0

I am passing values from a form to a processing page. There are more fields but the one in concern is:

<label><input type="checkbox" name="plans[]" value="1" /> Number 1</label>
<label><input type="checkbox" name="plans[]" value="2" /> Number 2</label>
<label><input type="checkbox" name="plans[]" value="3" /> Number 3</label>
<label><input type="checkbox" name="plans[]" value="4" /> Number 4</label>

I know the values are submitting corretly and exist when printing $_POST on the processing page displays the plans array inside my $_POST array.

On my processing page (submitted from form), if an error occurs within the data, the original $_POST values are stored as a new $_SESSION['fields'] variable so that they may repopulate the fields when the page redirects to the previous page. 

$_SESSION['fields'] = $_POST;

If an error does occur, my actual form page pulls the original field values from the SESSION variable with the following code:

if(isset($_SESSION['fields'])) {
        $fields = array();
        $fields = $_SESSION['fields'];
        unset($_SESSION['fields']);
}

When printing the $fields variable, all original post values appear EXCEPT the original arrays (checkboxes). They do not show up at all (name, address, etc do however).

Are you unable to pass an array within an array by reference in this manner?

edit

The flow is this:

  1. form.php
  2. (all values are sent POST to processing page) processing.php
  3. POST values are validated and if any errors or issues exist, $_SESSION['fields'] = $_POST
  4. redirect back to form.php to fix error, highlight issue, and display all original values into fields.
Improve this question
11
  • 1
    Works just fine for me. Where do you see the error happening or where are you losing your plans array? I did my own test and it worked fine. But you shouldn't be using the session for this, IMO. Commented Jan 18, 2012 at 21:02
  • @iLLin - How would you suggest passing POST, error messages, etc from one page to another then in PHP? Commented Jan 18, 2012 at 21:03
  • Are you sure the session is preserved among browser requests? Are you using cookies? Commented Jan 18, 2012 at 21:04
  • It all depends on what you mean? Are you storing the fields in case of an error so you can retrieve the values for re-display? Are you using a multi-step form and are paging your values before a final submit? Commented Jan 18, 2012 at 21:05
  • 1
    Dumb it down. Simply do a POST and save it to the SESSION and exit. Then print out the session on the page so there isn't anything else messing with it. Are you doing anything to the data before you pass it to the session? array_pop() maybe? Commented Jan 18, 2012 at 21:16

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
1

Make sure that you are not doing any type of data manipulation before you pass it to the SESSION variable such as an array_pop() or in your case the array_map(). The reason why your array_map (strtoupper) is breaking your array, is the strtoupper is trying to be performed on the Array and not the individual elements. To fix this you could check for is_array in your mapping and then loop in there as well or setup a recursive function incase of nested array elements.

Improve this answer
Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

1

There seems to be something else which is wrong here. Check out the following:

index.html:

<form method="post" action="l.php" >
<label><input type="checkbox" name="plans[]" value="1" /> Number 1</label>
<label><input type="checkbox" name="plans[]" value="2" /> Number 2</label>
<label><input type="checkbox" name="plans[]" value="3" /> Number 3</label>
<label><input type="checkbox" name="plans[]" value="4" /> Number 4</label>
<input type="submit" />
</form>

l.php

<?php

session_start();

$_SESSION['fields'] = $_POST;
header("Location: o.php");

o.php

<?php
session_start();

var_dump($_SESSION);

If you submit the form in index.html you will eventually end up on o.php and get something like: 

array(1) { ["fields"]=> array(1) { ["plans"]=> array(2) { [0]=> string(1) "1" [1]=> string(1) "3" } } }

Does it work for you?

On a side note you could accomplish the same you are trying in a different way. Use the same file for the form displaying and processing so that you don't have to just from form.php to process.php back to form.php.

You could detect if you should process a submitted form by checking if the $_POST isset().

I don't know if it makes sense to you, but this way you avoid using sessions for this altogether.

Improve this answer

5 Comments

thank you for the suggestion, the error was found elsewhere and am waiting for iLLin to put an answer to accept since he drew my eyes to my own coding issue (though still not sure why it was caused). Of note, there are many, many reasons NOT to post back to the same page and keep error validation separate.
@JM4 Good to hear you found it! However it is strage you should say that there are many reasons not to post back to the same page. Care to mention a few? Because to my understanding it is a rather common practice, even on commonly used frameworks.
To tell you the truth, I had (minor) contributions to a large post explaining that very question a couple years back and can't seem to come across it. If I do I'll pass it a long but ultimately: You don't really save anything, you are still using just as many page redirects, having to send your posted variables as get variables to a defined header url. Of note, I don't believe Cake or Zend work this way but I could be wrong.
also - if the an error occurs on the actual processing of page data (beyond validation), an error would need to be thrown to the user somewhere else anyway (whether it be in a session variable or whatnot).
@JM4 If you check out for instance Zend Framework on Zend_Form quickstart link you will see on the "Putting it together" section, that on the controller page - loginAction it checks if it is a POST, validates the input where if it fails it redisplays the form. Also what I tend to do for messages like "Your document has been saved" is to use sessions (FlashMessenger in Zend Framework).
0

You can do this - from what you've said, this should work.

Note the $fields = array(); line is totally superfluous - you're initiating it to an empty array, then setting it to something completely different.

What do you get when you do print_r($_SESSION)?

Improve this answer

3 Comments

see my last edit; printing of the SESSION variable leaves the plans[] array blank. Everything else returns;
How do you mean the plans array is blank - is it not there at all, or is it there but with no items inside it? Can you do a print_r of $_POST to compare?
SpoonNZ - yes I have done this. Please read my full edit above. $_SESSION returns all original page variables with the exception of plans(). If (on processing.php) I print $_POST it appears jsut fine. the session variable is set to post so it makes no sense to me it wouldn't copy over.

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.