can you submit a form with an array of text input?

Question

i am dynamically building a page. This page needs to read information from input tags but it is dynamic. Should i set up stuff to be an array since i am looking at

I want to preserve datasets.

<script>
   function adjustPilots(){
var pilots = $("#numPilots").val();
var info = '<td><table>'+
    '<tr><td>Minumum Collateral</td><td colspan="2"><input type = "text" size = "10" maxLength = "6" /> to <input type = "text" size = "10" maxLength = "6" /></td></tr>'+
    '<tr><td>Reward</td><td colspan="2"><input type = "text" size = "10" maxLength = "6" /> to <input type = "text" size = "10" maxLength = "6" /></td></tr>'+
    '<tr><td>Volume</td><td colspan="2"><input type = "text" size = "10" maxLength = "7" /> to <input type = "text" size = "10" maxLength = "7" /></td></tr>'+
    '<tr><td>Start: </td><td><input type = "text" name = "s" id = "s" class = "s" value autocomplete = "off"></td></tr>'+
    '<tr><td>End: </td><td><input type = "text" name = "e" id = "e" class = "e" value autocomplete = "off"></td></tr>'+
    '</table></td>';


for(var i = 0; i < Number(pilots); i++){
    $("#pilotrow").append(info);
}
}
</script>
<body>
<form>
<table>
<tr><td>Number of Pilots</td><td colspan="2"><input id = "numPilots" type = "text" size="3" maxLength="3" onchange = 'adjustPilots()' /></td></tr>
<tr id = "pilotrow"></tr>

<tr><td><input type = "submit" name = "submit"></td></tr>
</table>
</form>
</body>

An option i was thinking was to just not use a form, and build it with javascript. Then make a JSON object and use AJAX to send it to the server. Is that a solid way of doing it, or is there a better idea?

A number of your inputs do not have a `name` attribute, how would you serialize this data? — Paul, Aug 22 '12 at 00:49
I'm not sure what you're asking but if I haven't misunderstood, you can set `display:none` to that table yet include it in your html code, then remove and assign it into a variable and use the `clone()` jQuery method to append cloned versions of it. — inhan, Aug 22 '12 at 00:51

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 22 '12 at 01:30

3

There are at least 2 way to do that.

Without javascript, you cate a form with array of element like this

<input type="text" name="input[]"/>
<input type="text" name="input[]"/>
<input type="text" name="input[]"/>
<input type="text" name="input[]"/>

in php

$inputs = $_POST['input'];
for($inputs as $inp){

}

With ajax and jquery, you can just simply serialize your form and post to backend

answered Aug 22 '12 at 01:30

James

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assuming this is correct, this is indeed the answer i was looking for. – Fallenreaper Aug 22 '12 at 01:41

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 22 '12 at 01:41

You can achieve that by using the name attribute in your inputs. Like so:

<input type="text" name="pilots[]" />

Then you would probably want to keep track of how many pilots you are adding that way you can send an indexed array. Like so:

<input type="text" name="pilots[0][minumumCollatural]" />
<input type="text" name="pilots[0][reward]" />
<input type="text" name="pilots[0][volume]" />

That way when you submit your form to the server, your array of pilots will look something like:

$pilots = $_POST['pilots'];

// Which looks like
array(
   [0] => array
          (
             [minumumCollatural] => // Some number
             [reward] => // Some number
          )
    [1] => array
          (
             [minumumCollatural] => // Some number
             [reward] => // Some number
          )
)

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 22 '12 at 01:38

Try utilizing the hidden input tag to send data in whatever fashion you please. For instance:

<input type="hidden" name="myinput" id="myinput" />

Now in JS:

$("form").submit(function() {
    $("input").not("#myinput").each(function() {
        $("#myinput").val($("#myinput").val()+$(this).val());
        // you can format anyway you want this is just an example
    });
});

Hope this helps!

can you submit a form with an array of text input?

3 Answers3

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