[SOLVED] autoincremented form variable reference problem

I'm new and still unfamiliar with the normal syntax for posting in these forums as well as normal conventions for writing code, so please bear with me. If you need any more info, ask, and I will respond immediately.

So I made this form that lists officers of a school and fills text inputs with a default value gotten from a table to allow editing. Each time mysql_fetch_row loops the input name gets autoincremented (ex <input ... name="Position1"...> next loop <input ...name="Position2"...>).

In teamchange.php I tried using a for loop that loops as long as the counter is less than or equal to the number of input names created and then updates the table per set ({Position1, FirstName1, LastName1, Email1} {Position2, FirstName2, LastName2, Email2} etc...). The problem is that I can't figure out how to reference the input names using a for loop. What's the best way to handle this?

Also could anyone tell me why the nested form causes the outside form to not work?

Form file:

$Result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM team WHERE Team='$School'");
echo "<h5 class=\"red\">$School</h5>";
echo "<form method=\"POST\" action=\"teamchange.php\">";
echo "<table>";
echo "<tr>";
$Result2 = mysql_query("SELECT Position,FirstName,LastName,Email FROM team");
for($i = 0; $i < mysql_num_fields($Result2); $i++){
$Row2=mysql_fetch_field($Result2,$i);
echo "<td class=\"bold\">$Row2->name</td>";
}
echo "</tr>";
for($i = 0; $Row = mysql_fetch_row($Result); $i++){
$Total = $i;
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>";
echo "<select>";
$Result3 = mysql_query("SELECT DISTINCT Position FROM team");
while($Row3 = mysql_fetch_row($Result3)){
	if($Row3[0] == $Row[5]){
		echo "<option selected=\"selected\" name=\"Position$i\" value=\"$Row3[0]\">$Row3[0]</option>";
	}
	else{
		echo "<option name=\"Position$i\" value=\"$Row3[0]\">$Row3[0]</option>";
	}
}
echo "</select>";
echo "</td>";
echo "<td><input type=\"text\" name=\"FirstName$i\" value=\"$Row[2]\" size=\"15\"></td>";
echo "<td><input type=\"text\" name=\"LastName$i\" value=\"$Row[3]\" size=\"15\"></td>";
echo "<td><input type=\"text\" name=\"Email$i\" value=\"$Row[4]\" size=\"30\"></td>";
echo "<td>";
/*
echo "<form method=\"POST\" action=\"teamchange.php\">";
echo "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"School\" value=\"$School\">";
echo "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"FirstName\" value=\"$Row[2]\">";
echo "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"LastName\" value=\"$Row[3]\">";
echo "<input type=\"hidden\" name=\"Position\" value=\"$Row[5]\">";
echo "<input type=\"Hidden\" name=\"DeleteChange\" value=\"True\">";
echo "<input type=\"Submit\" value=\"Delete\">";
echo "</form>";
*/
echo "</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
echo "</table>";
echo "<input type=\"Hidden\" name=\"School\" value=\"$Row[0]\">";
echo "<input type=\"Hidden\" name=\"OfficerChanged\" value=\"$Total\">";
echo "<input type=\"Reset\" value=\"Cancel\" onclick=window.history.back()>";
echo "<input type=\"Submit\" value=\"Set\">";
echo "</form>";
?>

teamchange.php

if(isset($_POST['OfficerChanged'])){
$Total = $_POST['OfficerChanged'];
for($i = 0; $i <= $Total; $i++){
	$Position = $_POST['Position$i'];
	$FirstName = $_POST['FirstName$i'];
	$LastName = $_POST['LastName$i'];
	$Email = $_POST['Email$i'];

	mysql_query("UPDATE team SET FirstName='$FirstName', LastName='$LastName', Email='$Email' WHERE Position='$Position'");
}
}

Firstly, welcome to the forums.

Second, the way to present code is to use the

or

tags as appropriate

As for your problem, you should be using arrays. For example:

<input type="text" name="textfield[0]" /><br />
<input type="text" name="textfield[1]" /><br />
<input type="text" name="textfield[2]" /><br />

You can then cycle through them like so:

foreach($_POST['textfield'] as $key => value){
    echo "The key was $key and it's value was $value<br />";
}

As for nested forms; i've never tried, but it wouldn't surprise me to find they don't work. It looks as if you're trying to have multiple submit buttons? That's entirely possible - just check which one has actually been pressed in your form processing.

