note 50386 added to faq.html

The following HTML form page and PHP action page illustrate an elegant and powerful client side JavaScript to server side PHP data transfer technique perfectly matched to PHP's associative array feature. Browse to the form page and select some items by entering an INTEGER > 1 then click on Submit (Don't put strings or reals in the input fields - error trapping has been stripped out for brevity). Try selecting one, some, all or none of the items, changing the names of the form input variables (and the associated labels, for clarity!) or adding to the number of items "on offer". At no point do you need to alter either the JavaScript function or the action page in any way - just be aware that extra coding and error trapping is required - especially where the key values in the application could be something other than integers: <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title>How to Pass an Array from Javascript to PHP: Form Page</title> <!-- File: random_picker.php --> <script type="text/javascript"> function send_picks() { form1.picks.value=""; var picked = 0; for (var i = 0 ; i < form1.elements.length; i++) { if(form1.elements[i].value > 0) { e = form1.elements[i] picked++; form1.picks.value = form1.picks.value + "s:" + e.name.length + ":\"" + e.name + "\";i:" + e.value + ";"; } } form1.picks.value = "a:" + picked + ":{" + form1.picks.value + "}"; } </script> </head> <body> <p> <h3 align="center">How to Pass an Array from Javascript to PHP: Form Page</h3> <form name="form1" action="random_picker_action.php" method="post" onsubmit="JavaScript:send_picks()"> <table align="center" border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"> <tr><td>Item 13</td> <td><input type="text" name="item_13" value="0" size="4"></td> </tr> <tr><td>Part number 2</td> <td><input type="text" name="Part_number_2" value="0" size="4"></td> </tr> <tr><td>Drawing ref 327</td> <td><input type="text" name="Drawing_ref_327" value="0" size="4"></td> </tr> <tr><td>Organic Carrots</td> <td><input type="text" name="Organic_carrots" value="0" size="4"></td> </tr> <tr><td colspan="2" align="center"> <input type="submit" value="Submit Picks"> <input type="hidden" name="picks" value=""></td> </tr> </table> </form> </body> </html> The action page for the above form page is listed below. Notice the really ingenious feature; the form variable is simply unserialized to turn it into a fully functional PHP array! The action page doesn't need to know anything about "expected" variable names because everything PHP needs to know is right inside the array. Note also that for maximum efficiency only "picked" item data is sent. If no items at all are picked, a perfectly formed empty array is sent: <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title>How to Pass an Array from Javascript to PHP: Action Page</title> <!-- File: random_picker_action.php --> </head> <body> <p> <h3>How to Pass an Array from Javascript to PHP: Action Page</h3> <?php $picks = urldecode(stripslashes($picks)); echo "<b>JavaScript said: " . $picks . "</b><p>"; $picks = unserialize($picks); if(sizeof($picks) > 0) { reset($picks); echo "You picked the following items:<p>"; while($item = each($picks)) echo $item['value'] . " off, " . str_replace("_", " ", $item['key']) . "<br>"; } else echo "You did not pick any items<p>"; ?> </body> </html> I hope you find this technique useful - let me know what you think - I can already hear the jaws of Java Jocks dropping! ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/faq.html.php Edit -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=edit+50386 Delete: added to the manual -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+50386&report=yes&reason=added+to+the+manual Delete: bad code -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+50386&report=yes&reason=bad+code Delete: spam -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+50386&report=yes&reason=spam Delete: useless -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+50386&report=yes&reason=useless Delete: other reasons -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=delete+50386&report=yes Reject -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php?action=reject+50386&report=yes Search -- http://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php