php processing name vs. id field
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From: David Mehler on 30 Jun 2010 21:16 Hello, I've got a php form processing question. I've got a text field like so: <div> <label for="txtname">Name*:</label> <input type="text" name="name" id="name" size="30" value="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_POST['name']), ENT_QUOTES, UTF-8; ?>" /> <br /> </div> My question is what is the purpose of the id field? I know the name field is what php references, but am not sure what id is for? Thanks. Dave.
From: Adam Richardson on 30 Jun 2010 21:39 On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 9:16 PM, David Mehler <dave.mehler(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hello, > I've got a php form processing question. I've got a text field like so: > > <div> > <label for="txtname">Name*:</label> > <input type="text" name="name" id="name" size="30" value="<?php echo > htmlspecialchars($_POST['name']), ENT_QUOTES, UTF-8; ?>" /> <br /> > </div> > > My question is what is the purpose of the id field? I know the name > field is what php references, but am not sure what id is for? > Thanks. > Dave. > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > > Hi Dave, Sometimes it's helpful to target a specific element for stylistic or functional purposes, and that's when you'll find an id attribute helpful. In your example above, label elements use the id in the 'for' attribute (and, speaking to your example, you should have for="name" instead of for="txtname"): http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_label.asp In terms of CSS, you can specifically reference the element by it's id using the notation tag_name#id_value, and id's have the highest order of specificity (i.e., if you try and style an element by tag name, class, and/or id, the id styles are what will take precedent, all other things equal.) http://webdesign.about.com/od/cssselectors/qt/cssselid.htm http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/archives/css_specificity_wars.html In terms of javascript, you can reference the element by it's id by using the function getElementById('id_value): http://www.tizag.com/javascriptT/javascript-getelementbyid.php Just remember that a particular id can only occur once on a page (another difference between the name attributes in a form, as you could have multiple forms on a page and each form could have an input with a "zip" name without issue, but that same page could only have one id with the value "zip".) That all said, with the advent of javascript data attributes, you'll have one more way to target elements for design and functionality: http://ejohn.org/blog/html-5-data-attributes/ Hope this helps, Adam -- Nephtali: PHP web framework that functions beautifully http://nephtaliproject.com
From: "Bob McConnell" on 1 Jul 2010 08:38 From: Adam Richardson > On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 9:16 PM, David Mehler <dave.mehler(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> Hello, >> I've got a php form processing question. I've got a text field like so: >> >> <div> >> <label for="txtname">Name*:</label> >> <input type="text" name="name" id="name" size="30" value="<?php echo >> htmlspecialchars($_POST['name']), ENT_QUOTES, UTF-8; ?>" /> <br /> >> </div> >> >> My question is what is the purpose of the id field? I know the name >> field is what php references, but am not sure what id is for? > > Sometimes it's helpful to target a specific element for stylistic or > functional purposes, and that's when you'll find an id attribute helpful. > > In your example above, label elements use the id in the 'for' attribute > (and, speaking to your example, you should have for="name" instead of > for="txtname"): > http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_label.asp > > In terms of CSS, you can specifically reference the element by it's id using > the notation tag_name#id_value, and id's have the highest order of > specificity (i.e., if you try and style an element by tag name, class, > and/or id, the id styles are what will take precedent, all other things > equal.) > http://webdesign.about.com/od/cssselectors/qt/cssselid.htm > http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/archives/css_specificity_wars.html > > In terms of javascript, you can reference the element by it's id by using > the function getElementById('id_value): > http://www.tizag.com/javascriptT/javascript-getelementbyid.php > > Just remember that a particular id can only occur once on a page (another > difference between the name attributes in a form, as you could have multiple > forms on a page and each form could have an input with a "zip" name without > issue, but that same page could only have one id with the value "zip".) > > That all said, with the advent of javascript data attributes, you'll have > one more way to target elements for design and functionality: > http://ejohn.org/blog/html-5-data-attributes/ If you look at the current HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 specification, you will find 'name' is no longer listed as a standard attribute. It is all but obsolete and has been replaced by 'id' almost everywhere. They actually recommend you put both attributes into tags with identical values until your applications can be updated to drop all uses of the name attribute. <http://www.w3schools.com/tags/default.asp> Bob McConnell
