You’ve got a couple of PHP programs running, and one of them even works
with an HTML form. But so far, you’ve just been typing code. Even though
you’ve just gotten started with PHP, you’re ready to dig deeper, and start to
understand what’s going on in that code. In this chapter, you’re going to get comfortable
with a lot of the PHP syntax: that means learning what special words you
type into your programs, and what each one of those special words—usually called
keywords—tells PHP to do.
Fortunately, this learning doesn’t mean you can’t still build interesting programs that
run in a web browser. In fact, since almost everything that’s done with PHP involves
Web pages, all your scripts in this chapter will accept information from a Web form
and work with that information. So you’re not just learning PHP; you’re learning to
write Web applications.
you’ve just gotten started with PHP, you’re ready to dig deeper, and start to
understand what’s going on in that code. In this chapter, you’re going to get comfortable
with a lot of the PHP syntax: that means learning what special words you
type into your programs, and what each one of those special words—usually called
keywords—tells PHP to do.
Fortunately, this learning doesn’t mean you can’t still build interesting programs that
run in a web browser. In fact, since almost everything that’s done with PHP involves
Web pages, all your scripts in this chapter will accept information from a Web form
and work with that information. So you’re not just learning PHP; you’re learning to
write Web applications.
Get Information from a Web Form
In sayHelloWeb.php, you used this line to get the value of a variable called “name”
from the sayHello.html web form:
echo $_REQUEST['name'];
You may remember that $_REQUEST is a special PHP variable that lets you
get information from a web request. You used it to get one particular piece of
information—the user’s name—but it can do a lot more.
from the sayHello.html web form:
echo $_REQUEST['name'];
You may remember that $_REQUEST is a special PHP variable that lets you
get information from a web request. You used it to get one particular piece of
information—the user’s name—but it can do a lot more.
Access Request Parameters Directly
In fact, to see just how handy $_REQUEST really is, open up your text editor. Type
the code below, in which a visitor enters her name and several other important bits of
contact information, like her Twitter handle, Facebook page URL, and email address.
<html>
<head>
<link href="../css/phpMM.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
</head>
<body>
<div id="header"><h1>PHP & MySQL: The Missing Manual</h1></div>
<div id="example">Example 2-1</div>
<div id="content">
<h1>Join the Missing Manual (Digital) Social Club</h1>
<p>Please enter your online connections below:</p>
<form action="scripts/getFormInfo.php" method="POST">
<fieldset>
<label for="first_name">First Name:</label>
<input type="text" name="first_name" size="20" /><br />
<label for="last_name">Last Name:</label>
<input type="text" name="last_name" size="20" /><br />
<label for="email">E-Mail Address:</label>
<input type="text" name="email" size="50" /><br />
<label for="facebook_url">Facebook URL:</label>
<input type="text" name="facebook_url" size="50" /><br />
<label for="twitter_handle">Twitter Handle:</label>
<input type="text" name="twitter_handle" size="20" /><br />
</fieldset>
<br />
<fieldset class="center">
<input type="submit" value="Join the Club" />
<input type="reset" value="Clear and Restart" />
</fieldset>
</form>
</div>
<div id="footer"></div>
</body>
</html>
the code below, in which a visitor enters her name and several other important bits of
contact information, like her Twitter handle, Facebook page URL, and email address.
<html>
<head>
<link href="../css/phpMM.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
</head>
<body>
<div id="header"><h1>PHP & MySQL: The Missing Manual</h1></div>
<div id="example">Example 2-1</div>
<div id="content">
<h1>Join the Missing Manual (Digital) Social Club</h1>
<p>Please enter your online connections below:</p>
<form action="scripts/getFormInfo.php" method="POST">
<fieldset>
<label for="first_name">First Name:</label>
<input type="text" name="first_name" size="20" /><br />
<label for="last_name">Last Name:</label>
<input type="text" name="last_name" size="20" /><br />
<label for="email">E-Mail Address:</label>
<input type="text" name="email" size="50" /><br />
<label for="facebook_url">Facebook URL:</label>
<input type="text" name="facebook_url" size="50" /><br />
<label for="twitter_handle">Twitter Handle:</label>
<input type="text" name="twitter_handle" size="20" /><br />
</fieldset>
<br />
<fieldset class="center">
<input type="submit" value="Join the Club" />
<input type="reset" value="Clear and Restart" />
</fieldset>
</form>
</div>
<div id="footer"></div>
</body>
</html>
