Chapter 2 (2.

1)
How to work
with form data

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 1
Objectives
Applied
1. Use text boxes, password boxes, radio buttons, check boxes,
drop-down lists, list boxes, and text areas to get input from the
user.
2. Use hidden fields to pass data to the web application when a form
is submitted.
3. Use the htmlspecialchars and nl2br functions to display user
entries the way you want them displayed.
4. Use echo statements to display data in a web page.

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 2
Objectives (continued)
Knowledge
1. Describe the way a PHP application gets data from text boxes,
password boxes, hidden fields, radio buttons, check boxes, drop-
down lists, list boxes, and text areas.
2. Describe the use of the htmlspecialchars and nl2br functions.
3. Describe the use of the echo and print statements.

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 3
Text input: the HTML for three types of fields
<input type="text" name="user_name" value="rharris">
<input type="password" name="password">
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="login">

The text and password fields in the browser

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 4
The URL when using the GET method
process_data.php?user_name=rharris&password=s3cr3t72&action=login

The PHP for the GET method

<?php
$user_name = filter_input(INPUT_GET, 'user_name');
$password = filter_input(INPUT_GET, 'password');
$action = filter_input(INPUT_GET, 'action');
?>

The URL when using the POST method

process_data.php

The PHP for the POST method

<?php
$user_name = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'user_name');
$password = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'password');
$action = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'action');
?>

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 5
The HTML for three radio buttons in a group
<input type="radio" name="card_type" value="visa" checked>
Visa<br>
<input type="radio" name="card_type" value="mastercard">
MasterCard<br>
<input type="radio" name="card_type" value="discover">
Discover

The radio buttons in the browser

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 6
PHP to access a radio button group
<?php
$card_type = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'card_type');
?>

PHP to add a default value for a group

with no default button
<?php
$card_type = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'card_type');
if ($card_type == NULL) {
$card_type = 'unknown';
}
?>

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 7
The HTML for three check boxes
<input type="checkbox" name="pep" checked> Pepperoni<br>
<input type="checkbox" name="msh"> Mushrooms<br>
<input type="checkbox" name="olv"> Olives

The check boxes in the browser

The PHP to access the check box data

<?php
$pepperoni = isset($_POST['pep']);
$mushrooms = isset($_POST['msh']);
$olives = isset($_POST['olv']);
?>

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 8
Three related check boxes in an array
<input type="checkbox" name="top[]" value="pep"> Pepperoni<br>
<input type="checkbox" name="top[]" value="msh"> Mushrooms<br>
<input type="checkbox" name="top[]" value="olv"> Olives

The check boxes in the browser

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 9
PHP that accesses the array and its values
<?php
$toppings = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'top',
FILTER_SANITIZE_SPECIAL_CHARS, FILTER_REQUIRE_ARRAY);
if ($toppings !== NULL) {
$top1 = $toppings[0]; // $top1 is pep
$top2 = $toppings[1]; // $top2 is olv
$top3 = $toppings[2]; // $top3 is not set – error
}
?>

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 10
PHP that uses a loop to process the array
<?php
$toppings = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'top',
FILTER_SANITIZE_SPECIAL_CHARS, FILTER_REQUIRE_ARRAY);
if ($toppings !== NULL) {
foreach($toppings as $key => $value) {
echo $key. ' = ' . $value . '<br>';
}
} else {
echo 'No toppings selected.';
}
?>

The message displayed by the browser

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 11
The HTML for a drop-down list
<select name="card_type">
<option value="visa">Visa</option>
<option value="mastercard">MasterCard</option>
<option value="discover">Discover</option>
</select>

The drop-down list in a browser

The HTML to set a default option

<option value="mastercard" selected>MasterCard</option>

The PHP to access the drop-down list data

<?php
$card_type = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'card_type');
?>

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 12
A list box that doesn’t allow multiple selections
<select name="card_type" size="3">
<option value="visa">Visa</option>
<option value="mastercard">MasterCard</option>
<option value="discover">Discover</option>
</select>

The list box in a browser

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 13
A list box that allows multiple selections
<select name="top[]" size="3" multiple>
<option value="pep" selected>Pepperoni</option>
<option value="msh">Mushrooms</option>
<option value="olv">Olives</option>
</select>

The list box in a browser

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 14
PHP for a list box that allows multiple selections
<?php
$toppings = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'top',
FILTER_SANITIZE_SPECIAL_CHARS, FILTER_REQUIRE_ARRAY);
if ($toppings !== NULL) {
foreach ($toppings as $key => $value) {
echo $key. ' = ' . $value . '<br>'; // 0 = pep, 1 = msh
}
} else {
echo 'No toppings selected.';
}
?>

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 15
The HTML for a text area
<textarea name="comment" rows="4" cols="50">Welcome
to PHP and MySQL!</textarea>

A text area in the browser

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 16
The URL when using the GET method
When the user includes spaces in the text area
process_data.php?comment=Welcome+to+PHP+and+MySQL!
When the user presses the Enter or Return key
process_data.php?comment=Welcome+to%0D%0APHP+and+MySQL!
When the user doesn’t enter any text
process_data.php?comment=

The PHP to get the data from the text area

<?php
$comment = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'comment');
?>

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 17
Syntax of the htmlspecialchars() function
htmlspecialchars($string[, $quote_style[, $charset[,
$double_encode]]])

Common HTML character entities

Character Character entity
& &amp;
< &lt;
> &gt;
" &quot;
' &#039;
Non-breaking space &nbsp;

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 18
An example that uses special characters
The text entered by the user

PHP that converts special characters to character entities

<?php
$comment = $_POST['comment'];
$comment = htmlspecialchars($comment);
?>
<p><?php echo $comment; ?></p>
The data displayed in the browser

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 19
A double-encoded less than character entity (&lt;)
&amp;lt;

A statement that prevents double encoding

$comment = htmlspecialchars($comment, ENT_COMPAT,
'ISO-8859-1', false);

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 20
Syntax of the nl2br() function
nl2br($string[, $is_xhtml])

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 21
The text entered into the text area

Converting line break characters

to line break tags
<?php
$comment = filter_input(INPUT_POST, 'comment');
$comment = nl2br($comment, false); // use <br> tags,
not <br /> tags
?>
<p><?php echo $comment; ?></p>

The data displayed in the browser

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 22
The echo statement
Syntax
echo $var1
echo($var1)
echo $var1 [, $var2 ...]

Examples
echo 'Welcome to PHP and MySQL!';
echo 'Name: ' . $name;
echo('Name: ' . $name);
echo 'Cost: $', $cost;

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 23
The print statement
Syntax
echo $var1
echo($var1)
echo $var1 [, $var2 ...]
Examples
print 'Welcome to PHP and MySQL!';
print 'Name: ' . $name;
print('Name: ' . $name);
Using print in an expression
<?php
($age >= 18) ? print('Can vote.') : print('Cannot vote.');
?>

© 2017, Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.

Murach's PHP and MySQL (3rd Ed.) C7, Slide 24