How to wipe a search query in PHP? - php

Question

I have a search form that uses Javascript to change the input method depending on what's selected. So if you have "Name" selected you get a text box, but if you have "Rating" selected you get a drop-down list from 1-5.
<form method="GET" action="results_sample.php">
<p>Search by: <!-- Dropdown list allows users to search by different elements -->
<select id="searchtype" name="searchtype" onchange="changeview()"> <!-- onchange calls changeview() every time the dropdown value is changed. Allows ratings to be seen -->
<option value="School">School</option>
<option value="Name">Name</option>
<option value="Rating">Rating</option>
<option value="Class Location">Class Location</option>
<option value="Subject">Subject</option>
</select>
</p>
<span id="standard" style="display:inline">Search Query: <input type="text" name="query"></span>
<span id="locationsearch" style="display:none"> (Longitude-Lattitude pair) <input type="number" id="longitude" step="any"> - <input type="number" id="latitude" step="any"> </span>
<span id="ratevalue" style="display:none"> Choose rating:
<select id="ratings">
<option value=1>1</option>
<option value=2>2</option>
<option value=3>3</option>
<option value=4>4</option>
<option value=5>5</option>
</select>
</span>
<p><input type="submit"></p>
</form>
The relevant code in results_sample.php is:
<?php
if (isset($_GET['searchtype'])) {
if (!empty($_GET['query'])) {
$search = $_GET['query'];
} elseif (!empty($_GET['ratings'])) {
$search = $_GET['ratings'];
} elseif (!empty($_GET['longitude']) || isset($_GET['latitude'])) {
$search = 'more to come...';
}
echo '<p>Entries containing "', $search, '" in "', $_GET['searchtype'], '"</p>';
}
?>
I have two problems:
1) If I type text into the search query, then switch to ratings, and try to search by ratings, it still has the textbox invisible in the background, and uses that information instead.
2) If the textbox is empty and I want to search by Longitude-Latitude, Rating is still set at a default of 1 (invisible in the background) and it takes that value.

Answer 1

One option is to check $_GET['searchtype'] value and select another $_GET variable according to it, something like:
switch ($_GET['searchtype']) {
case 'Name':
$search = $_GET['query'];
break;
case 'Rating':
$search = $_GET['ratings'];
break;
case 'Class Location':
$search = 'other value';
break;
// add more cases as you wish
}
Other option can be using javascript to clear other fields' values when you change #searchtype but in this case select#ratings still will be sent to server.