Question

As I am new to this I would like your advice.
So far I have figured out two ways to populate form fields.
Say this is my html:

 <input id="test" name="test" type="text">  

As you see the id of each field matches the name.
When it’s time to populate the field from Sql i could either do:

PHP:

 <input id="test" name="test" type="text" value="<?php if(isset($SqlRequested['test'){echo $SqlRequested['test'];}">  

and similarily write all the fields of my form…
or add this in the head part
JQUERY:

<script>
 <?php  echo "$(document).ready(function(){";
        foreach ($SqlRequested as $id => $value){
                echo "$('#" . $id . "').val(\"" . $value . "\");"
                echo "};"
         echo "});"
 ?>
 </script>

besides the fact that the jQuery gives me some problems when the fields contain “enter/return” in them (which could be fixed by using .html or .text i guess)

Which one would you suggest, what are the drawbacks or pro’s of each method?
Any improovements to the code?
Is there some other way i am missing?
Any suggestions on easily fixing the little problem mentioned above?

Thanx in advance.

Edit: I just noticed the jQuery .populate, which im guessing is something like my second way, you just need to get your data in a format of {'id':'value',...}

Answer 1

You should use PHP to render the page as someone without javascript wouldn’t get the values of your javascript version.

PHP:
Pros:
All browsers will get what you want them to get.
The output HTML is arguably more correct as it has the value that the user expects in it

Cons:
…Increased server load….by such a small amount that it should probably not even be a con

JS:
Pros:
…

Cons:
Non JS enabled browsers won’t see the values you expect.

Improvements:
Write a function in PHP that will auto echo your value if it exists to cut down on duplicate typing. Something like:

function echoValue($value) {
global $SqlRequested;
    if(isset($value)){
        echo $value;
    }
}

Or if you wanted:

function echoValue($value) {
global $SqlRequested;
    if(isset($SqlRequested[$value])){
        echo $SqlRequested[$value];
    }
}