PHP - good coding practise and sticky radio buttons

With PHP, it's very easy to knock together a page with a couple of radio buttons and a small application just be taking the "bull at a gate" approach - but if you develop code like this, and without planning, you end up with a very long application that's hard to follow and maintain and - unless you've very good at repeatedly debugging the same code - it's going to be unreliable too.

Much better to move all the standard stuff into functions and just keep the data in the main program or even in data files.

To give you an idea, here's a sample I've just written with sticky radio buttons - as a demonstration - showing you how I've separated the mechanism from the actual data:

<?php



function mystickyradio($spec) {

        $html = "<tr><td>".htmlspecialchars($spec[0])."</td><td>";

        $bname = htmlspecialchars($spec[1]);

        for ($k=2; $k<count($spec); $k+=2) {

                $chkd = ($_REQUEST[$spec[1]] == $spec[$k+1]) ? " checked" : "";

                $html .= "<input type=\"radio\" name=\"$bname\"";

                $html .= " value=\"".htmlspecialchars($spec[$k+1])."\"$chkd>";

                $html .= htmlspecialchars($spec[$k])."<br>";

                }

        $html .= "</td></tr>";

        return $html;

        }



$rb1 = array("Do you do regular weight training?","muscle",

        "Occasionally or never","1",

        "Yes, as part of my exercise routine","1.2",

        "Yes, and I'm a bulky lad","1.5");



$rb2 = array("Select your age range","old",

        "Under 21","0-20",

        "21 to 65","midlife",

        "over 65","old");



$form = "<form method=\"POST\"><table border=1>";

$form .= mystickyradio($rb1);

$form .= mystickyradio($rb2);

$form .= "<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td><input type=\"submit\"></td></tr>";

$form .= "</table></form>";



?>

<html>

<head>

<title>Data driven sticky radio boxes</title>

</head>

<body>

<h1>Demo Sticky form from parameters</h1>

Please fill in this form<br>

<?= $form ?>

<hr>

Instructions, copyright, etc

</body>

</html>

A real life application would have some "business logic" to actually handle the data entered, of course, and I would move the functions out into a separate include file so that they could be used across all my work. Similarly, the HTML template would be separated out for easier maintainance by an HTML expert. Ah - we're headed for the "4 layer model" again ...

Run the code here
(written 2006-10-17 03:41:53)

Associated topics are indexed under

H115 - Designing PHP-Based Solutions: Best Practice
H110 - PHP - HTML Web Page Data Handling

Back to
Welcome, Martin

Previous and next
or
Horse's mouth home

Forward to
Too much for the National Trust

Some other Articles

Python - function v method
Python - extend v append on a list
Courses at Well House Manor
Too much for the National Trust
PHP - good coding practise and sticky radio buttons
Welcome, Martin
Where quality costs less
Visibility
A pattern in change
Well House Manor Hotel, Melksham, Wiltshire

1638 posts, page by page

Link to page ... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 at 50 posts per page

This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

Link to Ezine home page (for reading).
Link to Blogging home page (to add comments).