php custom post variables

Question

is there a way to create custom post variables when a user presses submit, like this:

$_POST['var'] = 'hi';

Answer 1

In order to set post values on the page with the form you should use hidden input tags.

i.e.

<input type="hidden" name="var" value="hi" />

It will be invisible and your receiving script will see that key/value passed along.

Answer 2

Variables POSTed by the browser to your PHP script will only correspond to the fields of the form that was used in the browser -- which means you have to put your custom data in that form.

If you don't want them displayed, you can use a hidden input field :

<input type="hidden" name="var" value="hi" />

But note that the data will still be sent by the browser -- which means you have to escape/filter/protect it, like any other value that comes from the user ; and it cannot be trusted : anyone can pretty easily modify the value of that form field, even if it's not visible.