At 2:41 AM -0800 1/24/01, Klepto wrote:
>Try the "GET" method in the form.
>
>Jaks
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Alain Fontaine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 2:11 AM
>Subject: [PHP] Form data is not "remembered"
>
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I have a page with a couple of form fields that are being POSTed to a
>> processing PHP script. The page that contains these form fields is itself
>a
>> PHP page that uses sessions and so on.
>>
>> I have to make "server-side data validation" on the fields because of
>their
>> complexity. When the user hits submit and comes to the result page, if
>there
>> was any error I ask the user to go back to the form and correct the
>> mistakes, using either his browser BACK button or by clicking on a link
>that
>> does a javascript:history.back().
>>
>> The problem is, when the user gets back to the form page, all of the
>values
>> he had typed in are gone, and he has to start all over again. Does anyone
>> have an idea why this is so, and how to circumvent it without saving the
>> user data into a session variable and then setting it back again once the
>> user hits the form page again ? I have seen many pages where your previous
>> data would stay in the form after you make a "Back" operation, but here,
>it
> > disappears.
> >
Some browsers will save the entered info when you hit the BACK
button, some won't; it also depends on your HTTP header settings
(no-cache, must-revalidate, etc.). Probably bad idea to rely on that.
In a nutshell, if your validation fails, don't tell the user to hit
the back button. Instead, redisplay the form with the data fields
already filled in.
I usually write my form display & process programs something like
this (assuming $Submit is the name attribute of the submit button):
...
if ($Submit = 'Enter your data') {
$ErrorList = validate_form_data();
if (is_array($ErrorList)) {
show_form($ErrorList);
} else {
process_data();
}
} else {
show_form();
}
...
Where:
validate_form_data is a function that returns an array of
error messages like $ErrorList[<form field name>] = <error message>,
or FALSE if all tests passed. If there are errors, I redisplay the
form with entered data (from $HTTP_POST_VARS or wherever), and error
messages displayed alongside the appropriate form fields.
show_form displays the entry form, with any existing data
(from HTTP_POST_VARS, etc.) filled in and error messages, if any,
displayed. Basically, the FORM tag action attribute refers to the
same program as displayed the form - that is, $PHP_SELF.
Hope this is clear...I getting tired, and I don't even think an
intravenous drip of concentrated Mountain Dew syrup will help.
- steve
--
+--- "They've got a cherry pie there, that'll kill ya" ------------------+
| Steve Edberg University of California, Davis |
| [EMAIL PROTECTED] Computer Consultant |
| http://aesric.ucdavis.edu/ http://pgfsun.ucdavis.edu/ |
+-------------------------------------- FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper ---+
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