From: Peter Lind on 1 Jul 2010 08:49 On 1 July 2010 14:38, Bob McConnell <rvm(a)cbord.com> wrote: > From: Adam Richardson > >> On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 9:16 PM, David Mehler <dave.mehler(a)gmail.com> > wrote: >> >>> Hello, >>> I've got a php form processing question. I've got a text field like > so: >>> >>> <div> >>> <label for="txtname">Name*:</label> >>> <input type="text" name="name" id="name" size="30" value="<?php echo >>> htmlspecialchars($_POST['name']), ENT_QUOTES, UTF-8; ?>" /> <br /> >>> </div> >>> >>> My question is what is the purpose of the id field? I know the name >>> field is what php references, but am not sure what id is for? >> >> Sometimes it's helpful to target a specific element for stylistic or >> functional purposes, and that's when you'll find an id attribute > helpful. >> >> In your example above, label elements use the id in the 'for' > attribute >> (and, speaking to your example, you should have for="name" instead of >> for="txtname"): >> http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_label.asp >> >> In terms of CSS, you can specifically reference the element by it's id > using >> the notation tag_name#id_value, and id's have the highest order of >> specificity (i.e., if you try and style an element by tag name, class, >> and/or id, the id styles are what will take precedent, all other > things >> equal.) >> http://webdesign.about.com/od/cssselectors/qt/cssselid.htm >> http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/archives/css_specificity_wars.html >> >> In terms of javascript, you can reference the element by it's id by > using >> the function getElementById('id_value): >> http://www.tizag.com/javascriptT/javascript-getelementbyid.php >> >> Just remember that a particular id can only occur once on a page > (another >> difference between the name attributes in a form, as you could have > multiple >> forms on a page and each form could have an input with a "zip" name > without >> issue, but that same page could only have one id with the value > "zip".) >> >> That all said, with the advent of javascript data attributes, you'll > have >> one more way to target elements for design and functionality: >> http://ejohn.org/blog/html-5-data-attributes/ > > If you look at the current HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 specification, you > will find 'name' is no longer listed as a standard attribute. It is all > but obsolete and has been replaced by 'id' almost everywhere. They > actually recommend you put both attributes into tags with identical > values until your applications can be updated to drop all uses of the > name attribute. > > <http://www.w3schools.com/tags/default.asp> > Errr, what? Name is by no means obsolete for forms. Have a look at http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/association-of-controls-and-forms.html#attr-fe-name - it's still in the html5 spec and there's little to no chance of it going away any time soon. Relying on w3schools is not ... really advisable. Regards Peter -- <hype> WWW: http://plphp.dk / http://plind.dk LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/plind BeWelcome/Couchsurfing: Fake51 Twitter: http://twitter.com/kafe15 </hype>
From: "Bob McConnell" on 1 Jul 2010 09:02
From: Peter Lind > On 1 July 2010 14:38, Bob McConnell <rvm(a)cbord.com> wrote: >> From: Adam Richardson >> >>> On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 9:16 PM, David Mehler <dave.mehler(a)gmail.com> >> wrote: >>> >>>> Hello, >>>> I've got a php form processing question. I've got a text field like >> so: >>>> >>>> <div> >>>> <label for="txtname">Name*:</label> >>>> <input type="text" name="name" id="name" size="30" value="<?php echo >>>> htmlspecialchars($_POST['name']), ENT_QUOTES, UTF-8; ?>" /> <br /> >>>> </div> >>>> >>>> My question is what is the purpose of the id field? I know the name >>>> field is what php references, but am not sure what id is for? >>> >>> Sometimes it's helpful to target a specific element for stylistic or >>> functional purposes, and that's when you'll find an id attribute >> helpful. >>> >>> In your example above, label elements use the id in the 'for' >> attribute >>> (and, speaking to your example, you should have for="name" instead of >>> for="txtname"): >>> http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_label.asp >>> >>> In terms of CSS, you can specifically reference the element by it's id >> using >>> the notation tag_name#id_value, and id's have the highest order of >>> specificity (i.e., if you try and style an element by tag name, class, >>> and/or id, the id styles are what will take precedent, all other >> things >>> equal.) >>> http://webdesign.about.com/od/cssselectors/qt/cssselid.htm >>> http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/archives/css_specificity_wars.html >>> >>> In terms of javascript, you can reference the element by it's id by >> using >>> the function getElementById('id_value): >>> http://www.tizag.com/javascriptT/javascript-getelementbyid.php >>> >>> Just remember that a particular id can only occur once on a page >> (another >>> difference between the name attributes in a form, as you could have >> multiple >>> forms on a page and each form could have an input with a "zip" name >> without >>> issue, but that same page could only have one id with the value >> "zip".) >>> >>> That all said, with the advent of javascript data attributes, you'll >> have >>> one more way to target elements for design and functionality: >>> http://ejohn.org/blog/html-5-data-attributes/ >> >> If you look at the current HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 specification, you >> will find 'name' is no longer listed as a standard attribute. It is all >> but obsolete and has been replaced by 'id' almost everywhere. They >> actually recommend you put both attributes into tags with identical >> values until your applications can be updated to drop all uses of the >> name attribute. >> >> <http://www.w3schools.com/tags/default.asp> >> > > Errr, what? Name is by no means obsolete for forms. Have a look at > http://dev.w3.org/html5/spec/association-of-controls-and-forms.html#attr -fe-name > - it's still in the html5 spec and there's little to no chance of it > going away any time soon. HTML5 is years away from completion and still changes far too often, so we don't consider it nearly ready for prime time. XHTML is here now, has several usable validation suites and has been stable for years. That's more of a reasonable target for commercial products. > Relying on w3schools is not ... really advisable. Where else would you go? Even W3C doesn't publish decent reference documents, and their specifications are inscrutable to normal human beings. Bob McConnell |