new PHP developer, form question.

[bdina]

I have a short form for a simple PHP enabled website that I am having problems to get working correctly. My background is mainly C and C++ programing, and have only picked up HTML/PHP in the last week so bear with me. Anyway, what I want to do is simple, I have a table on a page that lists information, and then a single text box that allows input from the user to change the attributes of the data that is displayed in the table. What I want is for the data to be refreshed in the table when a user changes the data. Currently the data does get updated however one must refresh the page manually in order to see the changes. Here is the pseudo code:

<begin PHP>
<database login info>

while(info in database)
grab data from table.

while(array of data)
display data in table, one row at a time.

<end PHP>
<begin HTML>

display form, single text box.

<EOF>

If that pseudo is not enough, I can post more, I just did not want this post to get outta control. Please also when answering not answer with pseudo, I am new to the syntax.

Thanks in advance!
Bryan

 

[sleipnir214]

First of all, let's talk about programming style in PHP. There are two basic coding styles in PHP: one style switches between PHP-interpreted mode and HTML output mode, the other stays in PHP-interpreted mode and uses print or echo statements to output HTML.

I recommend the latter. As programs get more complex, I've found that readability becomes an issue with context-switch mode.

In terms of your problem getting the page updated on a submit, I recommend that you write your script such that if data is submitted, it processes the submission. Then it outputs the page.

The pseudo-code will look something like:

<begin PHP>
<database login info>

if (data is submitted)
   perform update.

while(info in database)
   grab data from table.

print HTML preamble and start-of-form and start-of-table tags

while(array of data)
   display data in table, one row at a time integrated with form fields.

print end-of-table, end-of-form and HTML postamble.
<end PHP>
<EOF>

Testing for the presence of input entails examining $_POST or $_GET to see whether a field which would be in your form exists in those arrays. Use isset() or array_key_exists() to perform the check.

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