Question

html form sending variables to php script

Asked by: xanilover

okay i have an HTML <form> that sends data to a php script via the POST method. The PHP script is then suppost to place the variable values sent from the HTML form into a MySQL database.. the problem is that i get blank entrys in the database. I did a little echo test in the PHP script to see if it was recieving the variables and they came out blank.  I read in a previous entry something about maybe haveing to configure PHP to recieve and parse outside variables, but i couldnt find anymore info on that... can anybody shed some light on this problem?

thank you in advance
(im useing PHP 4.1)

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Asked On
2002-08-23 at 13:11:00ID20340581
Tags

php

,

variables

,

sending

,

form

,

html

Topic

PHP Scripting Language

Participating Experts
4
Points
50
Comments
11

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Answers

 

by: mgeenePosted on 2002-08-23 at 18:58:21ID: 7239635

There's two ways to retrieve the values that you would like to retrieve from the Form Post method.  You can either use the $HTTP_POST_VAR["yourvariable"] and that will give you your value.  If you would prefer to use the $yourvariable you will need to find the php.ini file.  In it, you'll find two sections which you need to change, one is register_globals which needs to be set to "on" it's set to "off" and the other is the track_vars should be set to "on".  Using things the older way by setting globabl_variables to On creates security concerns as well as variables which you may or may not want to use.  Personally, I started using the $HTTP_POST_VAR way to do things, because you never know if they will depricate the older way and then your apps will stop working.

Hope this helps.

 

by: xaniloverPosted on 2002-08-23 at 22:44:00ID: 7239842

Okay I went into the php.ini file and found that both those variables where set to "on" ...still doesnt work with the $"variable_name" method.. so I tried the $HTTP_POST_VAR["variable_name"] method and that didnt work either...  is it possible that the HTML form isnt sending it correctly?

thanx again ;-)

 

by: xaniloverPosted on 2002-08-23 at 23:49:28ID: 7239888

Okay I went into the php.ini file and found that both those variables where set to "on" ...still doesnt work with the $"variable_name" method.. so I tried the $HTTP_POST_VAR["variable_name"] method and that didnt work either...  is it possible that the HTML form isnt sending it correctly?

thanx again ;-)

 

by: davlun20080Posted on 2002-08-24 at 00:05:17ID: 7239900

If you are trying to use the data inside a function, you may not be reaching the variables due to scope constrainst.  Try using the $_POST collection, the same way you would the $HTTP_POST_VARS collection.

IE - $_POST['variablename']

 

by: dkjariwalaPosted on 2002-08-24 at 04:37:40ID: 7240049

Its $HTTP_POST_VARS and not $HTTP_POST_VAR as you have used.

But in any case,

use super global arrays which are available in version 4.1 onwards.

like

_POST['var_name']

JD

 

by: xaniloverPosted on 2002-08-24 at 09:46:50ID: 7240362

Okay...you won't believe this!!  Last night when i got the first comment from mgeene I went and checked the php.ini file  and like i said in my comment earlier everything was "On" so the $variable_name method should have worked but it didnt so I figured I would try the HTTP_POST_VARS method with the register_globals set to "Off", cause I figured for the sake of experimentation that maybe that should be Off if I want HTTP_POST_VARS to work, since it doesnt need to be On for that method. And ofcourse that method didnt work cause I wrote HTTP_POST_VAR .. (gave up last night)..now i get these two new messages in this morning and the first thing i do before trying these suggestions is turn the register_globals back to "On"...  low and behold the $variable_name method works and the other methods too.
Can anybody explain why the $variable_name method wasnt working from the beginning since both the track_variables and register_globals where set to "On" by default? Im a newcommer to all of this, includeing Linux ...  
I'm also new to this forum... can I give all of you points, since all of you set me on the right path? :)

Thanks so much for all the input..

 

by: RQuadlingPosted on 2002-08-28 at 02:46:02ID: 7246017

If you are using a newer version of PHP (V4.10+ I think), then you should really use $_POST[] instead of $HTTP_POST_VARS[].

Richard.

 

by: RQuadlingPosted on 2004-08-05 at 00:24:10ID: 11723824

I think the version of PHP would have been useful in determining if it related to register_globals or not.

xanilover wanted to split the points (24/8/2004 4:46pm), so maybe we should follow his wishes, but with only 50 points, maybe it should go to someone cool who has a Q in their name!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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