Have a method for INPUT without using FORM in PHP - php

I'm being creative and making something new. I am wanting to use <input> without <form> but don't think it's possible to make the input a method (POST) without using <FORM>. I'm currently trying to use
if(isset($_POST['name'])) {
// Do Something
}
but having my input <input type="button" name="name" /> does not activate the isset I have when using PHP to listen for that event.
Is there something I'm doing wrong? Is there another way I should do this? I'm really lost, and don't have no idea what to do now. I do not want to use <form> since I'm currently not interested in using that. Should the input type be "submit"? What else is there I could do?

This is possible with a javascript onclick or onsubmit event, using GET rather than POST, but it's definitely not best practice. Use a form or AJAX, as recommended by other posters:
<input type="text" id="name" />
<button id="submit" onclick="javascript:window.location='http://yoururl.com/?name='+document.getElementById('name').value">Submit</button>

You are not able to send a form data without using <form>.
The only way to do this is to use ajax instead of a classic HTML form.

You can take inputs from STDIN in PHP's latest versions like:
fscanf(STDIN, "%s\n", $value);
Here $value will contain the input.

Related

how to enable the submit button in real time depending on text validation?

I have a HTML form in list.php that submits the data from text box ("item" in below code) to check.php. This check.php validates the text entered to be not empty or white spaces only. After validation, it redirects to list.php for the entered text to be displayed. list.php is below. I want the "add" button to be enabled only when valid text is entered in the text box. I would like this feature to be done with php and probably not with javascript.
I can use "disabled=\"disabled\" in the form, but this does not work in real-time disabling depending on validation.
<form action="check.php" method="post">
<input name="item" type="text" size="25" autofocus="autofocus" />
<input type="submit" value="Add" id="add" />
</form>
You say:
I would like this feature to be done with php and probably not with javascript.
Unfortunately, if you want "real-time" then you're gonna need JavaScript. You'll need it to make AJAX calls to your PHP code to check for validation.
So either A) you don't validate in "real-time" at all, or B) You use JavaScript in one shape or another.
Let's say you opt for B), to use JavaScript, and presuming ALL you need to do is check for an empty string or whitespace, then you can do all of this client-side in JavaScript and not require a server call at all, also making it truly "real-time".
And so, here is my solution, using JavaScript (jQuery) without relying on server calls. This may not be suitable for your current implementation, but just in case it is, this might be helpful.
JSFiddle:
http://jsfiddle.net/VKfrw/1/
JavaScript:
function hasWhiteSpaceOrEmpty(s)
{
return s == "" || s.indexOf(' ') >= 0;
}
function validateInput()
{
var inputVal = $("#myInput").val();
if(hasWhiteSpaceOrEmpty(inputVal))
{
//This has whitespace or is empty, disable the button
$("#add").attr("disabled", "disabled");
}
else
{
//not empty or whitespace
$("#add").removeAttr("disabled");
}
}
$(document).ready(function() {
$("#myInput").keyup(validateInput);
});
HTML:
<!-- give this guy an ID -->
<input id="myInput" name="item" type="text" size="25" autofocus="autofocus" />
This implementation uses jQuery.
As mentioned, if you want this done in real time some javascript will be needed.
However I think this problem is actually more suited to javascript in general. PHP validation can be useful if you need to cross reference for data with data in your database.
eg. In a sign up form, checking a user is not already registered with the entered email address.
But in your case, depending on what you mean by "valid text" it is probably easier and better to use javascript.
There are some great jQuery plugins which make javascript validation really simple.
http://docs.jquery.com/Plugins/Validation/validate

When submitting a web form, don't reset data fields

How can I submit a form to itself without clearing the data in the fields using HTML, javascript and PHP?
You could take different approaches (e.g. cookies, jquery, etc...), however HTML + a line in PHP are more than enough in this case. Try this example code:
<form name="test" method="post">
Your Name: <input type="text" name="YourName" <?php if (isset($_POST['YourName'])) echo 'value="'.$_POST['YourName'].'"';?> >
<input type="submit" value="Submit">
</form>
In the code above if something has been posted to the receiving page (that can be the same page, such as in your case), then the posted value is printed out in the corresponding field. You can use this approach for all the fields composing your form.
If you want, you can also use similarly the $_GET method in the form.
If you use the traditional form submit, you need to save the parameters and rewrite the form input elements when you write the form the next time. But a better way is to use AJAX -- then the field data is sent without a form submission, and the input elements retain their data. See this link: http://www.w3schools.com/ajax/default.asp

