need some php help

adams · #1 25th Jun 03, 07:26 PM

bought a book to help me learn php. i type the code directly from the book and save it in the root directory on my computer, but then when i type in the address in my browser, the page will load but not work like it is supposed to.

here is the code for both pages. (its just a simple calculation script).
calculate.php:

Code:

<?
if (($_POST[val1] == "") || ($_POST[calc] =="")) {
header("Location: http://127.0.0.1/calculate_form.html");
exit;
}

if ($_POST[calc] == "add") {
	$result = $_POST[val1] + $_POST[val2];
} else if ($_POST[calc] == "subtract") {
	$result = $_POST[val1] - $_POST[val2];
} else if ($_POST[calc] == "multiply") {
	$result = $_POST[val1] * $_POST[val2];
} else if ($_POST[calc] == "divide") {
	$result = $_POST[val1] / $_POST[val2];
}
?>

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE> Calculation and Result</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<P>The result of the calculation is: <? echo "$result"; ?></P>
</BODY>
</HTML>

calculate_form.html:

Code:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Calculation Form</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>

<FORM METHOD="POST" ACTION="calculate.php">
<P>Value 1: <INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="val1" SIZE=10></P>
<P>Value 2: <INPUT TYPE="text" NAME="val2" SIZE=10></P>
<P><Calculation:<br>
<INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="calc" VALUE="add"> add<br>
<INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="calc" VALUE="subtract"> subtract<br>
<INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="calc" VALUE="multiply"> multiply<br>
<INPUT TYPE="radio" NAME="calc" VALUE="divide"> divide</P>
<P><INPUT TYPE="submit" NAME="submit" VALUE="Calculate"></P>
</FORM>
</BODY>
</HTML>

whenever i enter the two values in the blanks and choose to add (or whatever) and click submit, the page just reloads itself.
thanks in advance.

billybob3 · #2 25th Jun 03, 07:49 PM

Do you have PHP installed???

adams · #3 25th Jun 03, 08:36 PM

yes, i installed phptriad which installs php, mysql, and apache. (it also configures everything). and yes i had apache running also.

billybob3 · #4 26th Jun 03, 02:21 AM

Oh, ok, well, that's the only reason that I can think of. Sorry!

Sephiroth · #5 26th Jun 03, 02:30 AM

try to comment out this part of your script like this:

//if (($_POST[val1] == "") || ($_POST[calc] =="")) {
//header("Location: //http://127.0.0.1/calculate_form.html");
//exit;
//}

then run it and see what happens, i think something is wrong in that piece of code there and it's just reloading calculate_form.html instead of executing the rest of the script

adams · #6 26th Jun 03, 04:05 AM

ok that did it for that, but when the calculate.php loads the following is displayed:

Code:

The result of the calculation is:

i put in a value for 1 and 2 and hit add, but nothing shows up.

Sephiroth · #7 26th Jun 03, 05:18 AM

just as a test, try to echo your other variables like you did with $result, just to see if they are getting any data stored in them, i don't think they are from what it's doing

#8 26th Jun 03, 05:38 PM

yea... generally a decent idea for the php code I've written is to have a $debug variable at the top of the file that you can toggle (1/0) depending on if you want to print/echo a bunch of other variables... so for example, my code is littered with statements like this:

if ($debug) echo ("var: " . $var . "\n");

you may throw in some formatting to make it look better and more readable, like i did above.... hope this helps, and in the future, documentation always helps debugging too.

Sorry for the lecture, but hope you get things working!!!

Have fun,
cappaberra

adams · #9 27th Jun 03, 02:35 AM

ok it turns out there wasn't anything wrong with the code, but with my installation of php(i think).

i had installed phptriad which someone recommended cause it setup everything for you (php, apache, mysql), then someone at another forum told me to install phpdev so i did that and moved my files and now everything works.

thanks again for everyones support.

billybob3 · #10 27th Jun 03, 03:11 AM

Ha, knew it was an installation problem

. Glad you got it working!