Working with session in PHP - php

Question

I have a form from which i take some datas and using session i want to keep that datas as a history on my page, and also when i click on one line from my history i want my datas to be autocomplete in my form. I saw an example on one page and i tried doing it to apply to what i want but it's not quite functional.
This is my code for the form:
<form method="get">
Create:<br><br>
Name:<br> <input type="text" id="name" value="" /><br>
surname:<br> <input type="text" id="surname" value="" /><br>
Sex:<br> <div class="select-wrapper">
<select name="sex" id="sex">
<option value="">- Sex -</option>
<option value="woman">Woman</option>
<option value="male">Male</option>
</select>
</div>
Role: <div class="select-wrapper">
<select name="rol" id="rol">
<option value="">- Role -</option>
<option value="visitor">Visitor</option>
<option value="Professor">Professor</option>
<option value="Student">Student</option>
</select>
</div>
Text color: <div class="select-wrapper">
<select name="cul" id="cul">
<option value="">- Text color -</option>
<option value="red">Red</option>
<option value="blue">Blue</option>
<option value="black">Black</option>
</select>
</div>
Font text: <div class="select-wrapper">
<select name="font" id="font">
<option value="">- Font text -</option>
<option value="15px Arial">Arial</option>
<option value="15px Times New Roman">Times New Roman</option>
<option value="15px Georgia">Georgia</option>
<option value="15px Comic Sans MS">Comic Sans MS</option>
<option value="15px Lucida Sans Unicode">Lucida Sans Unicode</option>
<option value="15px Courier New">Courier New</option>
</select>
</div>
Format : <div class="select-wrapper">
<select name="format" id="format">
<option value="">- Format -</option>
<option value="portrait">Portrait</option>
<option value="landscape">Landscape</option>
</select>
</div>
Style text: <div class="select-wrapper">
<select name="stil" id="stil">
<option value="">- Style text -</option>
<option value="stil1">Stil1</option>
<option value="stil2">Stil2</option>
<option value="stil3">Stil3</option>
<option value="stil4">Stil4</option>
<option value="stil5">Stil5</option>
<option value="stil6">Stil6</option>
</select>
</div>
</form>
And this is where i tried to use session:
<?php
session_start();
$createpas = parseRequest();
storecreatepas($createpas);
include "form.php";
$createpases = $_SESSION['createpases'];
include "history.php";
function storecreatepas($createpas) {
if (!isset($_SESSION['createpases'])) {
$_SESSION['createpases'] = [];
}
if (!$createpas->isEmpty()) {
$_SESSION['createpases'][] = $createpas;
}
}
function parseRequest() {
$createpas = new createpasRequest;
$createpas->cul = !empty($_GET['cul']) ? $_GET['cul'] : "";
$createpas->font = !empty($_GET['font']) ? $_GET['font'] : "";
$createpas->format = !empty($_GET['format']) ? $_GET['format'] : "";
$createpas->stil = !empty($_GET['stil']) ? $_GET['stil'] : "";
return $createpas;
}
/**
* createpas request
*/
class createpasRequest
{
public $cul = "";
public $font = "";
public $format = "";
public $stil = "";
function toQueryString() {
$params = [
'cul' => $this->cul,
'font' => $this->font,
'format' => $this->format,
'stil' => $this->stil
];
return http_build_query($params);
}
function isEmpty() {
return !$this->cul || !$this->font || !$this->format || !$this->stil;
}
function culAsObject() {
return new DateTime($this->cul);
}
function fontAsObject() {
return new DateTime($this->font);
}
function formatAsObject() {
return new DateTime($this->format);
}
function stilAsObject() {
return new DateTime($this->stil);
}
}
And the display code:
<ul>
<?php
foreach ($createpases as $s) {
?>
<li><a href="search.php?<?php echo $s->toQueryString() ?>">
<?php echo $s->cul?> - <?php echo $s->font?> - <?php echo $s->format?> - <?php echo $s->stil?>
</a></li>
<?php
}
?>
</ul>
It works just fine until some point. It gets my datas from my form posts them on the page but when i click on them they don't autocomplete in in my form. And also if i want the options to be unique in the list how can i do that? Right now if i complete the same datas 2 or 3 times they appear multiple times in my list.
Thank you for your help!

Answer 1

You need to start the session in the Form page and then check if the SESSION array contains the values to be echoed.
So your code will become:
<?php session_start();
if(!isset($_SESSION['name']){$_SESSION['name']=''}
if(!isset($_SESSION['sex']){$_SESSION['sex']=''}
if(!isset($_SESSION['rol']){$_SESSION['rol']=''}
?>
//this way you will not have issues on page first load before the user fills in the form
<form method="get">
Create:<br><br>
Name:<br> <input type="text" id="name" value="<?php echo $_SESSION['name']; ?>" /><br>
surname:<br> <input type="text" id="surname" value="" /><br>
Sex:<br> <div class="select-wrapper">
<select name="sex" id="sex">
<option value="" <?php if($_SESSION['rol']==''){echo 'selected'} ?>>- Sex -</option>
<option value="woman" <?php if($_SESSION['rol']=='woman'){echo 'selected'} ?>>Woman</option>
<option value="male" <?php if($_SESSION['rol']=='visitor'){echo 'selected'} ?>>Male</option>
</select>
</div>
Role: <div class="select-wrapper">
<select name="rol" id="rol">
<option value="" <?php if($_SESSION['rol']==''){echo 'selected'} ?>>- Role -</option>
<option value="visitor" <?php if($_SESSION['rol']=='visitor'){echo 'selected'} ?>>Visitor</option>
<option value="Professor"<?php if($_SESSION['rol']=='Professor'){echo 'selected'} ?>>Professor</option>
<option value="Student"<?php if($_SESSION['rol']=='student'){echo 'selected'} ?>>Student</option>
</select>
</div>
and so on.

Answer 2

It appears that your form does not auto-fill with the data because you do not have such a functionality implemented. This auto-complete functionality is not automatic, as in, the server does not do it for you.
Here is an example of what you need to do in order to get the autocomplete to work:
Name:<br> <input type="text" id="name" value="<?= $_SESSION['name'] ?>" /><br>
For the select to auto-complete, you'll need to do something like this:
<select name="cul" id="cul">
<option value="">- Text color -</option>
<option value="red" <? echo ($_SESSION['cul']==="red")?"selected='selected'":""; ?>>Red</option>
<option value="blue" <? echo ($_SESSION['cul']==="blue")?"selected='selected'":""; ?>>Blue</option>
<option value="black" <? echo ($_SESSION['cul']==="black")?"selected='selected'":""; ?>>Black</option>
</select>
This sets the value for each form element by directly setting the value / selected item using the $_GET data from a previous submission, or if there is no data, everything will be empty / default values.
Per a suggestion from one of the comments to this answer, I would like to point out that you must include "session_start()" to the top of the document if you wish to use the session variables on the document (if you have not done so already).
One question about the original question: is that first code block procedurally generated, or hand-typed?