Here, the search value is extracted from the textbox, and if it’s less than 2
characters in length, nothing is done, and we are returned. With 60,000
records I needed to limit the search results and the resulting drop down
list, so I implemented this arbitrary length check. Next, I check that
the character entered is alphanumeric, a space, dash, or period. Again,
an arbitrary limit that is specific to my case. Finally, if the search term
is >= 2 characters and conatins valid characters, we dispatch the search term
to
characters in length, nothing is done, and we are returned. With 60,000
records I needed to limit the search results and the resulting drop down
list, so I implemented this arbitrary length check. Next, I check that
the character entered is alphanumeric, a space, dash, or period. Again,
an arbitrary limit that is specific to my case. Finally, if the search term
is >= 2 characters and conatins valid characters, we dispatch the search term
to
callToServer().
Basically, the
IFrame object and “calls”
the server by loading the URL and it’s query string with the IFrame’s location
attribute. There are also various browser compatibility and error checks interspersed.
callToServer() function creates a hiddenIFrame object and “calls”
the server by loading the URL and it’s query string with the IFrame’s location
attribute. There are also various browser compatibility and error checks interspersed.
Now, over on the server side is our PHP page of course, in my case server.php.
The basic code looks like this:
The basic code looks like this:
<?php
if(!isset($_GET['s']))
{
$listAsString = 'No results';
}
else
{
//cleanVar() just does some slash/trim/strip_tags type things
$listAsString = searchFromJs(cleanVar($_GET['s']));
}
function
searchFromJs($searchTerm)
{
$query = 'select id, first_name, last_name
from users where last_name like "'.$searchTerm.'%"
order by last_name, first_name";
$result = mysql_query($query);
if($result === false) return 'Invalid query: ' . mysql_error();
if(mysql_num_rows($result) < 1) return 'No results';
while($r = mysql_fetch_assoc($result))
{
$list .= $r['id'].'~'.$r['first_name'].'~'.$r['last_name'].'|';
}
$list = htmlspecialchars(preg_replace('/|$/','',$list),ENT_QUOTES);
return $list;
}
?>
<html>
<script type="text/javascript">
window.parent.handleResponse(encodeURIComponent('
<?=$listAsString;?>'));
</script>
</html>
