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A Pair of Functions for Multi-Page Forms

The Rambling, Long-Winded Introduction by the ASP 101 Webmaster

Being the webmaster of ASP 101 sort of opens me up to getting a lot of email. While the endless questions do get tiresome at times, the position also gives me the opportunity to see a lot of really cool code. Some of this code comes in the form of a question with a piece of broken code attached, while other pieces of code are fully functional scripts that a visitor simply wanted to share.

I quickly discovered that I needed to do something with all this code I was being sent. It seemed like a real waste to have it sit in my email client, but the site didn't really have a place for it. So... we created the Visitor Contributions (VC) Page on which I've been publishing some of the better written and more interesting scripts that come across my (virtual) desk.

The piece of code in question came to me like all the others... attatched to an email. It seemed relatively simple but it was well written and I almost just posted it to the previously mentioned VC Page. The email that accompanied the code didn't give much of a description so I took a quick look at the script in order to write up a breif description. That's when it dawned upon me how useful this little code snippet actually was... which brings us up to date and explains why this code snippet has gotten it's own page on our site. I hate to do this since it hardly seems fair to the so many other great pieces of code still buried (hopefully not too deeply!) on the VC Page, but it felt like the right thing to do.

Sometimes the best things in life really are the simple ones. Ohh... and the free ones too! ;)

Why You Need This Code

Now that I've rambled on through the introduction, I'm going to not go into any more detail about anything! So without explaining why, most people quickly rule out cookies and sessions when they need to design multi-page forms. This leaves hidden form fields and a DB as the two remaining mainstream options. I also won't debate the merits of each approach, but let's say for argument's sake that you choose hidden form fields. That leaves you with a lot of work to do. On each page of the form you need to read in all the fields and values from the previous page and place them on the new page.

Well... not any more.

The Email

Hi I apologise for being too hectically busy to actually write an article for your site, but I have attached two functions I know everyone will think are a true Godsend.

They will save tons and tons of developers time and make use of new features in VBScript version 5.

I have commented the code and I'm sure all will be self explanatory.

I only ask that if this code is published on your site, I get mentioned along with my email address. I DO NOT however require links, or a mention by those who use the code in their own pages.

Hope this proves as useful to your visitors as it has to me in the last week since I wrote it.

Regards,

Robert Collyer
ASPWiz@hotmail.com

The Code

Besides some formatting, I've left the code pretty much alone...

<%
'The Two functions below were developed by
'Robert Collyer:- ASPwiz@hotmail.com
'
'The First Function-'ReadFormVariables' can be used in place of the
'very common:-
'
'var1=request.form("var1")
'var2=request.form("var2")
'var3=request.form("var3")
'var4=request.form("var4")
'var5=request.form("var5")
'....etc
'
'You simply now just call the function, and all vbscript values are
'set to match those posted from a form.  This sounds great, and it is
'but the vbscript variables are named identically to the form variable
'names (this is usually a good thing).  If for example a form
'contained a text box that is named 'Surname', and after submitting
'the form, the following page called upon the 'ReadFormVariables'
'function, VBScript would now have access to a variable called Surname
'containing the value of whatever the user entered into the textbox.
'It will loop through ALL form variables, setting the VBScript
'equivelents.
' 
'The Second Function-'SendHiddenFormFields' is very useful for those
'occasions where you need to read in all the form values, and include
'them within another form as hidden fields.  Reasons to this could
'include multiple page forms and also when a user enters data
'incorrectly on a form, and you want to post the data back for
'editing, etc
'
'Please email ASPwiz@hotmail.com with all feedback.
'I do not require a mention if you use this code (Unless the source is
'published), it is supplied purely because I know how much of a pain
'in the arse the long way round is and I feel sorry for those who are
'non-the-wiser.  Please feel free to distribute this as far and as
'wide as you like.  This message will self destruct, etc......
Sub SendHiddenFormFields ()
	For Each Field In Request.Form
		TheString = "<input type=""hidden"" " _
			& "name=""" & Field & """ value="""
		Value = Request.Form(Field)
		TheString = TheString + CStr(Value) & """>" & vbCrLf
		Response.Write TheString
	Next
End Sub
Sub ReadFormVariables() 
	For Each Field In Request.Form
	    TheString = Field & " = Request.Form(""" & Field & """)" 
	    Execute(TheString)
	Next
End Sub
%>

Getting The Code

You can simply cut and paste the code from above, but in case that's giving you trouble, I've zipped up the file so you can download it directly.