add text to input

**Philipp Lenssen** · Jul 20 '05, 04:50 PM

Re: add text to input

Simon Hobbs wrote:
[color=blue]
>
> <form method='post' action='http://www.theaddress. com/target.tcl'>
> <input type='text' name='tb1' value=''>Search text
> <input type='submit' name='action' value='Generate '>
> </form>
>
> When the user submits. I want to concatenate characters to the input
> that the user typed in. Without the user knowing.
>
> So if the user types "string", I want the form to submit "%string".
>[/color]

That's no problem, though not part of HTML. Instead, that's server-side
scripting with a language like PHP, ASP (VBScript/ JScript), Python,
JSP, Perl, and so on. All you would need to do in e.g. PHP is to write
something like
if (!isset($tbl) { $tbl = ""; }
$tbl = "%" . $tbl;

If you do not have control over the server, or you want to submit to an
absolute URL of your partner site which is not under your control, you
can't handle the task foolproof. You might add some JavaScript, but
it's not reliable.

**Chris Morris** · Jul 20 '05, 04:50 PM

Re: add text to input

get_simon_hobbs @hotmail.com (Simon Hobbs) writes:[color=blue]
> I have an input box in a form (very simplified example below so we're
> all on the same page).
>
> <form method='post' action='http://www.theaddress. com/target.tcl'>
> <input type='text' name='tb1' value=''>Search text
> <input type='submit' name='action' value='Generate '>
> </form>
>
> When the user submits. I want to concatenate characters to the input
> that the user typed in. Without the user knowing.
>
> So if the user types "string", I want the form to submit "%string".[/color]

You need to do that on the form handler server-side. Otherwise you
can't be sure that the user won't know or that a user won't
deliberately submit one without it.

--
Chris

**Simon Hobbs** · Jul 20 '05, 04:51 PM

Re: add text to input

> > When the user submits. I want to concatenate characters to the input[color=blue][color=green]
> > that the user typed in. Without the user knowing.
> >
> > So if the user types "string", I want the form to submit "%string".[/color]
>
> You need to do that on the form handler server-side. Otherwise you
> can't be sure that the user won't know or that a user won't
> deliberately submit one without it.[/color]

Thanks to both posters.

I'm hiding it from the users so I don't confuse them. And so I don't
have to say: "here's what you want, except you have to type a '%' sign
before the search text". Also, I understand the value of server-side
scripting, but it is indeed a case of control, and the developers are
working on other stuff.

So it sounds like JavaScript is the go. I guess I get JS to build the
address string with all the necessary parameters and then point the
browser there? If someone can point me to an example then I should be
able to work from it. That would be cool.

S.

**Simon Hobbs** · Jul 20 '05, 04:51 PM

Re: add text to input

Oh, that was painless. I used 'onSubmit' to add the desired character
to the string and put it in a hidden textbox.

For schmucks like me, the complete html is below. Ironically, the
example uses Google and Google doesn't support wildcards.

Thanks to the poster for nudging me in the right direction.
S.

-------html below--------
<html>
<head>
<script language='JavaS cript'>

</script>
</head>
<body>

<form method='get' action='http://www.google.com. au/search'
name='f1' onSubmit='addwi ldcard()'>
Keyword
<input type='text' value='' name='myinput' size='10'>
<input type='hidden' name='as_q'>
<input type='submit' name='btnG' value='Search'>
</form>

</body>
</html>

**Owen Jacobson** · Jul 20 '05, 04:51 PM

Re: add text to input

Simon Hobbs wrote:
[color=blue]
> I'm hiding it from the users so I don't confuse them. And so I don't
> have to say: "here's what you want, except you have to type a '%' sign
> before the search text". Also, I understand the value of server-side
> scripting, but it is indeed a case of control, and the developers are
> working on other stuff.[/color]

I'm guessing that you're dropping the text into a WHERE foo LIKE clause
in a SQL statement as your search mechanism. If so you may want to
either document that % and _ are wildcards or escape any user-submitted
% and _ characters before you add your own (check your DB docs for
appropriate escaping). The usual caveats about sanity-checking user
input also apply (making sure that any string-terminating characters
are escaped, etc).

**Owen Jacobson** · Jul 20 '05, 04:51 PM

Re: add text to input

Simon Hobbs wrote:
[color=blue]
> Oh, that was painless. I used 'onSubmit' to add the desired character
> to the string and put it in a hidden textbox.[/color]

This will fail on browsers that do not support javascript or that have
it disabled. Doing it on the server is a much smarter plan. At least
make a note that this is going on for those users, so that searching
doesn't mysteriously Not Work for them.

**Simon Hobbs** · Jul 20 '05, 04:51 PM

Re: add text to input

Simon Wrote:[color=blue][color=green]
> > Oh, that was painless. I used 'onSubmit' to add the desired character
> > to the string and put it in a hidden textbox.[/color]
>[/color]
Owen Wrote:[color=blue]
> This will fail on browsers that do not support javascript or that have
> it disabled. Doing it on the server is a much smarter plan. At least
> make a note that this is going on for those users, so that searching
> doesn't mysteriously Not Work for them.[/color]

Fair concern, but it's quite OK in this case. I have 50 users who use
whatever is imaged onto their laptops.

S.

add text to input

add text to input

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