Collecting Form Data
In most cases, form data enter by users is written to a RDMS such as MySQL using the MySQL functions discussed in previous sections. In a similar fashion, form data can also be written to a text file. This section describes how to use PHP to collect form data and write it to a text file.
First Name:
Last Name:
Current Time:
Consider the form page shown above. The following example demonstrates how to write the submitted form data to a text file:
<?php
if (isset($_REQUEST['SubmitB']))
{")%>
$file_name = "c:\formfile.txt";
$open_file = fopen($file_name, "a+");
$file_contents= $_POST['FName'] . "," . $_POST['LName'] . "," . $_POST['DateTime'] ."\n";
fwrite($open_file,$file_contents);
fclose($open_file);
echo "Form data successfully written to file";
}
?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>A Web Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>Writing Form Data To A File</p>
<p>
<form method="post" action="createfile.php">
Enter First Name <input type="text" name="FName"><br><br>
Enter Last Name <input type="text" name="LName"><br><br>
<input type="hidden" name="DateTime" value="<?php echo date('g:i a') ?>">
<input type="submit" name="SubmitB" value="Submit Data">
</form>
</p>
</body>
</html>
In this example, the HTML form page contains a textbox for the user's first name and last name. A hidden field is also coded and includes the current date and time using the PHP date() function. When the form's submit button is clicked, a new text file called 'formfile.txt' is created and opened in append mode:
$file_name = "c:\formfile.txt";
$open_file = fopen($file_name, "a+");
Next, the variable, $file_contents, is assigned the values of the of the POST superglobal variables, containing the user's first name, last name, and the current date/time value. Commas are concatenated to the strings to create delimiters separating each value. The newline character is added to create a carriage return at the end of each line:
$file_contents= $_POST['FName'] . "," . $_POST['LName'] . "," . $_POST['DateTime'] ."\n";
Finally, the contents of the variable, $file_contents, are written (appended) to the text file. The file is closed and a the echo statement is used to display a confirmation message to the browser window:
fclose($open_file);
echo "Form data successfully written to file";
In this example, the HTML form page contains a textbox for the user's first name and last name. A hidden field is also coded and includes the current date and time using the PHP date() function. When the form's submit button is clicked, a new text file called 'formfile.txt' is created and opened in append mode:
$file_name = "c:\formfile.txt";
$open_file = fopen($file_name, "a+");
Next, the variable, $file_contents, is assigned the values of the of the POST superglobal variables, containing the user's first name, last name, and the current date/time value. Commas are concatenated to the strings to create delimiters separating each value. The newline character is added to create a carriage return at the end of each line:
$file_contents= $_POST['FName'] . "," . $_POST['LName'] . "," . $_POST['DateTime'] ."\n";
Finally, the contents of the variable, $file_contents, are written (appended) to the text file. The file is closed and a the echo statement is used to display a confirmation message to the browser window:
fclose($open_file);
echo "Form data successfully written to file";