PHP: Loading content based on POST / GET user input

thank you for looking into my question. It's purely related to PHP POST / GET functions.

Here is my code :

index.php

<html>
<body>
&nbsp;<p>
<center>
<form action="story_get.php" method="post">
<label for="name">Name:</label> <input type="text" name="name">
<label for="age">Age:</label><input type="number" size=2 name="age"><p>
<label for="place">Place:</label> <input type="text" name="place"><p>

 <label for="storys">Choose a story:</label>
  <select name="story" id="story">
    <option value="sea">Sea side</option>
    <option value="mount">Mountain</option>
  </select>

<p>

<input type="submit" value="Enter">
<button type="reset" value="Reset">Reset</button>
</form>

</body>
</html>

story_get.php

<html>
<body>


<center>
<h1>Welcome <font color=red><i><?php echo $_POST["name"]; ?></i></font>, age of <font color=red><i><?php echo $_POST["age"]; ?></i></font><br>
to the wonderfull land of <br><font color=red><i><?php echo $_POST["place"]; ?></i></font>
<?php echo $_POST["story"]; ?>



 <p><a href=index.php>Edit</a>
</body>
</html>

My code is working fine, but instead of <?php echo $_POST["story"]; ?> I want to print 200+ words story relating to what User has chosen. I hope You understand what I'm trying to achieve, and be able to suggest easy solutions. Thanks in advance

Answer

Solution:

You need to get that story from somewhere. A couple of ways to get there.

If you want to load it from a text file:

// Here we sanitize the story ID to avoid getting hacked:
$story_id = preg_replace('#[^a-zA-Z0-9_ -]#', '', $_POST['story']);

// Then we load the text file containing the story:

$path = 'stories/' . $story_id . '.txt';
$story_text = is_file($path) ? file_get_contents($path) : 'No such story!';

If you want to load it from database:

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);
$stmt = $conn->prepare("SELECT * FROM stories WHERE story_id = ? LIMIT 1");
$stmt->bind_param("s", $_POST['story']);
$stmt->execute();
$result = $stmt->get_result();
$story = $result->fetch_assoc();
$story_text = !empty($story['story_text']) ? $story['story_text'] : 'No such story!';

This assumes you have a table called stories with fields story_id and story_text.

You could also have a separate file with all your stories assigned into variables (assuming you really just have a few, the performance impact of loading unused stories is minimal):

$stories['Seaside'] = <<<EOL
Here is the seaside story.
EOL;

$stories['Mountain'] = <<<EOL
Here is the mountain story.
EOL;

And then in your story-telling file, you "load" it:

$story_text = !empty($stories[$_POST['story']) ? $stories[$_POST['story']] : 'No such story!';

Then (with any of the above options), simply:

<?php echo $story_text; ?>

Of the options above, I would choose the text-file loading for sourcing your story text, if you're looking for something simple and easy to maintain. Good luck in telling your stories. :)

Assuming you want to use the form variables inside your stories. You'll want to use tokens, something like {{ place }}, and replace them before you output the story text:

$story_text = str_replace('{{ name }}', $_POST['name'], $story_text);
$story_text = str_replace('{{ place }}', $_POST['place'], $story_text);

This would turn "once upon a time there was {{ name }} exploring {{ place }}..." into "once upon a time there was ?????�?�?????�?�?? exploring Kamchatka Peninsula...", etc.

Answer

Solution:

...instead of <?php echo $_POST["story"]; ?> I want to print 200+ words story relating to what User has chosen.

Use a conditional if() or switch statement to see if your $_POST['story'] is set and equal to one of your options for story.


//--> ON story_get.php 
//--> (Provided the $_POST variable in fact has the values assigned to the global array)
//--> use var_dump($_POST) on story_get.php to check if the global $_POST array has 
//--> key/value pairs coming from your index.php page

// set variables that have your story information. 
$seaside = //--> Your story about the sea side
$mountain = //--> Your story about the mountain
$output = null; //--> Empty variable to hold display info from conditional
//--> Now to see if the form element that selects story is set using isset
if(isset($_POST['story']){
  //--> Now that we know the input in the form that holds the value for story isset
  //--> Check to see if it is set and then declare a variable and assign it to that variable
  $story = $_POST['story'];
  if($story === 'sea'){
    $output = $seaside;
  }elseif($story === 'mount'){
    $output = $mountain;
  }else{
    $output = //--> Set a default setting that displays output here if neither story is selected.
  }
}

Echo the variable $output where you wish to display your story content within the html doc

<div>
  <?=$output?>

  <!--// OR //-->

  <?php echo $output; ?>
</div>

Source