Passing information using post method without session variables - php

Question

I will admit immediately that this is homework. I am only here as a last resort after I cannot find a suitable answer elsewhere. My assignment is having me pass information between posts without using a session variable or cookies in php. Essentially as the user continues to guess a hidden variable carries over all the past guesses up to that point. I am trying to build a string variable that holds them all and then assign it to the post variable but I cannot get anything to read off of the guessCounter variable i either get an undefined index error at the line of code that should be adding to my string variable or im just not getting anything passed over at all. here is my code any help would be greatly appreciated as I have been at this for awhile now.
<?php
if(isset($_POST['playerGuess'])) {
echo "<pre>"; print_r($_POST) ; echo "</pre>";
}
?>
<?php
$wordChoices = array("grape", "apple", "orange", "banana", "plum", "grapefruit");
$textToPlayer = "<font color = 'red'>It's time to play the guessing game!(1)</font>";
$theRightAnswer= array_rand($wordChoices, 1);
$passItOn = " ";
$_POST['guessCounter']=$passItOn;
$guessTestTracker = $_POST['guessCounter'];
$_POST['theAnswer'] = $theRightAnswer;
if(isset($_POST['playerGuess'])) {
$passItOn = $_POST['playerGuess'];
if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'GET') {
$guessTestTracker = $_GET['guessCounter'];
$theRightAnswer = $_GET['theAnswer'];
}
else if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST') {
if(isset($_POST['playerGuess'])) {
if(empty($_POST['playerGuess'])) {
$textToPlayer = "<font color = 'red'>Come on, enter something(2)</font>";
}
else if(in_array($_POST['playerGuess'],$wordChoices)==false) {
$textToPlayer = "<font color = 'red'>Hey, that's not even a valid guess. Try again (5)</font>";
$passItOn = $_POST['guessCounter'].$passItOn;
}
if(in_array($_POST['playerGuess'],$wordChoices)&&$_POST['playerGuess']!=$wordChoices[$theRightAnswer]) {
$textToPlayer = "<font color = 'red'>Sorry ".$_POST['playerGuess']." is wrong. Try again(4)</font>";
$passItOn = $_POST['guessCounter'].$passItOn;
}
if($_POST['playerGuess']==$wordChoices[$theRightAnswer]) {
$textToPlayer = "<font color = 'red'>You guessed ".$_POST['playerGuess']." and that's CORRECT!!!(3)</font>";
$passItOn = $_POST['guessCounter'].$passItOn;
}
}
}
}
$_POST['guessCounter'] = $passItOn;
$theRightAnswer=$_POST['theAnswer'];
for($i=0;$i<count($wordChoices);$i++){
if($i==$theRightAnswer) {
echo "<font color = 'green'>$wordChoices[$i]</font>";
}
else {
echo $wordChoices[$i];
}
if($i != count($wordChoices) - 1) {
echo " | ";
}
}
?>
<h1>Word Guess</h1>
Refresh this page
<h3>Guess the word I'm thinking</h3>
<form action ="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>" method = "post">
<input type = "text" name = "playerGuess" size = 20>
<input type = "hidden" name = "guessCounter" value = "<?php echo $guessTestTracker; ?>">
<input type = "hidden" name = "theAnswer" value = "<?php echo $theRightAnswer; ?>">
<input type = "submit" value="GUESS" name = "submitButton">
</form>
<?php
echo $textToPlayer;
echo $theRightAnswer;
echo $guessTestTracker;
?>

Answer 1

This is a minimal functional example of what you need to do. There are still a couple of minor bugs (like duplicate entries in the history), but I've left these as an exercise for you. Treat this as a starting point and build up what you need from it.
I've added comments to explain what's happening, so hopefully it is clear to you.
$answer = null;
$history = [];
$choices = ['apple', 'grape', 'banana'];
$message = '';
// check if a guess has been made.
if (!empty($_POST) && !empty($_POST['guess'])) {
// check if previous guesses have been made.
if (!empty($_POST['history'])) {
$history = explode(',', $_POST['history']);
}
// check guess.
if (!empty($_POST['answer']) && !empty($_POST['guess'])) {
// check guess and answer are both valid.
if (in_array($_POST['guess'], $choices) && isset($choices[$_POST['answer']])) {
if ($_POST['guess'] == $choices[$_POST['answer']]) {
// correct; clear history.
$history = [];
$message = 'correct!';
} else {
// incorrect; add to history and set previous answer to current.
$history[] = $_POST['guess'];
$answer = $_POST['answer'];
$message = 'incorrect!';
}
} else {
// invalid choice or answer value.
}
}
}
if (empty($answer)) {
// no answer set yet (new page load or correct guess); create new answer.
$answer = rand(0, count($choices) - 1);
}
?>
<p>Guess the word I'm thinking:</p>
<p><?php echo implode(' | ', $choices) ?></p>
<form method="POST">
<input type="hidden" name="answer" value="<?php echo $answer; ?>">
<input type="hidden" name="history" value="<?php echo implode(',', $history); ?>">
<input type="text" name="guess">
<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Guess">
</form>
<p><?php echo $message; ?></p>