Get and echo inputs from textarea repeatedly

Question

I have a simple HTML form like this:

    <form action="index.php" method="post">
    <textarea id="question" name="question"></textarea>
    <input type="submit"/>
    </form>

And the procedure that I'd like it to be is something like described here:

• Type something in the text area and click submit, result displayed:

  [... the only text area got blank and be ready for new input ...]
  
  Question 1: Something typed firstly
  

• Type some other thing in the above text area and submit, result displayed:

  [... the only text area got blank and be ready for new input ...]
  
  Question 1: Something typed firstly
  Question 2: Something typed secondly
  

• And so on...

  [... the only text area got blank and be ready for new input ...]
  
  Question 1: Something typed firstly
  Question 2: Something typed secondly
  ...
  Question n: Something typed at the n time
  

Does anyone have an idea or can give me a hint how to do this using only HTML and PHP?

Thank you very much!

Answer 1

You can use hidden inputs if you keep echoing out the id values and the just submitted value. (Also, note how I added a name to the submit)

<form action="index.php" method="post">
<?php
if(isset ($_POST['submit']) {
  $oldAnswers = array ();
  if(isset($_POST['oldAnswers']) && is_array ( $_POST['oldAnswers'])) {
    $oldAnswers = $_POST ['oldAnswers'];
  }

  if (isset ($_POST ['question']))
    $oldAnswers[] = $_POST ['question'];

  for($i = 0, $j = 1; $i < count (oldAnswers); $i++, $j++) {
    $answer = $oldAnswers [$i];
    // display your "previously written" message
    echo 'Question ' . $j . ': ' . $answer . "<br>\n";

    // echo out hidden inputs
    echo '<input name="oldAnswers[]" type="hidden" value="' . $answer . '">';
  }
}
?>
  <textarea id="question" name="question">< /textarea>
  <input name="submit" type="submit">
</form>

See how oldAnswers has [] after it in the name? That'll tell php that it's an array and make it easy to deal with.

Answer 2

If you don't want to put the values in a database you could use a session

session_start();

at the very top of your page and

 <?php 
     if( $_SESSION['counter'] > 0 ) $_SESSION['texts'] = $_SESSION['texts'] . "<br />Question " . $_SESSION['counter'] . ": Something " . $_POST['question'];   

     $_SESSION['counter']++; 
 ?>

     <?php   echo $_SESSION['texts'];  // put this in a div where you want to see them ?>

This will only clear when the browser is shut.

This is a very crude outline but you could look at tutorials on sessions and how to use them.

You would also need a counter at the bottom of your script to add in the number.

 $_SESSION['counter']++;

Using hidden inputs to replace sessions without array or for loop.

         <?php
          $counter = $counter + (int) $_POST['counter']; // (int) helps sanitise this by forcing type change to integer - any text would be converted to 0
          //echo $counter; // for trackng
          $texts = $_POST['texts']; // MUST be sanitized and escaped for mysqli

          if($counter > 0) $texts = $texts . "<br />Question " . $counter . ": Something " . $_POST['question'];
          $counter++; 
    ?>

           <form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>" method="post">
             <textarea id="question" name="question"></textarea>
             <input type="hidden" name="texts" id="texts" value="<?php echo $texts;?>" />
             <input type="hidden" name="counter" id="counter" value="<?php echo $counter; ?>" /> 
             <input type="submit"/>
           </form>


         <?php echo $texts; // put this in a div where you want to see them ?>

Do not use this code without cleaning up the post variables or you will get hacked to bits by hackers. See other posts on preg_replace() and on php.net