combining the value of 2 alphanumberic variables in html

[rlm51]

in a form I am declaring the value of two variables, firstname and lastname

in the code, I want to combine the value of those two variables

example:

firstname = Sam
lastname = Spade

comboname = Spade, Sam

please forgive my ignorance, but reference manuals are not what they used to be.

[drhowarddrfine]

You can't do this with html. You would need javascript or a programming language on the server side.

[AricC]

in a form I am declaring the value of two variables, firstname and lastname

in the code, I want to combine the value of those two variables

example:

firstname = Sam
lastname = Spade

comboname = Spade, Sam

please forgive my ignorance, but reference manuals are not what they used to be.

What language do you want to combine these in? Like said above a server side language will allow you to do something with the data ie.. add it to a database whereas you could use javascript to combine them, but once the page goes away so will the combination.

[rlm51]

What language do you want to combine these in? Like said above a server side language will allow you to do something with the data ie.. add it to a database whereas you could use javascript to combine them, but once the page goes away so will the combination.

I am using php and mysql

thanks for any help you can give.

[AricC]

I am using php and mysql

thanks for any help you can give.

I'll move your post to the PHP forum but "." (period should concatenate).


Aric

[code green]

[PHP]$firstname = 'Sam';
$lastname = 'Spade';

$comboname = $lastname.','.$firstname;[/PHP]

[rlm51]

This is the code I came up with ...
<?php
//Combine cusfirst and cuslast into cusname and input into table
$cusfirst = $_POST['cusfirst'];
$cuslast = $_POST['cuslast'];
$cusname = ($cuslast.', '.$cusfirst);
input name="cusname" type="hidden" name="cusname" value="$cusname";
?>

I am getting a:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING

on the input statement...

HELP!

[Motoma]

This is a good start, but what you really meant to do was this:
[PHP]
<?php
//Combine cusfirst and cuslast into cusname and input into table
$cusfirst = $_POST['cusfirst'];
$cuslast = $_POST['cuslast'];
$cusname = ($cuslast.', '.$cusfirst);
echo '<input name="cusname" type="hidden" name="cusname" value="'.$cusname.'">';
?>
[/PHP]
Notice the echo statement, and how I handled including the variable in it.

This is the code I came up with ...
<?php
//Combine cusfirst and cuslast into cusname and input into table
$cusfirst = $_POST['cusfirst'];
$cuslast = $_POST['cuslast'];
$cusname = ($cuslast.', '.$cusfirst);
input name="cusname" type="hidden" name="cusname" value="$cusname";
?>

I am getting a:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected T_STRING

on the input statement...

HELP!

[rlm51]

This is a good start, but what you really meant to do was this:
[PHP]
<?php
//Combine cusfirst and cuslast into cusname and input into table
$cusfirst = $_POST['cusfirst'];
$cuslast = $_POST['cuslast'];
$cusname = ($cuslast.', '.$cusfirst);
echo '<input name="cusname" type="hidden" name="cusname" value="'.$cusname.'">';
?>
[/PHP]
Notice the echo statement, and how I handled including the variable in it.

I tried your suggestion and the error went away but now only a null value is being inserted into the database.

This is the code as I entered it:

<?php
//Combine cusfirst and cuslast into cusname and input into table
$cusfirst = $_POST['cusfirst'];
$cuslast = $_POST['cuslast'];
$cusname = ($cuslast.', '.$cusfirst);
echo '<input type="hidden" name="cusname" value="'.$cusname.'">';
?>

the value of cusfirst and cuslast are being input in a form above the php code.
the php section is at the very bottom of the code.

[Motoma]

Take a look at the HTML being generated. Is the hidden value correctly populated? If so, then you have a problem with your INSERT SQL statement. If not, then you are not properly getting the values from the form.

[rlm51]

Take a look at the HTML being generated. Is the hidden value correctly populated? If so, then you have a problem with your INSERT SQL statement. If not, then you are not properly getting the values from the form.

The values of cusfirst and cuslast are also input into the database, and since they populate correctly I can only assume that part is proper. I am using this php code to concatenate the two variables into cusname (re: Smith, John) in order to populate a drop-menu for locating the right customer in another page. I just wanted to prevent the user from having to enter the name twice.
RLM1

[Motoma]

The values of cusfirst and cuslast are also input into the database, and since they populate correctly I can only assume that part is proper. I am using this php code to concatenate the two variables into cusname (re: Smith, John) in order to populate a drop-menu for locating the right customer in another page. I just wanted to prevent the user from having to enter the name twice.
RLM1

You didn't answer my question: was it correctly populated in the hidden input field's HTML?
If all you want to do is insert the value, just do something like this:
[PHP]
mysql_query("INSERT INTO character (firstname, lastname, fullname) VALUES ( '$cusfirst', '$cuslast', '$cuslast, $cusfirst')");
[/PHP]

OR EVEN BETTER: don't even store that information, create it in the select:

SELECT firstname, lastname, CONCAT(CONCAT(lastname, ", "), firstname) AS fullname FROM characters
 

[rlm51]

You didn't answer my question: was it correctly populated in the hidden input field's HTML?
If all you want to do is insert the value, just do something like this:
[PHP]
mysql_query("INSERT INTO character (firstname, lastname, fullname) VALUES ( '$cusfirst', '$cuslast', '$cuslast, $cusfirst')");
[/PHP]

OR EVEN BETTER: don't even store that information, create it in the select:

SELECT firstname, lastname, CONCAT(CONCAT(lastname, ", "), firstname) AS fullname FROM characters
 

There are 74 fields in the table all populated by a html form except for "cusname." I've only been writing php code for 3 weeks, so please be patient with me. Is there a way to populate only that one field without creating a seperate entry. If I use the insert command, it creates another db entry completely. I need to populate cusname along with the other 73 fields I am populating in html. Since I can't concatenate the cusfirst, cuslast fields in html, (or can I), I have to use php.

[Motoma]

Google the SQL UPDATE syntax.

[rlm51]

Google the SQL UPDATE syntax.

first of all I want to thank you for your kindness

Here is the command I have come up with:

UPDATE tbl_customer SET cusname = CONCAT(cuslast, ", " cusfirst);

can I execute this within dreamweaver 8 code

RLM51

[Motoma]

I have no experience with Dreamweaver, however, you can execute it inside PHP.

[rlm51]

I have no experience with Dreamweaver, however, you can execute it inside PHP.

This is what I am trying ... I placed this at the bottom of the code after the last </html>. no errors, but it is still posting a null value. Any thoughts. Hope you are having a pleasant Friday.

<?php
//Combine cusfirst and cuslast into cusname and input into table
$cusfirst = $_POST['cusfirst'];
$cuslast = $_POST['cuslast'];
$cusid = $_POST['cusid'];
$cusname = ('$cuslast'.', '.'$cusfirst');
mysql_query("UPDATE tbl_customer SET cusname='$cusname' WHERE primaryKey=$cusId");
?>

[rlm51]

I have no experience with Dreamweaver, however, you can execute it inside PHP.

For your future reference, this is the code that worked:

<?php
//Combine cusfirst and cuslast into cusname and input into table
$cusfirst = $_POST['cusfirst'];
$cuslast = $_POST['cuslast'];
$cusid = $_POST['cusid'];
$cusname = ("$cuslast".', '."$cusfirst");
mysql_query("UPDATE tbl_customer SET cusname='$cusname' WHERE cusfirst='$cusfirst' and cuslast='$cuslast'");
?>

The null seemed to be because I was using double quotes instead of single quotes and single quotes instead of double quotes.
Almost went nuts.

Thank you so very much for all of your help.

RLM51