|
|
Posted by Dan on 05/12/05 22:55
Richard Lynch wrote:
> While this *CAN* work, and a lot of people like it, it tends to add a fair
> amount of "cruft" for not that much benefit, really...
>
> What do you GAIN having this big old switch statement?
> What data/processing is really really shared in all these steps?
>
> On Wed, May 11, 2005 4:57 pm, dan said:
>
>>Hello, all -
>>
>>I've been researching how to handle forms properly, and I think I
>>figured out a way that might be beneficial for me to use. It is as
>>follows:
>>
>>(index.php)
>>
>>session_start();
>>if (isset($_SESSION['step'])) {
>> switch $_SESSION['step'] {
>> case "1":
>> require('step1.php');
>> break;
>> case "2":
>> require('step2.php');
>> break;
>> case "3":
>> require('step3.php');
>> break;
>
>
> Simpler:
>
> case "1":
> case "2":
> case "3":
> require "step$step.php";
> break;
>
> Also not that it's pretty unlikely that your default will kick in, since
> somebody would have to intentationally hack $step to be, say, 4 or
> something to reach that line of code... [more]
>
>
>> // add more case statements here if I need to
>> default:
>> require('step1.php');
>> break;
>> }
>>} else {
>> $_SESSION['step'] = '1';
>> require('step1.php');
>>}
>
>
> So you might want to start off with:
>
> $step = isset($_SESSION['step']) ? $_SESSION['step'] : 1;
> Then you could do your switch, and default to step1, thereby having all
> the same functionality, but with fewer branches in the actual algorithm.
>
>
>>Each stepX.php file would look something similar to this:
>>
>>(step1.php)
>>
>>// if submitted, check data for completeness
>>// if complete, set 'step' to 2, to be used as argument to index.php
>> $_SESSION['step'] = '2'
>>// redirect back to index.php, use new value of 'step' to direct
>> header('Location: http://somesite.com/index.php');
>>// else display form data
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Now, this is, really, one of my first experiences with doing forms. I
>>just want to know if I can/should/would anticipate any problems down the
>>road while doing this. I think it would work quite well, but I've only
>>been doing this for a short while.
>
>
> I did it this way at first, but quicly found that the amount of shared
> code between steps was so minimal, that it was better to just have each
> step as a separate form, with filenames that made sense for the
> information gathered at that stage.
>
> It's also sometimes good to let the user fill in different steps in
> whatever order they prefer -- depending on the data gathered and what your
> business goals are.
>
> I've seen a particularly nice implementation of this at CDBaby (which is
> not real useful to anybody reading this unless you happen to be a musician
> with a CD you want to sell...) where the steps can be done in any order,
> but the first five are MUST DO and are flagged as such in RED until you do
> them, and the last three are OPTIONAL and are in yellow until you do them.
> Completed steps are changed to green.
>
> Since some of the steps could require a fair amount of background work
> (writing/editing/fixing-up your Bio, for example, or getting a complete
> track listing with titles in order) he lets you do them in the order that
> fits into your life, not in the order he happened to program that morning.
> Very nice.
>
Richard -
I was just looking for some sort of confirmity and ease of use. I've
been experimenting with some of my own ways to handle form data.
There's nothing that I hate more than clutter, so that's why I wanted to
break the form apart inside of these smaller files.
Thanks!
-dant
Navigation:
[Reply to this message]
|