Why is my PHP code wrong?

CorrieDeBeer · Jul 20, 2016

I'm trying to teach myself PHP, but something seems to not be working

HTML:

<html>
<head>
<title> 305 Using the TextArea tag</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/basic_2.css" />
</head>
<body>
<h3>Using the Text Area tag</h3>
<form method="post" action="0305_Using_TextArea.php">
<p>
First Name:<br  />
<input type="text" name="firstname" size="35"
</p>
<p>
Comments:<br  />
<textarea name="comments" rows="8" cols="65">
</textarea>
</p>
<p>
<input type="submit" Value="Submit Information">
</p>
</form>
</body>
</html>

The second part is.

HTML:

<html>
<head>
<title> 305 Using the TextArea tag</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/basic_2.css" />
</head>
<?php
$firstname = S_POST['firstname']
$comments = $_POST['comments']
print "<p>You are <span class='textblue'> "$firstname" . </span> and";
print "your comments about the College are </p>"
print "<p> <span class='textblue'>. "$comments"</span></p>";
?>
</html>

The first menu works fine, but the second one gives me this...

creeper · Jul 20, 2016

You are missing . to combine the strings.

Eg $string3 = $string1." ".$string2

Genisys · Jul 20, 2016

creeper said:
You are missing . to combine the strings.

Eg $string3 = $string1." ".$string2

This, pretty much.

CrazyBob · Jul 20, 2016

PHP:

print "<p>You are <span class='textblue'>".$firstname."</span> and";
print "your comments about the College are </p>";
print "<p><span class='textblue'>".$comments."</span></p>";

rward · Jul 20, 2016

CrazyBob said:

PHP:

print "<p>You are <span class='textblue'>".$firstname."</span> and";
print "your comments about the College are </p>";
print "<p><span class='textblue'>".$comments."</span></p>";

You can also do:

PHP:

<p>You are <span class='textblue'><?php echo $firstname;?></span> 
and your comments about the College are </p>
<p><span class='textblue'><?php echo $comments;?></span></p>

Thor · Jul 20, 2016

rward said:

You can also do:

PHP:

<p>You are <span class='textblue'><?php echo $firstname;?></span> 
and your comments about the College are </p>
<p><span class='textblue'><?php echo $comments;?></span></p>

I do the

PHP:

<?php echo $var; ?>

Otherwise it ends up like a site I saw that is basically just:

PHP:

print <html stuff>
print <html stuff>
print <html stuff>
print <html stuff>
print <html stuff>
print <html stuff>
print <html stuff>
print <html stuff>
print <html stuff>
print <html stuff>

500 lines later

print <html stuff>
print <html stuff>
print <html stuff>
print <html stuff>

Hurts my brain.

Thor · Jul 20, 2016

I hope you are not learning with this:

http://profperry.com/CONTENTPAGE/Spring2013/SJSU/PHPwithMySQL/Chapter_3.html

If you are then heck I am sure we can point you to more recent php tutorials

_kabal_ · Jul 20, 2016

if you are using php 5.4+ you can use

PHP:

<?= $var ?>

without enabling short tags

GreGorGy · Jul 20, 2016

<?php
$firstname = S_POST['firstname'];
$comments = $_POST['comments'];
print "You are ".$firstname." . and";
print "your comments about the College are ";
print " . ".$comments."";
?>

biometrics · Jul 20, 2016

Or

print "You are " . $firstname . " . and";

To

print "You are $firstname . and";

Variables inside a double quoted string are replaced with the values.

HideInLight · Jul 21, 2016

biometrics said:
Or

print "You are " . $firstname . " . and";

To

print "You are $firstname . and";

Variables inside a double quoted string are replaced with the values.

I use echo mosty, apparently there's a small difference. Only realized that now..
Also I tend to use single quotes and break up the line.

Essentially does the same, but just reads differently.

Code:

echo '<p>You are <span class="textblue">' . $firstname .  '</span> and';

Max Headroom · Jul 21, 2016

Just to avoid confusion, the last posts are correct. Gregorgy pointed out the real problem of the line endings missing. And Biometrics is correct: "text $variable more text". Only in single quotes do you need to do: 'text ' . $variable . ' more text'. But you can do the same with double quotes, no harm done.

Edit: another error: $firstname = S_POST['firstname'] should be $firstname = $_POST['firstname']

Tip. Get yourself an IDE like Netbeans or Eclipse etc. , it will highlight errors.

GreGorGy · Jul 21, 2016

Max Headroom said:
Edit: another error: $firstname = S_POST['firstname'] should be $firstname = $_POST['firstname']

LOL - no matter how many times I looked at that, I couldn't see a problem until...

Tip. Get yourself an IDE like Netbeans or Eclipse etc. , it will highlight errors.

...that showed the $_ vs S_

Nice catch Max

flippakitten · Jul 21, 2016

I know it's a bit off topic here and your question has been resolved but I thought it might be worth mentioning now while you're learning.

Clean your inputs

Code:

$firstname = striptags(stripslashes($_POST['firstname']));

or put it into a function:

Code:

function clean($var){
   return striptags(stripslashes($var));
}

$firstname = clean($_POST['firstname']);
$comments = clean($_POST['comments']);

There are other ways and more advanced things/ways you can do it but it's best to get used to cleaning everything from the start.

creeper · Jul 21, 2016

Why doesn't anyone use a framework? Functions already written for you to do all of the basic stuff

rward · Jul 21, 2016

Could be something small that doesn't need a framework?

Thor · Jul 21, 2016

creeper said:
Why doesn't anyone use a framework? Functions already written for you to do all of the basic stuff

When last did you fire up laravel for a a little brochure site.

I use a framework only if it's a scalable project

Otherwise I make my thing as streamlined as possible no need to have 500 functions if I need two.

biometrics · Jul 21, 2016

Thor187 said:
When last did you fire up laravel for a a little brochure site.

I use a framework only if it's a scalable project

Otherwise I make my thing as streamlined as possible no need to have 500 functions if I need two.

CodeIgniter ftw!

Genisys · Jul 22, 2016

biometrics said:
CodeIgniter ftw!

Might have to give CI a shot. Thanks.

Why is my PHP code wrong?

CorrieDeBeer

Expert Member

creeper

Executive Member

Genisys

Honorary Master

CrazyBob

Senior Member

rward

Senior Member

Thor

Honorary Master

Thor

Honorary Master

_kabal_

Executive Member

GreGorGy

BULLSFAN

biometrics

Honorary Master

HideInLight

Expert Member

Max Headroom

Active Member

GreGorGy

BULLSFAN

flippakitten

Expert Member

creeper

Executive Member

rward

Senior Member

Thor

Honorary Master

biometrics

Honorary Master

Genisys

Honorary Master