$_POST not being read

Question

i have a form which inserts book information into the database. however it is not reading the $_POST attribute.

book.php:

  <form action="books_manage.php" id="addbook_form" method="post">

     <div id="ab_wrapper">

         <div id="ab_leftcolumn">
                 <div id="bookinfo">
                 <fieldset>
                     <legend>Book Details</legend>
                         <div class="field">
                             <label>Book ID</label>
                             <input type="text" name="bid" id="bid"/>
                         </div>
                         <div class="field">
                             <label>Name</label>
                             <input type="text" name="bname" id="bname"/>
                         </div>
                          <div class="field">
                             <label>Author</label>
                             <input type="text" name="bauthor" id="bauthor"/>
                         </div>
                          <div class="field">
                             <label>Info</label>
                             <textarea name="binfo" id="binfo" cols="5" rows="5" ></textarea>
                         </div>
                         <div class="field">
                             <label>Date Added</label>
                             <input type="text" value="<?php echo date('D d M Y')?>" name="bdateadd" id="bdateadd"/>
                         </div>
                         <div class="field">
                             <label>Date Updated</label>
                             <input type="text" value="<?php echo date("D d M Y")?>" name="bdateupd" id="bdateupd"/>
                         </div>
                        <div>
                         <input type="hidden" name="action" value="save">
                         <input type="submit" value="Save">
                         <input type="button" id="addcontent" value="Add Content">
                         <input type="reset" value="Reset">
                        </div>
                 </fieldset>
                 </div>
         </div>

         <div id="ab_rightcolumn">
                <div id="bookcontents">
                <fieldset>
                     <legend>Book Content</legend>
                         <div class="field">
                             <label>Chapter</label>
                             <input type="text" id="bchapter" name="bchapter"/>
                         </div>
                         <div class="field">
                             <label>Sub-Chapter</label>
                             <input type="text" id="bsubchapter" name="bsubchapter"/>
                         </div>
                          <div class="field">
                             <label>Content</label>
                             <textarea id="bcontent" name="bcontent" rows="6" cols="8"></textarea>
                         </div>
                      <br />
                         <div>
                         <input type="hidden" name="action" value="addnext">
                         <input type="submit" value="Save and Add Next Chapter">
                         <input type="submit" name="action" value="Done">
                      </div>

                 </fieldset>
             </div>

         </div>

     </div>



  </form>

books_manage.php:

<?php
  if (isset($_POST['action']) && $_POST['action'] == 'save')
    {
         echo "You clicked the save button";
    }
  else {
    echo "Hello. The date is " .  date("D d M Y") ;

  }

?>

the output:

Hello. The date is Thu 08 Jul 2010

it seems it isn't reading the value of the hidden button. it should display "You clicked the save button". Am I missing something?

Answer 1

First of all, multiple <input>s in the same <form> with the same name attribute isn't going to get you the behavior you're looking for.

Instead, you need to provide a name to the submit buttons, and then you can check which button was pressed:

<input type="submit" name="save" value="Add Content">
<input type="submit" name="done" value="No more content">

<?php
if(isset($_POST['save'])) {
    echo "saved";
} else if(isset($_POST['done'])) {
    echo "done";
}
?>

See comment below by Lèse majesté to learn how the HTML working group effed this one up.

Answer 2

You have two inputs with the name "action" in the same form. Make sure your form field names are unique.

Don't forget you can organise your names using this syntax -

<input name="form1['name']" value="".....
<input name="form2['name']" ..... etc

Then access these variables like this:

$_POST['form1']['name']...

Very useful!