo "<br />"; 
		}if($stackcn[$count] == ""){
		//	echo "no: ".$category;
			echo "<br />"; 
			//echo "<span style='font-size:100px;'>".$category."</span>";
			echo "<input type='text' name ='Categorynames[".$category."]' value='".$category."' style='text-decoration:underline; color:red;' /> 
			<input type='radio' name='Categorynamer' value='".$category."' />		
		 	<input type='submit' name='Rename' value='Rename' /> <br />";
			echo "<br />";
		}
	}
//	echo $value;

$stringIDno = $stack2[$count];
$string = $stack3[$count];
echo "<input type='text' name='strings[" . $stack2[$count] . "]' value='".htmlentities($string,ENT_QUOTES)."' />";
echo "<input type='radio' name='string' value='".$stringIDno." ,".htmlentities($string,ENT_QUOTES)."' /> <br />";
//echo "<input type='radio' name='string' value='".$stack2[count].",".htmlentities($string,ENT_QUOTES)."' /> <br />";
$count++;
}

/*

$category = $l;

foreach ($stack2 as $value){
	if($category>$l){ 
	$category++; 
	echo "<br />"; 
	echo "<span style='font-size:100px;'>".$category."</span>";
	 }
	$string = $stack3[$value];
	echo "<input type='text' name='string".$string."' value='".htmlentities($string,ENT_QUOTES)."' />";
	echo "<input type='radio' name='string' value='".$string.",".htmlentities($string],ENT_QUOTES)."' /> <br />";
	//echo $value;
}	
*/
// loop/while, putting every string - from every row - into an array.. then can echo all the arrays

?>
<br /><br />
<input type="number" name="Category" value="" />
<input type="submit" value="Change category" />

<input type="submit" name="delete" value="Delete" src="edit-process.php" />

</form>
</body>
</html>

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<title>Untitled Document</title>
</head>

<body>
<?php

//$catinfo = explode(",", $_POST["Categorynamer"]);
//$catname = $catinfo[0];
//$catno = $catinfo[0];
// $catname = $catinfo[1];
// $catname = $_POST["Categoryname".$catno];

$delete = $_POST["delete"];
$Rename = $_POST["Rename"];

$Category = $_POST["Category"];

$Categorynamer = $_POST["Categorynamer"]; //category number


$stringinfo = explode(",", $_POST["string"]);
$stringID = $stringinfo[0];
$stringold = $stringinfo[1];
//echo $string = $_POST['strings']['$stringID'];

// get the name of the string textbox input tage
foreach ($_POST['strings'] as $key => $value){
if ($key == $stringID){
	$string = $value;
}
}

// get the name of the categoryname textbox input tage
foreach ($_POST['Categorynames'] as $key => $value){
if ($key == $Categorynamer){
	$categoryname = $value;
}
}

//$string = $_POST[$stringID];

//print_r(array_keys( $_POST ));

/*
foreach ($_POST as $key => $value){
if ($key == $stringID){
	echo $key;
}
} */

//$string = $_POST["string".$stringID];

//$stringinfo = explode(",", $_POST["string"]);
//$string = $stringinfo[1];
//echo $string2ID = $stringinfo[0];
//echo $string2 = $_POST["string".$string2ID];

//$string2 = $_POST["string2"];
//$string2 = htmlentities($string2,ENT_QUOTES); // fix quotes on $string2
// $ID = $_POST["ID"];
//print_r(array_keys($$Categoryname));
//$Categoryrinfo = explode(",", $_POST["Categorynamer"]);
//$Categoryno = $Categoryrinfo[0];
//$Categorytext = $Categoryrinfo[1];
//$Categorytext2 = $_POST[$Categorytext];
//$Categoryname = $_POST["Categoryname".$Categoryno];

$con = mysql_connect ("localhost","USERNAME","PASSWORD");	// ready db connect

if(!$con){
	die("could not connect". mysql_error());
}


mysql_select_db("vanilani_notebooks2",$con); // execute connect and select db

if(isset($delete)){ // if delete was selected

mysql_query("DELETE FROM Categories WHERE ID='".$stringID."'");

echo $string." <br /> Deleted";

} 

if(isset($Rename)){ // if rename was pressed
mysql_query("UPDATE Categories SET Categoryname='".$categoryname."' WHERE Category='".$Categorynamer."'");

echo "Category No:".$Categorynamer." renamed to ".$categoryname;

}

if($Category != ""){ // or else, if a number was put in

//mysql_query("UPDATE Categories SET Category='".$Category."', string='".$string."' WHERE ID='".$stringID."'");

mysql_query("UPDATE Categories SET Category=".$Category.", string='".$string."' WHERE ID=".$stringID); // update DB

echo $string." <br /><br /> changed to category ".$Category;

}

?>
<br />
<a href="index.php">Go back</a>
</body>
</html>