I have a post form that submits but "$_POST" variable is empty even though my web inspector indicates otherwise

Question

Here is my html:

<form id="quant" method="POST" action="/portfolio" name="trans">

        <div class="modal-body">
        Shares : <input autocomplete="off" type="text" name="quantity">
        <input type="hidden" value="<?= htmlspecialchars($_GET['q']); ?>" name="stock">
        <input type="submit" name="val" value="Confirm Transaction" class="btn btn-primary">

        <div id="slider-range-max"></div>
        </div>
        <div class="modal-footer">
        <button type="button" class="btn btn-default" data-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
        </div>
        </form>

Here is an image of my web inspector showing that in fact that data was requested:

Image of request data

I have been trying to figure out why this has not been working for a long time, any suggestions would be appreciated.

The Code:

if(isset($_POST["quantity"])) {
    var_dump($_POST);

which returns nothing

`echo var_dump($_POST)` will not work. Return type of var_dump is void. Just use `var_dump()` — puelo, Mar 24 '14 at 23:08
Your action says 'action="/portfolio"'... where are you sending the form to? Shouldn't it be: action="portfolio.php" or action="../portfolio.php"? — Gary Hayes, Mar 24 '14 at 23:08
Then you need a slash after it to let it know it is a folder and not a file: action="/portfolio/" — Gary Hayes, Mar 24 '14 at 23:12
That worked! What I don't understand is why a GET form I have on the same page worked without the added slash… @GaryHayes — Python Spoils You, Mar 24 '14 at 23:13
Possibly because GET sends the data in the url, so the browser knew how to interpret the error. — Gary Hayes, Mar 24 '14 at 23:15
How can I mark this as answered if the answer was a comment? — Python Spoils You, Mar 24 '14 at 23:16
When you just request `/portfolio`, your (normally configured) web server will send your browser a _redirect_ header asking it to request `/portfolio/` instead. And since the browser follows that redirect by making a _GET_ request for `/portfolio/`, your POST data is lost. (With GET as form method in the first place, your browser has requested `/portfolio?foo=bar` at first, and the server told it to ask for `/portfolio/?foo=bar` instead – that’s why your data was not lost when using GET.) — CBroe, Mar 24 '14 at 23:22

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 24 '14 at 23:16

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Then you need a slash after it to let it know it is a folder and not a file: action="/portfolio/"

answered Mar 24 '14 at 23:16

Gary Hayes

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score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

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If you're using something like AngularJS to submit your form, it doesn't send POST data the typical way. Check out this post.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

Community

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answered Mar 24 '14 at 23:12

crunch

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I have a post form that submits but "$_POST" variable is empty even though my web inspector indicates otherwise

2 Answers2