Populating fields in modal form using PHP, jQuery

Question

I have a form that adds links to a database, deletes them, and -- soon -- allows the user to edit details. I am using jQuery and Ajax heavily on this project and would like to keep all control in the same page. In the past, to handle editing something like details about another website (link entry), I would have sent the user to another PHP page with form fields populated with PHP from a MySQL database table. How do I accomplish this using a jQuery UI modal form and calling the details individually for that particular entry?

Here is what I have so far-

<?php while ($linkDetails = mysql_fetch_assoc($getLinks)) {?>
<div class="linkBox ui-corner-all" id="linkID<?php echo $linkDetails['id'];?>">
<div class="linkHeader"><?php echo $linkDetails['title'];?></div>
<div class="linkDescription"><p><?php echo $linkDetails['description'];?></p>
<p><strong>Link:</strong><br/>
<span class="link"><a href="<?php echo $linkDetails['url'];?>" target="_blank"><?php echo $linkDetails['url'];?></a></span></p></div>
<p align="right">
<span class="control">
<span class="delete addButton ui-state-default">Delete</span> 
<span class="edit addButton ui-state-default">Edit</span>
</span>
</p>
</div>
<?php }?>

And here is the jQuery that I am using to delete entries-

$(".delete").click(function() {
      var parent = $(this).closest('div');
      var id = parent.attr('id');
      $("#delete-confirm").dialog({
                     resizable: false,
                     modal: true,
                     title: 'Delete Link?',
                     buttons: {
                         'Delete': function() {
      var dataString = 'id='+ id ;
         $.ajax({
         type: "POST",
         url: "../includes/forms/delete_link.php",
         data: dataString,
         cache: false,
         success: function()
         {
          parent.fadeOut('slow');
          $("#delete-confirm").dialog('close');    
         }
        });                                
                         },
                         Cancel: function() {
                            $(this).dialog('close');
                         }
                     }
                 });
       return false;
});

Everything is working just fine, just need to find a solution to edit. Thanks!

Answer 1

Solved by simply wrapping each line of text from the PHP in <span class="theseDetails">blahblah</span> and using $(".theseDetails").text();.... very simple solution. :)

Answer 2

*Updated to include all of the fields you are editing

It sounds like you have the right idea. You would probably want to create a new div on your page for the edit modal dialog.

<div id="dialog-edit" style="background-color:#CCC;display:none;">
    <input type="hidden" id="editLinkId" value="" />
    Link Name: <input type="text" id="txtLinkTitle" class="text" />
    Link Description <input type="text" id="txtLinkDescription" class="text" />
    Link URL <input type="text" id="txtLinkURL" class="text" />
</div>

When the user clicks your edit button you'll want to populate the hidden field and the text box with the values of the link they clicked on and then turn the dialog on.

$('.edit').click(function () {
            //populate the fields in the edit dialog. 
            var parent = $(this).closest('div');
            var id = parent.attr('id');

            $("#editLinkId").val(id);

            //get the title field
            var title = $(parent).find('.linkHeader').html();
            var description = $(parent).find('.linkDescription p').html();
            var url = $(parent).find('.linkDescription span a').attr("href");
            $("#txtLinkTitle").val(title);
            $("#txtLinkDescription").val(description);
            $("#txtLinkURL").val(url);

            $("#dialog-edit").dialog({
                bgiframe: true,
                autoOpen: false,
                width: 400,
                height: 400,
                modal: true,
                title: 'Update Link',
                buttons: {
                    'Update link': function () {
                        //code to update link goes here...most likely an ajax call.

                        var linkID = $("#linkID").val();
                        var linkTitle = $("#txtLinkTitle").val()
                        var linkDescription = $("#txtLinkDescription").val()
                        var linkURL = $("#txtLinkURL").val()
                        $.ajax({
                            type: "GET",
                            url: "ajax_calls.php?function=updateLink&linkID=" + linkID + "&linkTitle=" + linkTitle + "&linkDescription=" + linkDescription + "&linkURL=" + linkURL,
                            dataType: "text",
                            error: function (request, status, error) {
                                alert("An error occured while trying to complete your request: " + error);
                            },
                            success: function (msg) {
                                //success, do something 
                            },
                            complete: function () {
                                //do whatever you want 
                            }
                        }); //end ajax
                        //close dialog
                        $(this).dialog('close');
                    },
                    Cancel: function () {
                        $(this).dialog('close');
                    }
                },
                close: function () {
                    $(this).dialog("destroy");
                }
            }); //end .dialog()

            $("#dialog-edit").show();
            $("#dialog-edit").dialog("open");

        }) //end edit click