Defining Session Variables

[scripter73]

Hi,

Question. Can you declare session variables before they actually have values?

I have a form that a user will fill out. I want some of the fields to become session variables, so do I define the session variables AFTER the form definition like follows:


<form>
...Form fields here
</form>
<cfset #session.variable1# = formfield value>
....
<cfset #session.variablen# = formfield value>



OR
Should I just have my form in FILEA.CFM and then when the user hits submit button, send my form data to FILEB.CFM and just declare the session variables there in FILEB.CFM?

I'm a little confused on when to declare session variables and when to apply values to them. Please advise.

Thanks in advance.
scripter73

 

[tlhawkins]

Hey Scripter,

You can define session variables before you need to use them, but in the instance you showed the form variables don't exist until they have been submitted to a page. So in that case you would want to assign them a value in FileB.cfm

some people assign session variables in there APPLICATION.cfm file. This avoids some errors but can cause other problems. I tend to assign a value only when I have a value to assign, when you assign a value it defines the variable so you don't need to do anything else to define it before.

Hope that it clear.

Have fun...

 

[scripter73]

Hi tlhawkins,

I sort of figured in my case it might be the Filea/Fileb case.

However, one more question.

Suppose FILEA.CFM is like this:

<form action=&quot;fileb.cfm&quot; method=&quot;post&quot; name=&quot;form1&quot;>
<input type=&quot;text&quot; name=&quot;field1&quot; value=&quot;ABC&quot;>
</form>

User hits submit, and the form data posts to FILEB.CFM.

Now I have FILEB.CFM and I want to access the fields.

How do I do that? I think I'm syntax-challenged.

I'm trying:

<cfoutput>Your field value is #form1.field1#</cfoutput>
and
<cfoutput>Your field value is #form.field1#</cfoutput>

I'm getting &quot;Error Resolving Parameter&quot;

Thanks for all of your help.

scripter73

 

[scripter73]

My bad!!!

Actually to access the previous form's field values you can say, #form.fieldname.

My problem was that I was using a button called 'Continue' to redirect to FILEB.CFM, and I should have been using 'Submit' all along.

Sorry for any confusion.

Thanks again for all the great help!

scripter73

 

[tlhawkins]

Glad you figured it out.