PHP Script won't load

Question

I'm new to web development and have been wrestling with this problem for several hours now, so I've decided to turn to your wisdom. I'm trying to design a little webpage with a database for my wife to store her recipes in, but I'm having trouble getting form submission to work. Here is the code for the webpage where I take the form information in:

<html><body>
Enter the information below to add a new ingredient for use in your recipes.
<form action="add_to_database.php" method="post">
Name: <input name="name" type="text" />
Serving: <input type="text" name="serving" />
Calories: <input type="text" name="calories" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
</body></html>

And here is some silly code I've been trying to display on the page to see if I can even get the form submission to work:

<html><body>
<?php
$name = $_POST['name'];
echo $name."<br />";
?>
</body></html>

Unfortunately, the page comes back as completely back (after I hit the submit button). What's absolutely baffling to me is that I've copied and pasted the examples from this page into some files and everything seems to work fine. So it seems as though apache and php are working correctly, but I'm messing up somewhere along the way. My apologies in advance if this seems like a stupid question but for the life of me I can't figure it out.

Do you have an index.php page? Can you post up add_to_database.php. If you have an index.php, doing a simple echo 'test'; at the top will see if php is working. Then you can go from there. — iLLin
– iLLin, Commented Jul 22, 2011 at 4:16
When you view source in the browser, do you see the <html><body>? Do you see the PHP source code? — thomasrutter
– thomasrutter, Commented Jul 22, 2011 at 4:17
advice: don't offer to make a system like this for a wife / husband / partner. It will take way longer than you expected and you'll get totally bored and frustrated and if you ever finish it she won't bother using it. I've been there. Buy her a book. — tomfumb
– tomfumb, Commented Jul 22, 2011 at 4:25
@rackemup420 echo $_POST['name']; returns the same blank page (my apologies for the misspelling above). — Fenix
– Fenix, Commented Jul 22, 2011 at 4:53

samir chauhan · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-22 04:21:23Z

2

Do you name the other file as add_to_database.php where the form is submitted. Instead you can test on teh same page by removing the add_to_database.php from the form action.

form action="" method="post">
    Name: <input name="name" type="text" />
    Serving: <input type="text" name="serving" />
    Calories: <input type="text" name="calories" />
    <input type="submit" />
</form>

and write the php code on the same page as

$name = $_POST['name'];

echo $name;

If this is not working for you. Create a php file named test.php and type phpinfo(); there.

answered Jul 22, 2011 at 4:21

samir chauhan

1,5231 gold badge17 silver badges44 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

thomasrutter · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-22 04:20:13Z

1

Verify that your page is indeed being processed by PHP - obvious question, but does your PHP file have a .php extension? Do other things like phpinfo() or echo "Test"; work?

Check the error log in /var/log/apache2/error.log or similar (if on Linux, dunno where that'd be on Windows).

Try turning display_errors on in the PHP configuration (this is a good idea only for a development install, not a production server).

answered Jul 22, 2011 at 4:20

thomasrutter

118k31 gold badges153 silver badges170 bronze badges

Comments

Sean Kimball · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-22 22:53:08Z

0

a bit of a longshot, but if you can verify that php is pro essing the page. Clean up your html, you are missing the dtd, head, and encoding. . hard to say how a browser is going to interpret a form (missing a name attribute) without these.

answered Jul 22, 2011 at 22:53

Sean Kimball

4,4949 gold badges46 silver badges76 bronze badges

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP Script won't load

3 Answers 3

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

Comments

Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related