issues with retrieving information from form for PDO query

Question

I am trying to create a form where the user selects an option from a drop down list and the results are displayed in a separate php page. However, I am encountering issues with getting the information from the form and not sure if the php is picking the value up. I use jQuery to serialize the information (there is only one variable) and have attempted to see if something is being stored using var_dump and print_r but nothing gets returned.

Any help please?

the form:

<div class="modal fade" id="searchCModal" tabindex="-1" role="dialog" aria-labelledby="searchCModalLabel" aria-hidden="true">
                            <div class="modal-dialog">
                                <div class="modal-content">
                                    <div class="modal-header">
                                        <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"><span aria-hidden="true">&times;</span></button>
                                        <h4 class="modal-title">Search By Course: </h4>
                                    </div>
                                    <div class="modal-body">
                                        <form id="searchCForm" class="searchCForm">
                                            <?php

                                            include "db_conx.php";

                                            try {

                                                $db_conx = new PDO("mysql:host=$mysql_hostname;dbname=$mysql_dbname", $mysql_username, $mysql_password);

                                                $db_conx->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);
                                                $stmt3 = $db_conx->prepare('SELECT * FROM course_details ORDER BY course_title');
                                                $stmt3->execute();
                                                $courses = $stmt3->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
                                            }

                                            catch(Exception $e)
                                            {
                                                die ("Could not connect to the database $mysql_dbname :" . $e->getMessage());
                                            }
                                            ?>

                                            <div class="control-group">
                                                <label class="control-label" for="course_details">Select Course:</label><p></p>
                                                <select name="course">
                                                    <option value=''>Select One</option>";
                                                    <?php foreach($courses as $course): ?>
                                                    <option value="<?php echo $course['course_code'] ?>"><?php echo $course['course_title'] ?></option>
                                                <?php endforeach ?>
                                            </select>
                                        </div>
                                    </form>
                                    </div>
                                    <div class="modal-footer">
                                        <div class="btn-toolbar">
                                            <button type="button" class="btn btn-default" class="pull-right" data-dismiss="modal">Close</button>

                                            <button type="button" class="btn btn-success" class="pull-right" onclick="searchCCall();">Submit <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-saved"></button>
                                        </div>
                                    </div>

the jQuery:

function searchCCall() {
  var data = $('#searchCForm').serialize();
  $.post('Student_SearchCourse.php', data, function(response){

    $("#searchCForm").html(response);

    window.location.href = ('Student_SearchCourse.php');

  }).fail(function(jqXHR, textStatus) {
    alert( "Request failed: " + textStatus );
  });
}

the php:

    <?php

    include "db_conx.php";

    if 
        (!isset ($_POST['course']))
    {
        $message = 'Please select a valid course';

    }

try {

        $db_conx = new PDO("mysql:host=$mysql_hostname;dbname=$mysql_dbname", $mysql_username, $mysql_password);

        $db_conx->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION);

        $course = $_POST['course'];

        $sql = $db_conx->prepare("SELECT DISTINCT p.proposal_id, p.proposal_title, p.description, c.course_title FROM proposal p 
            LEFT JOIN course_details c on c.course_code = p.course_code
            WHERE p.course_code = :course");

        $sql->bindParam(':course', $course, PDO::PARAM_STR);

        $sql->execute();
        //$user_record_id = $sql->fetchColumn();
        print_r($course);

        $proposals = $sql->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
    }
    catch(Exception $e)
    {
        die ("Could not connect to the database $mysql_dbname :" . $e->getMessage());
    }
    ?>

Any ideas on how I can overcome this issue? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Change

$course = $_GET['course'];

to

$course = $_POST['course'];

because your using post method to submit data.

<div class="modal fade" id="myModal" tabindex="-1" role="dialog" aria-labelledby="basicModal" aria-hidden="true">
 <div class="modal-dialog">
    <div class="modal-content">
      <form class="form-horizontal" role="form" id="frmlogin" action="Student_SearchCourse.php">
       <div class="modal-header">
         <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">&times;</button>
         <h4 class="modal-title" id="myModalLabel">Login</h4>
       </div>
       <div class="modal-body" >
         <!-- your form element -->
       </div>
      <div class="modal-footer">
        <div class="btn-toolbar">
          <button type="button" class="btn btn-default" class="pull-right" data-dismiss="modal">Close</button>
          <button type="submit" class="btn btn-success" class="pull-right" >Submit <span class="glyphicon glyphicon-saved"></button>
      </div>
       </div>
     </form>
    </div>
  </div>
 </div>
</div>

you can wrap your form tag inside <div class="modal content"></div>. no need to use js.

Answer 2

Check if php is outputting the course code to the optionvalue you can do that by viewing the page source code or check if the $.post is sending the serialized data via the web browser's console