I'm building a single page application for finding a film based on genre. At the moment it uses the POST method on both the main form and the comments form.
The commments form currently gets the film ID using a GET method (this was chosen to avoid refreshing the page which resets the film suggestion process).
At the moment if I hit submit on the main form, the url changes to index.php? and the film successfully loads based on the criteria.
My question is: Why isn't my filmID echoing out in the main form? How can I stick the film ID into the current URL without using the GET method? So for instance if I typed in index.php?filmID=6 it would load up info about "The Dark Knight".
index.php (Trimmed by request)
//If submit comment pressed, get data and input
if(trim($_POST['submit']) == "Submit comment"){
$userID = $_SESSION['userID'];
$likeit = $_POST['yesornoList'];
$filmID = $_GET['filmID'];
$comment = clean_string($db_server, $_POST['commentBox']);
if ($comment != '') {
$query = "INSERT INTO comments (userID, filmID, comment, likeit)
VALUES ('$userID', '$filmID', '$comment', '$likeit')";
mysqli_select_db($db_server, $db_database);
mysqli_query($db_server, $query) or
die("Insert failed: " . mysqli_error($db_server)) . $query;
echo $commentMessage = "<section>Thanks for your comment!</section>";
}
}else{
if (isset($_POST['genreList']) && ($_POST['genreList'] != "")){
$genre = clean_string($db_server, $_POST['genreList']);
//create the SQL query
$query = "SELECT * FROM films WHERE genreID=$genre ";
//$endquery = " AND (";
$endquery = "";
$orFlag = false;
if (isset($_POST['streamingCheckbox1']) && ($_POST['streamingCheckbox1'] != '')){
$endquery .= " netflix IS NOT NULL";
$orFlag = true;
}
if (isset($_POST['streamingCheckbox2']) && ($_POST['streamingCheckbox2'] != '')){
if($orFlag){
$endquery .= " OR ";
}
$endquery .= " lovefilmInstant IS NOT NULL";
$orFlag = true;
}
if (isset($_POST['streamingCheckbox3']) && ($_POST['streamingCheckbox3'] != '')){
if($orFlag){
$endquery .= " OR ";
}
$endquery .= " blinkbox IS NOT NULL";
}
if($endquery != "") $query .= " AND (" . $endquery . ")";
$query .= " ORDER BY (SELECT FLOOR(MAX(filmID) * RAND()) FROM films) LIMIT 0,1;";
//query the database
mysqli_select_db($db_server, $db_database);
$result = mysqli_query($db_server, $query);
if (!$result) die("Database access failed: " . mysqli_error($db_server) . $query);
//if there are any rows, print out the contents
if ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
//Whether to display links or not for purchase and streaming
$filmID = $row['filmID'];
//Body content for film
$str_result =
"<section> This is where the film details are
</section>"
. $commentMessage . "
<section>
<form id='frmFilmComments' action='index.php?filmID=" . $filmID . "#comments' method='post'>
<a id='comments' class='anchor'></a>
<h3>Comments</h3>
<p><span class='bold'>Did you like " . $row['filmName'] ."?</span></p>
<select class='selectbox' name='yesornoList'>
<option value='Yes'>Yes</option>
<option value='No'>No</option>
</select>
<p><span class='bold'>Provide your feedback here:</span></p>
<textarea id='commentBox' class='insertComment' rows='2' cols='30' name='commentBox'></textarea><br>
<input class='formButton' type='submit' id='submit' name='submit' value='Submit comment'/>
</form>
";
mysqli_free_result($result);
//Code to print comments goes here
}else{
$str_result = "<section><h3>Sorry</h3><p>We couldn't find any films that match your terms. </br> <a href='#findafilm'>Please try again.</a></p></section>";
}
}else{
//$str_result = "<section><h3>Sorry</h3><p>No genre was chosen.</br><a href='home.php'>Please try again.</a></p></section>";
}
$message = $str_result . $likedcomments . $dislikedcomments . "<section/>";
}
}
//Exisiting code to handle options list
?>
<div id="top" class="content container headerMargin">
<div class="content wrapper">
<form id="frmFilmFinder" action="index.php?filmID=<?php echo $filmID; ?>" method="post">
<section>
<h2>Welcome <?php echo $_SESSION['username'] ?>!</h2>
<p class="underHeader">You are now logged in and ready to use the Film Finder.</p>
</section>
<section>
<a class="anchor" id="findafilm"></a>
<h3>Find a film</h3>
<h4>Choose a genre:</h4>
<select class="selectbox" name="genreList">
<?php echo $str_options; ?>
</select>
<h4>Choose a streaming service:</h3>
<input type="checkbox" class="checkbox" id="streamingCheckbox1" name="streamingCheckbox1" value="Netflix"><span class="checkboxText">Netflix</span><br>
<input type="checkbox" class="checkbox" id="streamingCheckbox2" name="streamingCheckbox2" value="LoveFilm"><span class="checkboxText">LoveFilm Instant</span><br>
<input type="checkbox" class="checkbox" id="streamingCheckbox3" name="streamingCheckbox3" value="blinkbox"><span class="checkboxText">blinkbox</span><br>
<input type="submit" class="formButton filmSearch" id="submit" name="submit" value="Submit"/>
<p><span class="italic">Leave all unticked if you wish to buy the film</span></p>
</section>
</form>
<?php echo $message; ?>
</div>
</div>
$_GET['filmID']is for when the comment submit button is pressed. I assumed that I needed to echo this row out in the main form process to use it for the GET process when a comment is pressed?var_dump($row)and it came back with NULL. What does this mean? I don't have any mod_rewrites, I'm not quite sure what they even are to be honest