Form help: Syntax & Logic

Posted on 16th Feb 2014 by admin

Hello again all,

I'm working on a form and ran into a wall (again) and can't seem to think through how to best code what i need (the logic side). I've begun by just sitting down and starting to code with the little knowledge i have of php but can't seem to get it right and am not sure i'm using the correct syntax...

The form is your basic contact form that collects contact information, but it also has a place for customers to input product information such as a quantity and dimensions (width and height). The form offers the visitor a chance to enter up to 7 different "products" and their quantity, width, and height.... here's that part of the form...

Code: <form name="myForm" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF ']; ?>" method="POST">
<table width="600" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="1">
<tr>
<td>Quantity</td>
<td>Width</td>
<td>height</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><input type="text" name="qty1" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="width1" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="height1" /></td>
</tr>

<tr>
<td><input type="text" name="qty2" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="width2" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="height2" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><input type="text" name="qty3" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="width3" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="height3" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><input type="text" name="qty4" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="width4" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="height4" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><input type="text" name="qty5" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="width5" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="height5" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><input type="text" name="qty6" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="width6" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="height6" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><input type="text" name="qty7" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="width7" /></td>
<td><input type="text" name="height7" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>

... pretty simple stuff there...
I am having trouble though collecting the info from the form... the newbie in me (to php and programming in general) had me begin hard coding each variable like this...

Code: $qty1 = $_POST['qty1'];
$qty2 = $_POST['qty2'];
....
$width1 = $_POST['qty1'];
$width2 = $_POST['qty2'];
....
$height1 = $_POST['qty1'];
$height2 = $_POST['qty2'];
....

I thought that it might make more sense (and help me learn a little) to try and use a loop to create these variables.... is this good practice?

Here's what i came up with...
Code: for ($X=1;$X < sizeof($glass1)-1; $X++) {
// how's the syntax on the next line???
if($_POST['Qty'.$X]!=NULL ){
$glasspart1.="Part $Xn";
//below: can i use $qty$X like that?
$glass1 = array("QTY: $qty$X", "DIMENSIONS: $width$X X $height$X");
$glasspart1.= "$glass1[$X-1]n";
}

}

am i on the right track so far?

I still am having trouble validating the form (the logic) in order to only create arrays for the parts (1-7) that were filled in, but i can save that for another post :-)

thanks again all for any help or advice!!