Retrieving data from dynamic form - php

Question

I have a form which is dynamically generated based on user input.
Initially the user is shown 3 fields to select from (datefrom, dateto, and pitchtype), they select their options, click submit and the script generates a table with inputs for each date in the range for them to edit.
An example of the generated form is below:
<table id="avtable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Date</th>
<th>Current bookings</th>
<th>Max bookings</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<form action="index.php?page=availability&task=edit&action=submit" method="post"></form>
<input type="hidden" name="pitchtype" value="1" />
<tr>
<td>2012-05-13</td>
<td>0</td>
<td><input type="text" value="10" class="spinner" maxlength="3" name="max"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2012-05-14</td>
<td>0</td>
<td><input type="text" value="10" class="spinner" maxlength="3" name="max"></td>
</tr>
<input type="submit" value="Save" name="Submit" />
</form>
</tbody>
</table>
In the recieving PHP file I need to be able to process the data for each date, and am clueless where to start! Typically if it was a static form I would just use something like
$max = $_REQUEST['max'];
To get the edited field.
Obviously what I need to do is pair up each edited field with its date, for me to then process the data as I normally would. I presume I would need some sort of php loop with the array of data from the form, but I'm not quite sure where to start... any ideas?
EDIT :
I presume I would need to edit my outputed form to something like this, so the name of each input was the same as the date column, so what I need to know is then how to get all dates in the receiving php file:
<table id="avtable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Date</th>
<th>Current bookings</th>
<th>Max bookings</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<form action="index.php?page=availability&task=edit&action=submit" method="post"></form>
<input type="hidden" name="pitchtype" value="1" />
<tr>
<td>2012-05-13</td>
<td>0</td>
<td><input type="text" value="10" class="spinner" maxlength="3" name="2012-05-13"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2012-05-14</td>
<td>0</td>
<td><input type="text" value="10" class="spinner" maxlength="3" name="2012-05-14"></td>
</tr>
<input type="submit" value="Save" name="Submit" />
</form>
</tbody>
</table>
Many thanks!
Kevin

Answer 1

In order to pass information first you need to give the text input's different names something like:
<table id="avtable">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Date</th>
<th>Current bookings</th>
<th>Max bookings</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<form action="index.php?page=availability&task=edit&action=submit" method="post"></form>
<tr>
<td>2012-05-13</td>
<td>0</td>
<td><input type="text" value="10" class="spinner" maxlength="3" name="SpinMax"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>2012-05-14</td>
<td>0</td>
<td><input type="text" value="10" class="spinner" maxlength="3" name="SpinMax2"></td>
</tr>
<input type="submit" value="Save" name="Submit" />
</form>
</tbody>
</table>
From there, your PHP script should be something like this:
$SpinMax = $_POST["SpinMax"];
$SpinMax2 = $_POST["SpinMax2"];
By using $_POST, you are able to assign the PHP variable based on the "name" you give it in the text area.