PHP Cookie Help

[Rushy]

Hey all,

 

i'm learning PHP at the moment and i'm having a bit of trouble with cookies. I know how to create a single cookie with a set name, but how do I create a cookie that takes its name/value from a form? The form itself is in a loop that spits out info from a database, and the form name also is taken from the database as it loops through.

 

I was trying to use the Post method but it didn't work so obviously this isn't the way to do it.

 

Could anyone point me in the right direction?

 

 

[GingerRobot]

How about showing us the code you have? There is no reason why you wouldn't be able to set a cookie from post data.

 

Show us what you've done so far, and tell us what happens when you try that code.

[Rushy]

How about showing us the code you have? There is no reason why you wouldn't be able to set a cookie from post data.

 

Show us what you've done so far, and tell us what happens when you try that code.

 

Ok, this is the loop:

    for ($i = 0; $i < $nrows; $i++ )
    {
      echo "<form method=post><tr>\n"; 
      echo "<td><input type=checkbox name=products value=" . $results["TITLE"][$i] . " | $" . $results["PRICE"][$i] . "> <font color=white> " . $results["TITLE"][$i] . "</td>";
    **Rest of code removed**
    }
  ?>

 

So as you can see, the form name is taken from the DB.

 

Now please don't laugh if this code is absolute crap, i've been using PHP for a few days But this is what I tried:

 

<?php
    setCookie('Products', $_POST, time()+3600);
?>

 

And then I tried making "value=$POST" in the form tags.

 

I'm guessing this is completely wrong? Because PHP wouldn't even parse it.

[GingerRobot]

Because PHP wouldn't even parse it.

 

So you get an error? What is the error?

[Rushy]

Because PHP wouldn't even parse it.

 

So you get an error? What is the error?

 

Oops, sorry.

 

Actually I just tried, and it did parse it. Warning: setcookie() expects parameter 2 to be string, array given in C:\Web\WebServer\Apache2\htdocs\products.php on line 2

[GingerRobot]

Well there you go then. The value of the cookie that you store must be a string, not an array. $_POST is an array containing all of the information that has been sent to the page via the post method.

 

What is it that you actually want to store?

[Rushy]

Well there you go then. The value of the cookie that you store must be a string, not an array. $_POST is an array containing all of the information that has been sent to the page via the post method.

 

What is it that you actually want to store?

 

I want to store the name of each checkbox.. which is taken from the DB as you can see from the code. Is there a better way of doing it?

[GingerRobot]

I assume you mean the value?

 

Im not quite sure why you would want to, but you have two options. You could either set a different cookie variable for each of your checkboxes, or you could serialize the array and store the serialized array as a single variable in your cookie.

[jeeves245]

I want to do this because when a user selects a product from the catalog, its name needs to be stored in a cookie.

 

How would I set a different cookie variable for each checkbox?

[only one]

if(isset($_POST['checkbox1']))
{
  setcookie("checkbox1", true)
}

if(isset($_POST['checkbox2']))
{
  setcookie("checkbox2", true)
}

 

etc.

[jeeves245]

Where abouts in my code would I put that? It's just being parsed as text on the top of my page..

[jeeves245]

edit

[Rushy]

Where abouts in my code would I put that? It's just being parsed as text on the top of my page..

 

Oops. I didn't realise I already had an account here!

 

Anyway ignore that, I forgot to put it in <? .. ?> tags!  :-\

 

Although now the cookie isn't being set. Do I define value as value=$_POST? OR something else?

[Rushy]

Any ideas?

[Rushy]

Bump. Some help would be appreciated, i'm still a bit stuck

 

Oops. I didn't realise I already had an account here!

 

Anyway ignore that, I forgot to put it in <? .. ?> tags!  :-\

 

Although now the cookie isn't being set. Do I define value as value=$_POST? OR something else?

[atlanta]

you could set the cookie like so..

 

setcookie("TestCookie", $_POST['thenameofformitem']);

or

$_COOKIE['cookiename'] = $_POST['thenameofformitem'];

 

i believe you can do that.

[Rushy]

Yeah that's what was suggested above.

 

Then what do I define the form value to? I tried "value=$_POST" but the cookie didn't set

[Rushy]

Hmm now i'm getting this error with the following code:

 

<?php
if(isset($_POST['checkbox1']))
{
  setcookie("checkbox1", true)
{
  
if(isset($_POST['checkbox2']))
{
  setcookie("checkbox2", true)
}
?>

 

 

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '{' in C:\Web\WebServer\Apache2\htdocs\products.php on line 5

[PHP_PhREEEk]

Add semi-colons at the end of each setcookie call...

 

PhREEEk

[Rushy]

Haha oops I knew that!

 

Although now I get "Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in C:\Web\WebServer\Apache2\htdocs\products.php on line 56" which is the last line of the program (blank).

 

Also, do I define the form value as value=$_POST  ?

[Rushy]

Am I allowed to bump this?