beginner question about php. how to get back multiple values after submitting form

Question

I am new to php.

I want to have a form such as this:

 Name   <TextField>   Corresponding pic:  <dropdown> hiddenID (not shown to user)
 Name   <TextField>   Corresponding pic:  <dropdown> hiddenID (not shown to user)
 Name   <TextField>   Corresponding pic:  <dropdown> hiddenID (not shown to user)
 Name   <TextField>   Corresponding pic:  <dropdown> hiddenID (not shown to user)
 Name   <TextField>   Corresponding pic:  <dropdown> hiddenID (not shown to user)

 Update Values (button)

After the button is clicked (form submitted) how will I get all those values. I want to update a database table for each of those values. query would be like

update user_tables name=<newnameSubmitted>, pic=<valueFromDropDown> 
where id=<hiddenIdGottenBack>

In this example I have 5 values...how will I be able to run the above update statement 5 times with corresponding values.

Please clear my confusion or guide me to a tutorial that will help me out a little.

Answer 1

In php all submitted values are stored in the $_POST array, $_POST['name'], etc. (supposing you are using post and not get), so you will have to loop through all values in that array.

Answer 2

<?
  $cmd=$_POST["cmd"];

  if(isset($cmd)) {
    $name=array_map('mysql_escape_string', $_POST["name"]);
    $sel=array_map('mysql_escape_string', $_POST["sel"]);
    for($i=0;$i<count($name);$i++) {
          $sql="update TABLENAME set col1='{$name[$i]}' where col2='{$sel[$i]}'";
    }

?>

<form method="post" action="sample.php">
Value1 <input type="text" name="name[]"/> <select name="sel[]">...</select>
Value1 <input type="text" name="name[]"/> <select name="sel[]">...</select>
Value1 <input type="text" name="name[]"/> <select name="sel[]">...</select>
Value1 <input type="text" name="name[]"/> <select name="sel[]">...</select>
Value1 <input type="text" name="name[]"/> <select name="sel[]">...</select>
<input type="submit" name="cmd" value="Submit"/>
</form>

Answer 3

I like to keep things simple, so I just give my form fields predictable names, like so:

<input name="name1" ...> <input name="pic1" ...>
<input name="name2" ...> <input name="pic2" ...>

Then in php, I process them in a loop:

for($i = 0; $i < 5; ++$i) {
   if(isset($_REQUEST["name$i"]) && isset($_REQUEST["pic$i"])) {
      # update database with those values
   }
}

Answer 4

1. Learn to use arrays.

2. Learn to read arrays format

   echo '

   '; print_r($_POST); echo '

   ';

3. Understand that $_POST is an array.

4. extract - is an function when used on an array, it makes variables with arrays key as variable name, and the value assigned to that key as the variable's value.

   extract($_POST);

5. For security reasons, you should use mysql_prepare , or $mysqli->prepare.