[SOLVED] Submitting multiple inputs w. same name is not returning an array

[vincentwansink]

I'm banging my head against the wall because code that worked fine last week is no longer working.

 

I have a list of time records.  Each time record has a unique id which I submit along with all the other data on update.  The input for the time id is called timeid[] on each row.  The names are not unique and this is the way I need it to be. 

 

When I submit the rows I (should) get an array of values for timeid which I then loop through.  This used to work fine.  I've been using this technique for many years on many different websites including this one.  If I take away the square brackets then it only grabs the last input with that name on submit.

 

This morning I come into work and it's no longer working.  The code is not finding an array upon submit and therefore is not looping through my rows and updating data.  :banghead:

 

When I run the following loop to see what values I'm getting in my $_POST

foreach($_POST as $var => $value){
  echo $var . ' : ' . $value . "<br>";
}

I get the word "Array" for each value.  I'm not sure if that's right but it seems promising. 

 

However, when I do the following:

echo is_array($_POST[timeid]) ? '<br>Is an Array' : '<br> Is not an Array';

I get "Is not an Array" every time.

 

When I do this:

echo count($_POST[timeid])

It returns a count of 1.

 

When I do this:

echo $_POST[timeid][0]

It returns the letter "A", which is obviously the first letter of the word "Array". 

 

If anybody can give me a clue it would be much appreciated.

 

Now, I did make some changes to the site but I don't see how this could cause PHP to no longer recognize arrays.

 

The list in question (the list of time enries) is being generated by a function.  I added some code to this function that prints some images and divs if certain conditions are true.  I did not change the time id input or any other inputs.  All I did was add more code to this function.  The new code works like a charm by the way.  Is there a point at which a function gets too large that causes PHP to go stupid?

 

This is essentially what my form looks like.  I've removed all the css and javascript for readability.  This code shows a list of three kids.  Alexander Shillingford, Austin Lorenzo and Michayla Lawrence.

 

For each child I have start time (hour,minute,ampm) and end time (hour,minute,ampm) as well as a timeid, childlistid and subtotal.

 

 
<form id=mainform name=mainform method=post action="children.php">

<table>
  <tr>
    <td>Alexander Shillingford</td>
    <td>

      <table>
        <tr><td>
              <input type=text id=starthour name=starthour[] value='8'>:
              <input type=text id=startminute name=startminute[] value='45'>
              <input type=text id=startampm name=startampm[] value='AM'>
              <input type=hidden name=timeid[] value='1814'>
              <input type=hidden name=childlistid[] value=''></td>
            <td> to </td>
            <td>
              <input type=text id=endhour name=endhour[] value=''>:
              <input type=text id=endminute name=endminute[] value=''>
              <input type=text id=endampm name=endampm[] value=''></td>
            <td><img alt='delete' src='images/deletefaded.gif'></td>
            <td>
              <input id=subtotal name=subtotal[] value=''></td></tr>
      </table>
    </td>

  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>Austin Lorenzo</td>
    <td>

      <table>
        <tr><td>
              <input type=text id=starthour name=starthour[] value='8'>:
              <input type=text id=startminute name=startminute[] value='45'>
              <input type=text id=startampm name=startampm[] value='AM'>
              <input type=hidden name=timeid[] value='1814'>
              <input type=hidden name=childlistid[] value=''></td>
            <td> to </td>
            <td>
              <input type=text id=endhour name=endhour[] value=''>:
              <input type=text id=endminute name=endminute[] value=''>
              <input type=text id=endampm name=endampm[] value=''></td>
            <td><img alt='delete' src='images/deletefaded.gif'></td>
            <td>
              <input id=subtotal name=subtotal[] value=''></td></tr>
      </table>
    </td>

  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td>Michayla Lawrence</td>
    <td>

      <table>
        <tr><td>
              <input type=text id=starthour name=starthour[] value='8'>:
              <input type=text id=startminute name=startminute[] value='45'>
              <input type=text id=startampm name=startampm[] value='AM'>
              <input type=hidden name=timeid[] value='1814'>
              <input type=hidden name=childlistid[] value=''></td>
            <td> to </td>
            <td>
              <input type=text id=endhour name=endhour[] value=''>:
              <input type=text id=endminute name=endminute[] value=''>
              <input type=text id=endampm name=endampm[] value=''></td>
            <td><img alt='delete' src='images/deletefaded.gif'></td>
            <td>
              <input id=subtotal name=subtotal[] value=''></td></tr>
      </table>
    </td>

  </tr>

</table>

</form>

 

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Find out what you are actually getting -

echo "<pre>";
print_r($_POST);
echo "</pre>";

[vincentwansink]

I did print out my post but every value was the word "Array". 

 

Anyway, I discovered what was causing the problem.  There was nothing wrong with my code above (as I suspected) but I'd totally forgotten that I had also added another piece of code in my common file that was causing the problem.

 

This is the culprit here.  I've removed it.

 

//grabs the $_POST variables and adds slashes to help prevent sql injection attacks
foreach ($_POST as $key => $input_arr) {
    $_POST[$key] = addslashes($input_arr);
}

 

It doesn't cause any problem for single input posts, but when I submit an array of inputs (number of inputs all with the same name) it obviously messes things up.

[sarahaziz2002]

Hello Vincent

i have the same problem but i don't know where is the error.

And if i want to create new input elements and insert into mysql database how could i change the code to do so.

This is the code

<form method="post">

<input type="hidden" id="max_id" value="1"/>

<table>

<tr>

<td align="left"><h2>Animation Group</h2></td>

<td><input type="button" value="Rename"/></td>

</tr>

</table>

<table>

<tr>

<thead>

<tr>

<th><h5>user name</h5></th>

<th><h5>user real name</h5></th>

</tr>

</thead>

<tr>

<td><input type="text" name="rolename[]" id="rolename[]" value=""/></td>

<td><input type="text" name="rolerealname1" id="rolerealname1"/></td>

<td><input type="button" value="Edit"/></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td><input type="text" name="rolename[]" id="rolename[]"/></td>

<td><input type="text" name="rolerealname2" id="rolerealname2"/></td>

<td><input type="button" value="Edit"/></td>

</tr>

<tr>

<td><input type="text" name="rolename[]"/></td>

<td><input type="text" name="rolerealname3" id="rolerealname3"/></td>

<td><input type="button" value="Edit"/></td>

</tr>

</table>

</form>

<div><input type="submit" value="Save" onClick="saveData()"/></div>

 

javascript

function saveData()

{

$.post("groups_users.php",

$("form").serialize(),

function(returned_data)

{alert(returned_data);});

}

 

php

 

<?php

 

 

foreach($_POST['rolename'] as $var => $value)

{

$_POST[$var] = addslashes($value);

  echo $value;

 

}

?>