Any way to autopopulate HTML form textbox with data in URL string?

Question

Is it possible to autopopulate a textbox on a page depending on a string passed in with the URL. For example:

Say we have the following form:

<form name="form_reservation" id="form-reservation">
                    <div style="padding:10px 20px 10px 10px;">
                    <label for="reservation-id">Reservation ID</label>
                        <input name="reservation_id" id="reservation-id" class="reservationid" style="width:120px !important"/>
                        <div style="padding:5px 20px 0px 10px;" class="res_message" id="res-message">&nbsp;</div>
                        <input type="submit" class="button" value="Search Reservation" name="search_button" style="width:150px !important; margin:10px 0px 0px 5px;"/>
                        <input type="button" class="button" value="Clear" style="width:150px !important; margin:10px 0px 0px 5px;" onclick="resetForms('reservation')" />
                    </div>
                </form>

And the user received an email with a link in it: www.website.com/formpage.html######

Where ###### was the ID that I wanted to populate in the reservation-id field on the form. Any way to make this happen?

Do you mean a URL like this: formpage.html#1234 or like formpage.html?id=1234? — Rory McCrossan
– Rory McCrossan, Commented Apr 27, 2012 at 13:34
And do you want to do it in PHP or in Javascript? Your question has both tags. — Mr Lister
– Mr Lister, Commented Apr 27, 2012 at 13:35
Sorry about that, I am open to both. I suppose I would see javascript as maybe being easier from my perspective, but am not opposed to either. — tmparisi
– tmparisi, Commented Apr 27, 2012 at 14:42

Banjer · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-27 14:22:13Z

1

Assuming the URL the user clicks looks like www.website.com/formpage.html?id=12345, you can spit it out into the input "value" field with GET, e.g.:

<input value="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_GET["id"]); ?>" name="reservation_id" id="reservation-id" class="reservationid" style="width:120px !important" />

This is the way to do it with php.

EDIT:

Per @Esailija's comment, I wrapped it in the htmlspecialchars function, which as far as I understand will help safeguard against XSS attacks.

edited Apr 27, 2012 at 14:22

answered Apr 27, 2012 at 13:36

Banjer

8,3406 gold badges51 silver badges68 bronze badges

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

2 Comments

Adam Lukaszczyk Over a year ago

Add addslashes($_GET["id"]) so there will be no surprises.

Esailija Over a year ago

@Dobiatowski what is the point of addslashes? This is vulnerable to XSS which cannot be avoided with addslashes. Html is escaped with " etc. Also, -1.

Mihai Iorga · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-27 13:44:56Z

0

Javascript:

<script>
    var hash = window.location.hash.replace('#', ''); // get hash and replace the '#' (hash) tag
    document.getElementById('reservation-id').value = hash; // add value to input
</script>

I assumed you were talking about hash location url.html#1111, this can be accomplished only in JavaScript.

edited Apr 27, 2012 at 13:44

answered Apr 27, 2012 at 13:39

Mihai Iorga

39.8k17 gold badges109 silver badges109 bronze badges

2 Comments

tmparisi Over a year ago

I do like the idea of accomplishing this with JS... should this function be placed in the Header of the HTML?

Mihai Iorga Over a year ago

if you wish to put that in the header you must execute it after the page load, otherwise put it after your form

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Any way to autopopulate HTML form textbox with data in URL string?

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

2 Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related