Nested forms are invalid HTML. Only the first opening <form tag is used.

GingerRobot, thank you.

Just to be clear... if I use an array. The while statement looping through the rows (Position, FirstName, LastName, Email) of the table uses a for loop to increment the array index?

$Result = mysql_query("SELECT Position,FirstName,LastName,Email FROM team");
while($Row = mysql_fetch_row($Result)){
$Columns = [something to figure out # of columns in table];
for($i = 0; $i <= $Columns; $i++){
	echo "<input ... name=\"Array[$i]\">";
	echo "<input ... name=\"Array[$i]\">";
	echo "<input ... name=\"Array[$i]\">";
	echo "<input ... name=\"Array[$i]\">";
}
}

which means that

Array[0] = Position from row 1

Array[1] = FirstName from row 1

Array[2] = LastName from row 1

Array[3] = Email from row 1

Array[4] = Position from row 2

Array[5] = FirstName from row 2

Array[6] = LastName from row 2

Array[7] = Email from row 2

am I taking this in the wrong direction or is that the jist of it?

Nested forms are invalid HTML. Only the first opening <form tag is used.

Thanks.

Not quite. You would want separate arrays for each field. Also, you dont need to be figuring out the number of rows in the table. You want something like this:

$i=0;
while($Row = mysql_fetch_row($Result)){
    echo "<input ... name=\"position[$i]\">";
    echo "<input ... name=\"firstname[$i]\">";
    //etc
    $i++;
}

I'm getting owned on this... to be honest, I'm reading up on foreach, and I don't fully quite grasp it.

I pretty sure I have the form page correct.

$Result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM team WHERE Team='$School'");
echo "<h5 class=\"red\">$School</h5>";
echo "<form method=\"POST\" action=\"teamchange.php\">";
echo "<table>";
echo "<tr>";
$Result2 = mysql_query("SELECT Position,FirstName,LastName,Email FROM team");
for($i = 0; $i < mysql_num_fields($Result2); $i++){
$Row2=mysql_fetch_field($Result2,$i);
echo "<td class=\"bold\">$Row2->name</td>";
}
echo "</tr>";
for($i = 0; $Row = mysql_fetch_row($Result); $i++){
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>";
echo "<select>";
$Result3 = mysql_query("SELECT DISTINCT Position FROM team");

while($Row3 = mysql_fetch_row($Result3)){
	if($Row3[0] == $Row[5]){
		echo "<option selected=\"selected\" name=\"Position[$i]\" id=\"Position[$i]\" value=\"$Row3[0]\">$Row3[0]</option>";
	}
	else{
		echo "<option name=\"Position[$i]\" id=\"Position[$i]\" value=\"$Row3[0]\">$Row3[0]</option>";
	}
}
echo "</select>";
echo "</td>";
echo "<td><input type=\"text\" name=\"FirstName[$i]\" id=\"FirstName[$i]\" value=\"$Row[2]\" size=\"15\"></td>";
echo "<td><input type=\"text\" name=\"LastName[$i]\" id=\"LastName[$i]\" value=\"$Row[3]\" size=\"15\"></td>";
echo "<td><input type=\"text\" name=\"Email[$i]\" id=\"Email[$i]\" value=\"$Row[4]\" size=\"30\"></td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
echo "</table>";
echo "<input type=\"Hidden\" name=\"School\" value=\"$Row[0]\">";
echo "<input type=\"Reset\" value=\"Cancel\" onclick=window.history.back()>";
echo "<input type=\"Submit\" name=\"OfficerChanged\" value=\"Set\">";
echo "</form>";

But nothing I do in the teamchange.php works...

40: foreach($_POST['Position'] as $key => $value){
41: 	echo "The key was $key and it's value was $value<br>";
42: }

Gives me an error saying

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in C:\Program Files\EasyPHP 2.0b1\www\USCSA\teamchange.php on line 40

and somethign as simple as

44: echo $_POST['Position'][0];

Gives me an error saying

Notice: Undefined index: Position in C:\Program Files\EasyPHP 2.0b1\www\USCSA\teamchange.php on line 44

n/m, I'm an idiot... syntax error. Thanks for the help, that worked perfectly!