Pass checkbox results through step by step form - php

Question

I have a step by step form that I want to pass checkbox results through to a review page at the end.
There's checkboxes in step 1 and 2, how can I show these on step 3?
I've attempted to do it below but can't get it to echo out the results.
<form class="form" method="POST" action="<?php the_permalink(); ?>">
<? if (!$_POST['step']) { ?>
<input type="hidden" name="step" value="1" />
<div class="steps" style="float:left;">
<p style="font-size:17px!IMPORTANT;"><b>Step 1 of 3</b></p>
</div>
<div class="progress-buttons" style="float:right;">
<button class="next" type="submit" name="submit">Next</button>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<?php $posts = get_field('options');
if( $posts ):
$items = 0;
foreach( $posts as $post): // variable must be called $post (IMPORTANT)
setup_postdata($post); ?>
<p style="clear:right;float:right;margin-right:60px;">
<input type="checkbox" name="hardware[]" value="<?php the_title(); ?>">
Select</p>
<?php $items++; endforeach;
wp_reset_postdata(); // IMPORTANT - reset the $post object so the rest of the page works correctly
endif; ?>
</div>
</div>
<? } else if ($_POST['step'] == 1) {
foreach($_POST as $name => $value) {
if ($name == "hardware") {
$_SESSION[$name] = $_POST[$name];
} else if ($name <> "step") { echo "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"$name\" value=\"$value\" />"; }
} ?>
<input type="hidden" name="step" value="2" />
<div class="steps" style="float:left;">
<p style="font-size:17px!IMPORTANT;"><b>Step 2 of 3</b></p>
</div>
<div class="progress-buttons" style="float:right;"> <a class="back" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>?<?= $field ?>" >Back</a>
<button class="next" type="submit" name="submit">Next</button>
</div>
<?php $posts = get_field('accessories');
if( $posts ):
$items = 0;
foreach( $posts as $post): // variable must be called $post (IMPORTANT)
setup_postdata($post); ?>
<p style="clear:right;float:right;margin-right:60px;">
<input type="checkbox" name="accessories[]" value="<?php the_title(); ?>">
Select</p>
<?php $items++; endforeach;
wp_reset_postdata(); // IMPORTANT - reset the $post object so the rest of the page works correctly
endif; ?>
</div>
</div>
<? } else if ($_POST['step'] == 2) {
foreach($_POST as $name => $value) {
if ($name == "accessories") {
$_SESSION[$name] = $_POST[$name];
} else if ($name <> "step") { echo "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"$name\" value=\"$value\" />"; }
} ?>
<input type="hidden" name="step" value="3" />
<div class="steps" style="float:left;">
<p style="font-size:17px!IMPORTANT;"><b>Step 3 of 3</b></p>
</div>
<div class="progress-buttons" style="float:right;"> <a class="back" href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>?<?= $field ?>" >Back</a>
<button class="next" type="submit" name="submit">Next</button>
</div>
<div class="clear"></div>
<p>System spec</p>
<?php
$hardware = $_POST['hardware'];
$accessories = $_POST['accessories'];
if( is_array($_SESSION['hardware']) ){
foreach ($_SESSION['hardware'] as $val) {
$hardwareresults .= $val.",\n";
}
}
if( is_array($_SESSION['accessories']) ){
foreach ($_SESSION['accessories'] as $val) {
$accessoriesresults .= $val.",\n";
}
}
?>
<ul>
<li><?php echo $hardwareresults; ?></li>
<li><?php echo $accessoriesresults; ?></li>
</ul>
<? } else if ($_POST['step'] == 3) { //do stuff ?>
Last step
<?php } ?>

Answer 1

From this, it's a bit difficult to tell what your problem is, but you are doing some strange and unnecessary things in the end.
$accessoriesresults .= $val.",\n";
.= is a string operator, dont use it to concatenate arrays. So instead:
$accessoriesresults[] = $val;
But why are you doing this anyway? You already have these values in $_SESSION, why do you want to make another similar array? Why not just print out whats in $_SESSION?
if( is_array($_SESSION['accessories']) ){
foreach ($_SESSION['accessories'] as $val) {
echo "<li>$val</li>";
}
}

Answer 2

You appear to be overwriting your $_SESSION keys:
foreach($_POST as $name => $value) {
if ($name == "hardware") {
//here you just overwrite the 'hardware' key continuously
$_SESSION[$name] = $_POST[$name];
} else if ($name <> "step") {
echo "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"$name\" value=\"$value\" />";
}
}
Written out it looks like:
if ($name == "hardware") {
//here you just overwrite the 'hardware' key continuously
$_SESSION['hardware'] = $_POST['hardware'];
}
So are you storing multiple values or just a single value?
Further you should check you aren't loosing values along the way using var_dump
e.g:
var_dump($_SESSION['hardware']);
if( is_array($_SESSION['hardware']) ){
foreach ($_SESSION['hardware'] as $val) {
$hardwareresults .= $val.",\n";
}
}
var_dump($hardwareresults);

Answer 3

Form persistence, at it's simplest implementation, requires session management. i.e. you need to set the http post values into session. The way you implement this code will vary depending on architecture (i.e. what framework or not you are using), but essentially that's all you need to do.
e.g.
foreach($_POST as $key=>$value){$_SESSION[$key]=$value;}

Answer 4

There nothing seems to be a problem in your script, you are pushing values properly into the session just use these session values in third step, try the following code
<?php } else if ($_POST['step'] == 3) { //do stuff ?>
<?php
echo '<pre>';
print_r($_SESSION['hardware']);
print_r($_SESSION['accessories']);
echo '</pre>';
?>
<?php } ?>