I'm looking to create a multi page ordering form the first page would contain some dropdown and text fields, the second page would contain more text fields, the third page would be an order summery with paypal payment option.
I'm just wondering what the best way to create this order form is. I've used sessions in the past but never with users entering in text and picking items from drop downs, does anyone have any resources for doing this? Or does anyone know of a jquery or other ajax example or plugin I might be able to use and modify.
any insight would be a big help.
thanks
The simplest technique might be to use hidden form fields to carry fields from previous screens through to the final screen.
Just make sure you validate all the values when the final screen is submitted to make sure that the user hasn't twiddled the data.
You don't need to do pagination at all if you don't won't to. Just use css to show/hide the "pages". It doesn't sound like you have to save the "state" at any point.
But if you want to do multiple pages, use a session or a cookie to track the user. Then save the data to a database a mark it as incomplete. On the final page, retrieve it all and show it on the page. The server can't tell if a request is ajax or not, so it doesn't matter what you use for submission.
Related
This is the situation, I've got a big array ( 280 items ) which creates a really big form by going trough loops.
I want the user to be able to disable certain items, so they can 'pre make' their form ( and skip the not used ones ), You are probably going to say i can just remove what's not needed. But they need different items from the array every time they use it.
So how would i make a page where they can just use checkbox to 'change' the form. ( if possible at all.)
Thanks,
Mike
edit:
Did not think of sharing code, here:
The array : http://pastebin.com/EnwHsqtK
the form : http://pastebin.com/y2XSFBG4
the page which makes a .txt file from the given answers. http://pastebin.com/UaUcsj2z ( not sure if anyone would need this. )
Might be a bit messy. I'm new in PHP, and only programming for a year. Also dont mind the language please.
If you want to permanently record form preferences/settings for each user, you'd want to create an additional table or column(s) in your database for this, give the users additional checkboxes on the form to indicate their preferences, receive this input and store it in the database, and of course finally disable certain fields based on their settings.
But if you just want to give the users a temporary way to disable certain fields (with no preferences saved permanently), you would use JavaScript in your output. You would add more form controls (checkboxes or buttons or whatever) to the HTML and then add JavaScript code snippets into that HTML to disable form elements when the user clicked on the controls. This kind of making changes when users click is called "triggers that fire based on events". The most commonly-used event is called "OnClick()" and the JavaScript code for it will execute when a user clicks on something.
Many folks who use JavaScript also find it helpful to use the functions in the jQuery library instead of raw JavaScript. To do this, you just add one line of HTML to the top of your page to include the JavaScript libraries from a publicly-hosted server, then you can use jQuery commands in your page.
The only thing to remember when you first start using JavaScript/jQuery is that it only runs on the client browser - its code cannot talk directly to the server, the database, or many things you can access in PHP. JavaScript/jQuery is specifically used for making your HTML pages more interactive. Plain HTML doesn't have much razzle-dazzle. JavaScript allows users to do things like enable and disable form fields on-the-fly.
Hi really hoping to get some help with a complex form issue.
I am building a real estate site where the agents will be able to log into an admin page and upload new houses that are for sale in an HTML form. I have a multi 3 page form that has Listing Info, More Listing Details and a Photo upload page. I have created these 3 pages and a nice css tab navigation to switch between the 3 pages. My issue is I would like the agent to be able to go back and forth between the 3 pages and have the data stay in the form. However if this is a brand new "Listing" then the form would be completely blank. I have the forms set up to submit through php and enter data in a mysql DB and then send you to the next page in the form.
The only way I can come up with is to have if statements that check session variables to see if a "listing_id" variable has been set. If it has it creates a form and fills in the blanks with the data from that pending "listing_id" if not it just creates a blank form. Is there an easier way to do this??? I would like to stick with PHP and HTML however simple JS would be ok too. Thanks for any incite anyone can give!
Whoa whoa whoa. Not sessions. No .. hell naw.
A very simple solution is to make it so the tabs are only visual. Don't throw away the HTML, just hide the container and show another. This way, when you go back, your data is still there.
I would save a cookie on their end with the data they have most recently put in and only clear the cookie once they have completed the form. Then you can use this data to fill the form.
