Variables as field names

Scriptcase 9 General
#1

Hi!

I have a form with several validation conditions which would be easy to handle by working with arrays.

For this, I would need to reference field values, using variables… is there any way of doing this?

Example:
$arrayFieldNames = array(“fieldName1”,“fieldName2”,“fieldName3”);
foreach ($arrayFieldNames as $fieldName) {
if ( {$fieldName} == somevalue ) {
// do something to check for the conditions I need
}
}

the list of fields might be 20 or 30 fields long… that’s why I would like to use an array to work with them, instead of individual "If"s

#2

I suppose that fieldnames are coming from a database table. So use a query to get those columns (fieldnames)

#3

SHOW COLUMNS FROM Holidays

will give you all your fieldnames of a form based on a table

#4

That might only work when using fields from an already populated form, AND when the form hasn’t been modified… but think about two different and common cases:

  • validating a new empty form… there’s no information on the database yet.
  • validating a form filled with data from a table, but which has already been modified by the user
#5

On a new generated form and on a form that has been modified by the user the fields on the form still remain the same since they are linked to a table in the database.

My solution is a way to get the fieldnames (=form fields).

But if you use custom fields on your form the solution will not work. You will have to make your array yourself.

#6

Thanks for your interest, but either I’m not understanding your logic, or I was unable to explain what I need in the first post.

If you check my example, I don’t just want to get the “field name”… i NEED the field name to get it’s current value, and with that, act accordingly to verify and validate the form.

I believe you suggest something like this:

SELECT COLUMN_NAME FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS WHERE TABLE_NAME='Mytable" AND TABLE_SCHEMA=‘MySchema’,

This gives me the field names…but as you might see in my example, I already know the names… I need to dynamically use those names to theck the current field’s value

I am currently doing this verification, with more than 25 if’s and "switch"s… but with a code just as my example, I can do the same in just a few lines…
What I’m trying to do is learn a way to optimize my code, since that ammount of conditional checks should be really unnecessary.

The following would be a crude and somewhat useless code, but should illustrate my example… just think that instead of 5 fields, I have 30 for which I need to count value occurences which will validate the form.

Example (assume variables are initialized):
$arrayFieldNames = array(“fieldName1”,“fieldName2”,“fieldName3”,‘fieldName4’, ‘fieldName5’);
foreach ($arrayFieldNames as $fieldName) {
switch ( {$fieldName}) {
case "Y’ : $yesAnwers+=1;break;
case "N’ : $noAnswers+=1;break;
case “” : $emptyAnswers+=1;break;
}
}
// and here I would check the different combiantions of valid yes/no/empty answers

#7

Unfortunately this is something I have searched for quite some time. But afaik there is no way of doing this, at least not a simple way.

#8

Hi mkubota,
here is a sniplet, which might help you.

It gets the names and values of all fields in the current form.
Hint: Refers to all fields on the form not only fields bound to the database.

$my_fields = $this->nmgp_dados_form;
foreach($my_fields AS $myfield_name=>$myfield_value)
	{
		echo "<br>" . $myfield_name . " - " . $myfield_value;
	}

If you want to refer to specific fields (for example companyname), you can use:

$my_fields = $this->nmgp_dados_form;
echo $my_fields['companyname'];

Have a great day!

Gunter Eibl

1 Like
#9

Thank you Gunter…

It does work on forms.
I had tried to find the correct $this property, but was unable to do it.

In fact, I did my tests in control apps, and I had found my fields and values in what seems to be the “Db” property… but I have been unsuccessful using it… i’m not very good with objects…

#10

Hello,
try maybe with this :slight_smile:

$val_sel = "SELECT
column_name
FROM
information_schema.columns
WHERE
table_name=‘your_table_name’
AND column_name LIKE ‘part_of_your_table_name%’ " ;

sc_lookup(lvs,$val_sel);
$cnt = count(array_filter({lvs}));
echo $cnt;
//print_r({lvs});
if(isset({lvs[0][0]}))
{
$col_name = {lvs[0][0]};

}
else
{
$col_name = 0;
}
if($cnt > 0)
{
for($x = 0;$x < $cnt;$x++)
{
$col_names = {lvs[$x][0]};
$val_name_tbl = “select val_of_your_table_name,$col_names from your_table_name where $col_names > 0”.’
’;
echo $val_name_tbl;
}
}

#11

Hi nsch2308
Your code, also selects fields from the database, and in my case, I used an example similar to the first part of your answer just to illustrate what I believed a previous user (nonkelmike) was trying to explain.

I’m trying to dynamically “read” field values in form (or a control app, which might not have a database schema supporting it)

Gunter’s solution was exactly what I needed for forms, I just have to adapt it to control apps now.

Thanks for your interest anyway

#12

I have the same problem.
did you find a solution?

#14

I found the solution using javascript.
TKS

#15

Hi @GunterEibl , @mkubota
Happy New Year !
I tried the following
$my_fields = $this->nmgp_dados_form;
echo $my_fields[‘companyname’];
But this returns the value from the table and not the form. For eg. if I change the field value on the form, that change is not shown