Struggling with PHP form processing

Question

Can anyone help with a form problem that I just can't fathom? I have a group of checkboxes whose values I can't get to show up in the resulting mail.

This is the method I'm using to set the variables:

    $benefit01  = ($_POST['benefit_01']);
$benefit02  = ($_POST['benefit_02']);
$benefit03  = ($_POST['benefit_03']);
$benefit04  = ($_POST['benefit_04']);
$benefit05  = ($_POST['benefit_05']);
$benefit06  = ($_POST['benefit_06']);

$property   = addslashes($_POST['property']);
$owner      = addslashes($_POST['owner']);
$mainHeating    = addslashes($_POST['Heating_mainHeating_answer']);
$boiler_working = addslashes($_POST['boiler_working']);
$boiler_age = addslashes($_POST['boiler_age']);

$postcode   = addslashes($_POST['postcode']);
$address1   = addslashes($_POST['address1']);
$address2   = addslashes($_POST['address2']);
$address3   = addslashes($_POST['address3']);
$city       = addslashes($_POST['town']);
$county     = addslashes($_POST['county']);

$name       = addslashes($_POST['firstName']);
$surname    = addslashes($_POST['surname']);
$email      = addslashes($_POST['email']);
$phone      = addslashes($_POST['phonenum']);


$type   = addslashes($_POST['type']);
$time   =   $_POST['time'];
$src = $_POST['urlsrc'] ;

$benefits   = $benefit01." ".$benefit02." ".$benefit03." ".$benefit04." ".$benefit05." ".$benefit06;
$address = $address1." ".$address2;
$note = "Benefits: ".$benefits.". Property Type: ".$property.". Home Owner: ".$owner.". Type of Heating: ".$mainHeating.". Boiler Working: ".$boiler_working.". Boiler Age: ".$boiler_age.". Timescales: ".$time.". Address Line 3: ".$address3;

So the "benefits" are checkboxes. I had tried naming them all the same to create an array then imploding the values but that didn't work either. Ultimately this data is sent to a dbase which is why most of the info is dumped into a $note variable.

I don't know much about this and have taken this example from a working (albeit simplified) form. Any assistance appreciated.

** Small sample of the form added below:

    <input name="ctl00_chkBenefit" type="checkbox" id="benefit_01" class="checkbox-benefit" value="Child Tax Credit" />

Child Tax Credit (where the relevant income is £15,860 or less)

     <input name="ctl01_chkBenefit" type="checkbox" id="benefit_02" class="checkbox-benefit" value="State Pension Credit" />

State Pension Credit

Answer 1

Is your checkbox's HTML like this?

<input type="checkbox" name="benefit_01" value="Benefit 01" /> Benefit 01

Then if that checkbox will be checked by user, $_POST['benefit_01'] will be the value of that checkbox - Benefit 01 .

If it will be not checked, $_POST['benefit_01'] will be not set.

EDITED 1:

And that all you should have in <form> , with setted method and action:

<form action="index.php" method="post">
     <input name="ctl00_chkBenefit" type="checkbox" id="benefit_01" class="checkbox-benefit" value="Child Tax Credit" />
</form>

EDITED 2:

You have different name for that checkboxes. You used in your $_POST theirs id , not name .

Change your code to this:

$benefit01  = ($_POST['ctl00_chkBenefit']);
$benefit02  = ($_POST['ctl01_chkBenefit']);
$benefit03  = ($_POST['ctl02_chkBenefit']);
$benefit04  = ($_POST['ctl03_chkBenefit']);
$benefit05  = ($_POST['ctl04_chkBenefit']);
$benefit06  = ($_POST['ctl05_chkBenefit']);

Now it will work for 100% :)

Answer 2

First of all,

<input type="checkbox" name="benefits[]" value="one">
<input type="checkbox" name="benefits[]" value="2">
<input type="checkbox" name="benefits[]" value="III">

would create an array $_POST['benefits'] in PHP.

Second, the variable will only contain the value if the checkbox is checked.

Answer 3

Input checkboxes aren't set in $_POST if not checked by the user. You can use empty() to determine if they're set and/or empty, and then set the value to the one you want to insert into the database.

Answer 4

crate the input field name like this 

<input type="checkbox" name="c[]" value="1">
<input type="checkbox" name="c[]" value="2">
<input type="checkbox" name="c[]" value="3">
<input type="submit" >

And PHP you can write like this-

<?php 
$_POST['benefits'] 
?>