hidden field in php

For hidden fields, can i use a field of the type
<input type="hidden" name="field_name" value="<?php print $var; ?>"/>
and retrieve it after the GET / POST method as $_GET['field_name'] / $_POST['field_name'] ?
are there any other ways of using hidden fields in php?
You absolutely can, I use this approach a lot w/ both JavaScript and PHP.
Field definition:
<input type="hidden" name="foo" value="<?php echo $var;?>" />
Access w/ PHP:
$_GET['foo'] or $_POST['foo']
Also: Don't forget to sanitize your inputs if they are going into a database. Feel free to use my routine: https://github.com/niczak/PHP-Sanitize-Post/blob/master/sanitize.php
Cheers!
Yes, you can access it through GET and POST (trying this simple task would have made you aware of that).
Yes, there are other ways, one of the other "preferred" ways is using sessions. When you would want to use hidden over session is kind of touchy, but any GET / POST data is easily manipulated by the end user. A session is a bit more secure given it is saved to a file on the server and it is much harder for the end user to manipulate without access through the program.
Can I use a field of the type ... and retrieve it after the GET / POST method ...
Yes (haven't you tried?)
Are there any other ways of using hidden fields in PHP?
You mean other ways of retrieving the value? No.
Of course you can use hidden fields for what ever you want.
Btw. input fiels have no end tag. So write either just <input ...> or as self-closing tag <input .../>.

jQuery autocomplete on multiple input fields

I am using jQuery auto-complete. I have download this script from http://code.google.com/p/jquery-autocomplete/. I want to use this on multiple fields. Please help me thanks.
$("#input").autocomplete("samefile.php");
$("#input").autocomplete("samefile.php");
thanks
the hash mark means you are using IDs to select elements. there should however never be more than one element in your page with the same ID. for instance,
<input id="test" /><input id="test" />
is invalid HTML.
The second problem, is that it appears you are trying to find tag names, which means you should simply leave out the hash mark from your code, and JQuery will apply your methods to all of the tags with that tag name,
$("input").autocomplete("samefile.php");
will apply autocomplete to all input tags on your page.
Third, I would use classes instead of tag names incase you ever want to have an input on your page that does not use the same auto complete. So your html would look like this,
<input class="auto" /><input class="auto" />
and your JQuery would look like this.
$(".auto").autocomplete("samefile.php);
I also wonder where you are calling your JQuery from?
You should use a less specific selector to mark multiple fields as autocomplete in one statement.
Maybe you can assign a class of type ".autocomplete" and then use that.
<input type=textbox" name="txt1" class="autocomplete"/>
<input type=textbox" name="txt2" class="autocomplete"/>
$(".autocomplete").autocomplete("samefile.php");

Is it possible to send variables from HTML to another PHP file

I have a index.html where I would like to submit some coordinates that can be passed upon to separate PHP file; where it could perform a query. I am new to this.
HTML:
Xmax<input type="text" name="Xmax" size="15">
Ymax<input type="text" name="Ymax" size="15">
<input type=SUBMIT name="submit" VALUE="Submit">
PHP query:
$query = "SELECT * FROM state WHERE LONG_HI<$_POST["Ymax"] AND LAT_HI<$_POST["Xmax"];
$result = mysql_query($query);
So is there a way to perform remote action from this HTML file to the specified PHP file?
Well, Forms can do the job. Is'nt it?
Yes
Either make an HTML form to accept the Xmax and Ymax parameters, and set the form action to the PHP file;
Or use AJAX to pass the data in the background and receive a response.
If both of these concepts are foreign to you, and you don't know JavaScript, get comfortable with the first option first.
Would you please describe in detail what you are about to do?
do you have a html form?
What kind of request do you do, clicking a link, sending the form?
The query does not contain any of the variables...
could you please post excerpts of the code? single lines are useless in most cases.
Regards,
Mario
use action attribute in FORM element to specify where the request will be sent to.
<form action="another.php" method="POST">
Xmax<input type="text" name="Xmax" size="15">
Ymax<input type="text" name="Ymax" size="15">
<input type=SUBMIT name="submit" VALUE="Submit">
</form>
You just add few line with your code because to transfer any variable value from one form to another page we have to use 'form' method. So, we have to add form tag with your code. Transferring of data from one page to another page (any type of page like php, jsp, aspx etc) is done by two methods mainly - one of them is Post and another one is Get.
Difference between both the method is quite simple. In Post method, data from one page to another page travels in hidden form whereas Get is basically used to transfer value by displaying it at url. Post method example: user-name and password, and Get Method: any query fired at Search Engine.
<form name="form" action="filename.php" method="POST" >
//Your Code
</form>

Categories