For example,
Imagine the form data from their last inputs were separated by colons ":"
$prevform=$_COOKIE["lastform"]
$data=explode($prevform,":")
All the form data would be separated and reusable by setting the value of each input from $data[int]
I have an application in which I display a form so a user can search for client records based on last name. After entering search parameters, the record or records (there could be multiple clients with the same last name) are displayed. I then want the user to be able to select a client record, possibly with a radio button, and hit one of two buttons: Display details, or Create Reservation. The Display Details button should cause a new display with details of the selected record. The Create Reservation button should cause a new form, with its own handling, to be displayed.
Now, I know I can set things up according to this login
<?php
if (display button was pressed)
{
php code to retrieve more data and display details
}
else if (create reservation button was pressed)
{
php code to generate and display the reservation form, with appropriate handling
}
?>
display the original form with the search results
The problem is, I end up with really ugly, hard to read code because the php code to generate and display the reservation form is lengthy, and needs its own validation, database interaction, and form handling. The code, to my Java-oriented eye, looks ugly and non-modular. Plus, the code for handling the reservation form is icky, with lots of flag setting to determine if we are in form entry mode or form handling mode. I would like a much cleaner way to do this. So my question is, what is the best practice for handling the situation where there are multiple buttons and the action associated with each button is complex?
I could call a function, obviously, but I still end up with the ugly flags determining which state the script is in (are we displaying the reservation form or handling it?). I could create another php file and include it, but the ugliness persists. Or, I could use header, and pass the client record id in a session variable to the new php script. But that would mean a second, unnecessary retrieve from the database to get the client information again.
All the code examples I see on the web show very simple processing after a form button is pressed. What is the best way to do complex processing and displaying a second form based on a button press?
Have you considered using a framework like Laravel for your site. It would seem to me that you must be doing this "manually". With the complexities you described, having a system with routes and "build-in" functionality (like Eloquent ORM) might serve to simplify things for you.
I would go for using ajax and a rich jQuery plugin (or some other framework) to do what you want.
Basically you will handle lists and the functionality that you mentioned with the php reading data and jQuery scripts to dysplay it. And the information that you have to show would be through ajax. Or when you want to edit.
Here is a cleaner example of what you need:
http://jqueryui.com/dialog/#modal-form
I have a database app written in PHP (jQuery/JS on the front end) that has bilingual labels/text. Currently one can only change one's language on a maintenance page (form submission, then PHP updates a session variable with their new language choice), but the users would like me to add a language pulldown that would appear in the corner of all pages. When the page contains a form, I don't want users to lose their partially entered data if they happen to change the language, so I need to save/restore the form data somehow. Is there an easy way to do that? I know I can use jQuery to serialize the form, but then what? Send that added onto the URL and pick it up in PHP? Then what? Write some routine to loop through the form fields and handle them properly (inputs, selects, radio boxes, etc. are all different)? It seems like there should be an easier way. I don't mind restricting myself to HTML5-supported solutions or adding jQuery plugins.
How about localStorage?
If user has filled any input fields, save them to localStorage and delete the data after user submits the form.
My suggestion is to:
Submit the Language and any wanted user data when changing language to the server using $.ajax or $.post
I'm a bit rusty in PHP,
I'm curently doing an PHP assignment where a user can select and save listed images/data/values into their own collection.
I have inputted all the data and printed it out in a repeat region with recordset paging.
I'm confused about how I am supposed to save a checked checkbox temporary before submission as there a more then 1 page as I'm using recordset paging to output the options.(Meaning: i have selected 2 values in the first page then i click next page to select balance values and finally submit my selection)
TIA
I have read an article on storing in session , that is the solution I guess, but I wonder how I'm supposed to send the value to the session when chaging the page (recordset paging generated by Dreamweaver)
To clarify the previous answers, you will most likely want to create a new $_SESSION variable for each check-box and associate a boolean with it.
You can store the result of a form post in PHP's $_SESSION variable.
Read this post for more information: Storing Form Data as a Session Variable
Also, there has to a tutorial or something in Google Land.
If you need to save the form results without submitting the form, try a JavaScript/AJAX approach. The idea is that you actually do submit the form, but in a behind-the-scenes kind of way (that is, the user never notices it). Essentially, you're going to want to build a "autosave" functionality. Look at these two posts:
Autosaving Form Input Using Prototype and PHP
AJAX Autosave functionality
They probably won't fit your needs exactly, but they should give you a good idea of what you should do.
Note: both of these posts use a timer to trigger their autosave functionality. I would suggest tweaking the trigger to detect any changes in your form instead.
Store them in _SESSION and process when needed.