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Posted by lawpoop on March 3, 2009, 2:14 pm
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I'm writing a page where I have a javascript function that validates
some form fields before a submission. I'm troubleshooting it, and I
think it's prematurely submitting the form.
I wrote a test at the beginning of my page to test whether $_POST is
an array, and in FireFox 3.0.6 it's always an array, even before any
submission. I've tried IE 6.8.2, and $_POST does not start out as an
array.
What's going on here? It looks to me like a problem with FireFox -- it
must be sending something to the server to indicate that there are
some POST values, even if there are none. I say it's in FF, because if
it were a problem with the web server, then IE should be triggering
POST also.
I can make a more robust $_POST test by using count() or checking for
certain values, but I am just wondering what's going on here.
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Posted by lawpoop on March 3, 2009, 4:42 pm
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Here's another way of asking my question -- does the $_POST array
always exist, no matter how the page was requested? So if the page
wasn't generated from a POST request, the variable $_POST should
regardless be an array with no values?
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Posted by Tim Roberts on March 6, 2009, 2:07 am
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>your browser is the only thing that generates the $_POST arrays but not
>until you submit it and it LIVES on the client (your browser) and is
>SENT to your server where php can READ, INTERPRET and RESPOND to it. You
>are working with a REQUEST/RESPONSE paradigm... the client (browser)
>sends a REQUEST to the server that RESPONDS by sending the data (HTML,
>PHP etc...)
This paragraph is well intentioned, but it has so much confusion that it
makes things worse. The browser does NOT generate the $_POST array, and
that array never lives on the client. The browser uses the form data to
generate and send an HTTP POST request, then PHP (on the server) generates
the $_POST array from that request.
Further, the server does not "send PHP". The server can cause a PHP script
to be executed, but that PHP script will generate HTML, and it is only the
HTML that goes back to the browser.
--
Tim Roberts, timr@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.
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Posted by Scott Johnson on March 6, 2009, 9:05 am
Please log in for more thread options Tim Roberts wrote:
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>> your browser is the only thing that generates the $_POST arrays but not
>> until you submit it and it LIVES on the client (your browser) and is
>> SENT to your server where php can READ, INTERPRET and RESPOND to it. You
>> are working with a REQUEST/RESPONSE paradigm... the client (browser)
>> sends a REQUEST to the server that RESPONDS by sending the data (HTML,
>> PHP etc...)
>
> This paragraph is well intentioned, but it has so much confusion that it
> makes things worse. The browser does NOT generate the $_POST array, and
> that array never lives on the client. The browser uses the form data to
> generate and send an HTTP POST request, then PHP (on the server) generates
> the $_POST array from that request.
>
> Further, the server does not "send PHP". The server can cause a PHP script
> to be executed, but that PHP script will generate HTML, and it is only the
> HTML that goes back to the browser.
Wow I am glad you caught that. It is amazing how many amateurs (with
good intentions), send out bad information and do not understand PHP and
its abilities.
Scotty
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>until you submit it and it LIVES on the client (your browser) and is
>SENT to your server where php can READ, INTERPRET and RESPOND to it. You
>are working with a REQUEST/RESPONSE paradigm... the client (browser)
>sends a REQUEST to the server that RESPONDS by sending the data (HTML,
>PHP etc...)