Can user input be captured in an input box?

[peterv12]

I'm writing a PHP script that displays a form. One of the options is to delete a record from a database. The record is displayed in a form and is deleted at the same time. I'd like to be able to display the record and ask the user to confirm they want to delete it. In VB6 I could use an input box. Is there anything similar for PHP? I'd appreciate any ideas on how to do this.
Peter V.

 

[vacunita]

Its been a while since I've used VB, but if I'm remembering correctly an input box creates a small dialog box that gives a user a choice. In this case confirm a deletion.

Unfortunately PHP can't do that being a server side language it can't really interact with the client that way.

You can do a couple things to simulate it though.

1. You can have an intermediate page that asks for confirmation using two submit buttons. One would redirect back to the page with no deletion and the other would direct to the processing script to perform the deletion.

2. A simpler method is to use use Javascript. Specifically the confirm() function.

Which works essentially like an input box in VB.

Try this out:

<input type="submit" name="process" value="Delete" [red]onClick="return confirm('Are you sure you want to delete this record?');"[/red]>

If you click on O.K. the form is submitted to the PHP script for deletion.

If you click cancel the form remains.







----------------------------------
Phil AKA Vacunita
----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[jpadie]

one slight tweak on Vacunita's code is to do this

<input type="submit" name="process" value="Delete" onClick="[red]if ( confirm('Are you sure you want to delete this record?'){this.value='deleteConfirmed'; return true;} else {return false;}"[/red]>

if I have my javascript right, if a user presses this button and javascript it turned on and they confirm the deletion, the value of $_POST['process'] will be deleteConfirmed instead of delete. whereas if javascript it turned off the value will only be delete.

this enables you to decide whether to display an interstitial confirmation page in php or not.

if (issset($_POST['process'])){
 switch ($_POST['process']){
   case 'delete':
       displayConfirmationPage();
       break;
   case 'deleteConfirmed':
       deleteRecord();
       displaySuccessPage();
       break;
 }
}

function displayConfirmationPage(){
     //display a form with the process button set to a value of 'deleteConfirmed'
}

function deleteRecord(){
}

function displaySuccessPage(){

}

 

[peterv12]

Thank you both for these great tips, they're great.