Problem with $_POST variables.

**TheServant** · Jul 16 '10, 12:06 AM

Can I recommend adding some code at the top of all your pages to display the $_SESSION and $_POST variables you're expecting to exist, so that you can trace which page is losing your data.

If you are not getting any errors (besides the messages you program) then it's not syntax and you will really need to narrow down where there might be a problem.

If you can locate the page where the data is lost, then echo those variables out at different check points in the code of that page. Doing this you can pinpoint the code block causing the issue and it should be clear how to fix it, or if not: post and we can help.

Also, "only hope of future income" might be a bit over the top. "Only hope of a future income doing something you like", may be closer to the mark. We all gotta start at the bottom.

**AaronL** · Jul 16 '10, 03:48 AM

Haha, yeah unfortunatly this is my only hope, there isn't really any jobs around here.

**TheServant** · Jul 16 '10, 05:44 AM

Originally posted by AaronL

Haha, yeah unfortunatly this is my only hope, there isn't really any jobs around here.

No worries, well let us know if you manage to pinpoint where the data loss is occurring.

**AaronL** · Jul 16 '10, 03:00 PM

The weird thing is, sometimes the variables post fine and sometimes it doesn't I echoed the variables out even before any data manipulation happens to them and this happens intermittently. I'm wondering if there is some kind of weird bug with $_POST method that's causing it. My code looks fine. I'm wondering if I should just use session variables for everything here...

**AaronL** · Jul 16 '10, 03:25 PM

I found this:

http://bytes.com/topic/php/answers/518017-problems-_post-returning-null-values-php-4-4-2-a

I think I'm going to give it a try, I'll let you know.

**AaronL** · Jul 16 '10, 03:49 PM

Yeah that didn't fix it either, weird, yeah, some kind of bug I checked my code everywhere. There isn't anything in the code causing problem, I'm just using a standard form on the shipping information page, and it just intermittently posts blank values, I'm wondering if it has something to do with browser cache data or something... Here is my code that gets the posted values...

Code:

  // Function to clean malicious posted values for security.
  // Syntax: cleanposted('postedvariable', 'maximum character length');
  function cleanposted($postvalue, $maxlength)
  {
    // Strip HTML tags from the posted value
    $cleanvalue = strip_tags($postvalue);
    
    // Remove malicious commands and characters from the posted value.
    $cleanvalue = str_ireplace("select", "", $cleanvalue);
    $cleanvalue = str_ireplace("update", "", $cleanvalue);
    $cleanvalue = str_ireplace("delete", "", $cleanvalue);
    $cleanvalue = str_ireplace("insert", "", $cleanvalue);
    $cleanvalue = str_ireplace("drop", "", $cleanvalue);
    $cleanvalue = str_ireplace("<", "", $cleanvalue);
    $cleanvalue = str_ireplace(">", "", $cleanvalue);
    $cleanvalue = str_ireplace("+", "", $cleanvalue);
    $cleanvalue = str_ireplace("*", "", $cleanvalue);
    $cleanvalue = str_ireplace("%", "", $cleanvalue);
    $cleanvalue = str_ireplace("\"", "", $cleanvalue);
    $cleanvalue = str_ireplace("=", "", $cleanvalue);
    $cleanvalue = str_ireplace("`", "", $cleanvalue);
    
    // Cut the posted value down to the maximum length specified.
    $cleanvalue = substr($cleanvalue, 0, $maxlength);
    
    // Return the clean posted value free of exploits!
    return trim($cleanvalue);
  }
 
  // Get passed variables.
  //$_GET variables
  $function = cleanposted($_GET["fct"], 32);
  $itemnumber = cleanposted($_GET["inum"], 16);
  $quantity = cleanposted($_GET["qty"], 16);
  
  //$_POST variables
  // Get the posted values
  $subtotal = $_POST["subtotal"];
  $tax = $_POST["tax"];
  $totalship = $_POST["totalship"];
  $totalintship = $_POST["totalintship"];
  $ordertotal = $_POST["ordertotal"];
  $intordertotal = $_POST["intordertotal"];
  $firstname = $_POST["firstname"];
  $lastname = $_POST["lastname"];
  $businessname = $_POST["businessname"];
  $address1 = $_POST["address1"];
  $address2 = $_POST["address2"];
  $city = $_POST["city"];
  $state = $_POST["state"];
  $zip = $_POST["zip"];
  $country = $_POST["country"];
  $province = $_POST["province"];
  $phone = $_POST["phone"];
  $email = $_POST["email"];
  $sameasbilling = $_POST["sameasbilling"];
  $shipfirstname = $_POST["shipfirstname"];
  $shiplastname = $_POST["shiplastname"];
  $shipbusinessname = $_POST["shipbusinessname"];
  $shipaddress1 = $_POST["shipaddress1"];
  $shipaddress2 = $_POST["shipaddress2"];
  $shipcity = $_POST["shipcity"];
  $shipstate = $_POST["shipstate"];
  $shipzip = $_POST["shipzip"];
  $shipcountry = $_POST["shipcountry"];
  $shipprovince = $_POST["shipprovince"];

