One form and two actions and two submit in php

Question

Wokring on a project where the user have the ability to chose from date and to date, and then chose one of the radio buttoms. After that chose pdf or excel to generate the to preferred format. enter image description here

The problem is the form, I want it to action generateExcel.php if excel is pressed and generatePdf.php if PDF is pressed. This is how far I have came and not working yet:

<form action='generatePdf.php' method='Post'/>

Fra Dato: <input type="text" name="fraDato" value="<?php echo date('d-m-Y'); ?>" /> 
Til Dato: <input type="text" name="tilDato" value="<?php echo date('d-m-Y'); ?>"> <br> 
<input type="radio" name="hent" value="timesmaling">Times malinger<br>
<input type="radio" name="hent" value="tredjetimesmaling">Tredje times malinger <br>
<input type="radio" name="hent" value="oppgaver">Oppgaver <br>
<input type="radio" name="hent" value="dagvakt">Dagvakt <br>
<input type="radio" name="hent" value="kveldsvakt">Kveldsvakt <br>
<input type="radio" name="hent" value="kontrollcm">Kontroll CM <br>

<input type='submit' name='pdf' value='PDF'>

<form action='generateExcel.php' method='Post'/>
<input type='submit' name='excel' value='excel'>

</form>

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 02 '14 at 16:59

2

It is possible to override the action attribute of the parent form using the HTML5 formaction attribute on a button. See https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/button

<input type='submit' name='pdf' value='PDF' formaction='generatePdf.php'>
<input type='submit' name='excel' value='excel'  formaction='generateExcel.php'>

The browser support looks pretty good: http://www.wufoo.com/html5/attributes/13-formaction.html

However, webeno's answer would definitely work in all browsers and it can be easier to manage all your form processing code in one file.

answered Apr 02 '14 at 16:59

theHands

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Just make sure your audience uses HTML5 browsers ;) – benomatis Apr 02 '14 at 17:06
It is supported with the newest versions of the Google chrome, firefox, opera and IE. So that is great. – user3185936 Apr 02 '14 at 17:07
Yep, if you don't have users using older browsers (or if this is only for yourself), this is the best solution indeed, mine is probably better as a cross browser solution... – benomatis Apr 02 '14 at 17:09

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 10:31

I'd recommend you to put both of your scripts on the same file and validate against the button that has been clicked.

EDIT: If your 2 files are too big (or you would like to keep them separate for any other reason), you could still use include (or require - more info on the differences: Difference between "include" and "require" in php).

original file:

<form action='generate.php' method='Post'> <!-- removed the slash from the end here -->

Fra Dato: <input type="text" name="fraDato" value="<?php echo date('d-m-Y'); ?>" /> 
Til Dato: <input type="text" name="tilDato" value="<?php echo date('d-m-Y'); ?>"> <br> 
<input type="radio" name="hent" value="timesmaling">Times malinger<br>
<input type="radio" name="hent" value="tredjetimesmaling">Tredje times malinger <br>
<input type="radio" name="hent" value="oppgaver">Oppgaver <br>
<input type="radio" name="hent" value="dagvakt">Dagvakt <br>
<input type="radio" name="hent" value="kveldsvakt">Kveldsvakt <br>
<input type="radio" name="hent" value="kontrollcm">Kontroll CM <br>

<input type='submit' name='pdf' value='PDF'>
<input type='submit' name='excel' value='excel'>

</form>

generate.php:

if (isset($_POST['pdf'])) {
    include('generatePdf.php');
}

if (isset($_POST['excel'])) {        
    include('generateExcel.php');
}

EDITED

Alternatively you could just use redirect on that separate file (generate.php - make sure there is nothing else on this page):

if (isset($_POST['pdf'])) {
    header('Location: generatePdf.php');
}

if (isset($_POST['excel'])) {        
    header('Location: generateExcel.php');
}

I see it, but the files are huge so I want to keep them separated because it makes it easier to edit them later. — user3185936, Apr 02 '14 at 16:46
With include, that didn't work so great. Excel file has to be in its own file or it will include the html code with the data. And with pdf i got the error :FPDF error: Some data has already been output, can't send PDF file. — user3185936, Apr 02 '14 at 17:00
I will give it a try, but the other solution worked flawless. — user3185936, Apr 02 '14 at 17:06
like I said, you'll just have to be sure your audience uses HTML5 browsers, otherwise that solution will fail... — benomatis, Apr 02 '14 at 17:06

One form and two actions and two submit in php

2 Answers2

original file:

generate.php:

EDITED