PHP Input Type With Dropdown

[Bowlage]

Hi All,

I'm a beginner to PHP and am having trouble with a Dropdown using PHP and SQL.

This is what I have: 

	$result = mysql_query($sql);
echo " <form id='myForm' action='https://mywebsite.com/forum/index.php/'> ";
	echo ' 
	<select name="/"> ';
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
echo "<option value='" . $row['field_181'] ."'>" . $row['field_181'] ." - " . $row['COUNT(field_181)'] . " Events </option>";
}
echo " </select> ";
echo " <br><br> ";
echo " <input type='submit'> ";
echo '<input type="hidden" name="-bowling-tournaments" > ';
echo " </form> ";
	

So this code is working in that it's properly displaying the Dropdown items in my database.  The problem is that when I click submit, it's bringing me to this URL: https://mywebsite.com/forum/index.php?/=New%2BYork&-bowling-tournaments=

The URL it SHOULD be bringing me to is https://mywebsite.com/forum/index.php?/new-york-bowling-tournaments/

But I don't know how to fix it.  Can anyone please assist?

Edited October 27, 2023 by Bowlage

[kicken]

1 hour ago, Bowlage said:

The URL it SHOULD be bringing me to is https://mywebsite.com/forum/index.php?/new-york-bowling-tournaments

Why do you think that?  That is not how forms work.  Form data is submitted in name=value pairs, each pair separated by an &.  What you're getting is exactly what you should be getting.

If you want the other URL format, then you need to either

• Write JavaScript code to read the form and redirect to the desired URL or
• Accept the standard format form data with your PHP code, and issue a redirect based on the submitted data.

 

[Bowlage]

On 10/27/2023 at 8:58 PM, kicken said:

Why do you think that?  That is not how forms work.  Form data is submitted in name=value pairs, each pair separated by an &.  What you're getting is exactly what you should be getting.

If you want the other URL format, then you need to either

• Write JavaScript code to read the form and redirect to the desired URL or
• Accept the standard format form data with your PHP code, and issue a redirect based on the submitted data.

 

Thanks, but as I said, I'm a beginner.  How would I correctly issue a redirect using PHP based on the submitted data?

[kicken]

5 hours ago, Bowlage said:

How would I correctly issue a redirect using PHP based on the submitted data?

Accept the incoming data using the appropriate superglobal variables, then use the header function to output a Location header to the desired URL.

Your current form is formatted well for this, so first you'd want to change it to give your select box a meaningful name, and remove your hidden input as it is not necessary.

$result = mysql_query($sql);
echo " <form id='myForm' action='https://mywebsite.com/forum/index.php'> ";
echo '<select name="city">';
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
    echo "<option value='" . $row['field_181'] ."'>" . $row['field_181'] ." - " . $row['COUNT(field_181)'] . " Events </option>";
}
echo " </select> ";
echo " <br><br> ";
echo " <input type='submit'> ";
echo " </form> ";

Then in your index.php file, you need code to detect if the city input was submitted and if so, issue the redirect with header.

if (isset($_GET['city'])){
    $url = '/forum/index.php?/'.urlencode($_GET['city']).'-bowling-tournaments/';
    header('Location: '.$url);
    exit;
}

I don't see much point in doing this though.  If you want pretty URLs you should use URL rewriting or a Router library.  Otherwise, just use normal query parameters/form posts.  Pretty URLs are not necessary, they are just a nice touch.