  
  $subtotal = cleanposted($subtotal, 16);
  $tax = cleanposted($tax, 16);
  $totalship = cleanposted($totalship, 16);
  $totalintship = cleanposted($totalintship, 16);
  $ordertotal = cleanposted($ordertotal, 16);
  $intordertotal = cleanposted($intordertotal, 16);
  $firstname = cleanposted($firstname, 128);
  $lastname = cleanposted($lastname, 128);
  $businessname = cleanposted($businessname, 128);
  $address1 = cleanposted($address1, 128);
  $address2 = cleanposted($address2, 128);
  $city = cleanposted($city, 128);
  $state = cleanposted($state, 2);
  $zip = cleanposted($zip, 16);
  $country = cleanposted($country, 128);
  $province = cleanposted($province, 128);
  $phone = cleanposted($phone, 16);
  $email = cleanposted($email, 128);
  $sameasbilling = cleanposted($sameasbilling, 3);
  $shipfirstname = cleanposted($shipfirstname, 128);
  $shiplastname = cleanposted($shiplastname, 128);
  $shipbusinessname = cleanposted($shipbusinessname, 128);
  $shipaddress1 = cleanposted($shipaddress1, 128);
  $shipaddress2 = cleanposted($shipaddress2, 128);
  $shipcity = cleanposted($shipcity, 128);
  $shipstate = cleanposted($shipstate, 2);
  $shipzip = cleanposted($shipzip, 16);
  $shipcountry = cleanposted($shipcountry, 128);
  $shipprovince = cleanposted($shipprovince, 128);

A mystery to me...

**AaronL** · Jul 16 '10, 04:06 PM

Oh and let me add that I even tried taking my cleanposted function completely out of the picture, same issue... I guess the only thing left to do is not let them go back to the store and add more items by the time they get to the review order screen, but that sucks...

**JKing** · Jul 16 '10, 06:27 PM

I think you have some other issues going on as well.

I added two regular pancakes to the cart. Then clicked back to store. I then added 1 medium pancake. Filled in my info and onto the review page. The medium pancake isn't in the list anymore.

My subtotal: $18.59
My tax: $1.12
Shipping and handling: $4.00
Order Total: $7.82

**AaronL** · Jul 16 '10, 06:34 PM

What country did you have selected, if the item isn't eligible for international shipping, it gets removed, I probably should put a message on there for that.

**AaronL** · Jul 16 '10, 07:01 PM

It's looking like you can't use $_POST variables in this way for some reason, it looks like the browser holds them in the cache and resets them the next time they are called or something. I may just have to put just a cancel order option there or something, I don't know, I'm frustrated beyond belief at this point, I spent so much time developing this software, the rest of the software is incredible and would be a great service to people, you can change your site layout on the fly etc... Too bad when I got to the very end of development I ran into this crap... :(

**AaronL** · Jul 16 '10, 07:32 PM

I'm working on redesigning the review order section, I see where there are some calculation issues, but still not sure about the post issues...

**AaronL** · Jul 16 '10, 08:39 PM

Ok, found something interesting...

First, I put a line of text in the review order section at the top that says The posted first name is:

Now here is the steps you can recreate the problem with

Add item to cart:
click next
enter first name
click next
you should see your name at the top
then click back to cart,
click next
enter in a different first name
click next
you'll see that nothing posted.

It appears that if a page is in cache, it will not post again when you submit the form. Any way to fix that?

**JKing** · Jul 17 '10, 12:00 AM

Are you setting the hidden inputs on the shipping page?

**AaronL** · Jul 17 '10, 12:07 AM

Yeah I was, but now I'm just going to recalculate the totals (which were the hidden inputs). I'm having problems even with the inputs that aren't hidden and are just in text boxes, I'll just have to put up with them for now. Don't know how good my software will do in the market though with glitches like that...

Problem with $_POST variables.

Problem with $_POST variables.

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