Get Text from Table of Displayed Data

pells22

I have a page that displays a list of names and titles. The list is generated from a database, and can be a couple names long to 20's.

Example

John Doe Player [Delete] [Update] (hidden field ID)
Jane Doe Mgr. [Delete] [Update] (hidden field ID)
Jack Smith Player [Delete] [Update] (hidden field ID)

The admin can currently add/delete names, but I also want to give them the ability to update either the title or name (sometimes they are spelled wrong) without having to add and delete. Right now they can just type the correct name.

My issue is I cannot figure out how to Get the text from the textfield in the row they want to update. If I had a fixed number I would know they were updating row 3 and grab that, but since it is generated from a repeat recordset I have no idea how many rows.

I am using php, so once I get that data I will pass it to and Update.php page and use the hidden id to determine what record to update. That part works, I just cannot figure out how to get the updated text???

I can post some code, but I have searched and searched and have no clue, so my code is not of much value. I figure I have to be searching on the wrong thing.

One last thing, I am trying to do this with only PHP no AJAX. I have users with very limited computer skills on old machines that I am worried might not have Java enabled.

dalecosp

There could be a few ways to skin this cat. So this is a form ... can you attach the "hidden field ID" the input's "name" attribute?

echo "<input type='text' name='name$hidden_id' value='John Doe' /> [Delete] [update] <input type='hidden' name='$hidden_id' value='$hidden_id' /><br />";

Alternatively, one submit button per line? It would have the hidden value attached to it, and you'd read that in the handler. Doesn't sound like an attractive option from a UI standpoint though - not only not pretty, but they'd have to push the correct button to produce the correct result ... not pretty from a programming standpoint.

At any rate, the general way I've handled this is to have the output loop produce a hidden_id (or not hidden, as the case may be) and the handler has to loop over the $_POST array and update as necessary.

I'm sure there are some other ways as well. Good luck!

bradgrafelman

pells22;11019931 wrote:
If I had a fixed number I would know they were updating row 3 and grab that

Not really. Who's to say that the "third element" the browser sends in its POST string is the third item in the record set you used to generate the form?

I would instead go a route similar to what dalecosp suggested, but I would put the "key" value in square brackets, e.g.:

<input type="text" name="title[123]" value="Previous value">

That way, your $POST elements (e.g. $POST['title'] in my example HTML code) would then be arrays, where the keys are the ID values of the entities in your DB.

You could also include hidden form field elements that capture the "previous" value that was used to generate the form in a similar way using arrays. That way, you'd be able to compare the POST'ed text fields with their hidden element counterparts to see if the user actually changed anything (as opposed to leaving a given text field unchanged and just submitting the form). This would allow you to only execute UPDATE queries for the rows that actually changed.

pells22;11019931 wrote:
One last thing, I am trying to do this with only PHP no AJAX. I have users with very limited computer skills on old machines that I am worried might not have Java enabled.

Well that wouldn't matter anyway, since using AJAX doesn't require Java to even be installed.

dalecosp

AJAX == "Asynchonous Javascript And XML". Javascript != Java. 🙂

pells22

Wow sometimes you get so locked in on something you don't see the solution. I was so locked in that each row needed its own delete I just focused on having an update for each row. Your responses helped me realize, all I really need and a much better interface would be one button to update/save all the changes. I was working on updating and returning the user to the same spot, when really a single update would be much better so they could make multiple changes.

I am still confused about the AJAX, forgive me I am new to the web programing world (an old VB programer). From what I was reading some browsers cannot run AJAX if it did not allow javascripst to run?

Thanks again, my solution is so simple now!

dalecosp

pells22;11020001 wrote:
Wow sometimes you get so locked in on something you don't see the solution. I was so locked in that each row needed its own delete I just focused on having an update for each row. Your responses helped me realize, all I really need and a much better interface would be one button to update/save all the changes. I was working on updating and returning the user to the same spot, when really a single update would be much better so they could make multiple changes.

I am still confused about the AJAX, forgive me I am new to the web programing world (an old VB programer). From what I was reading some browsers cannot run AJAX if it did not allow javascripst to run?

Thanks again, my solution is so simple now!

Glad to hear you got it sorted.

Yes, AJAX would require Javascript. Erroneous to assume everyone would have it, but pretty safe to assume a very high adoptance/participation rate.