textarea problem

[pwrmacbob]

I have created forms using html/php with a mySQL backend. Two of the forms have textarea fields. When any of these fields are filled with large amounts of data, the submit button does not work. When submit is clicked the page just sits there...no error message...nothing. If you delete some of the text (not really sure how much) and click submit, it goes through the rest of the code as normal. I was under the impression that textarea fields did not have a character limit by default.

<TEXTAREA NAME="myTextArea" ROWS=20 COLS=80>$myTextArea</TEXTAREA>

In the database it is defined as "text", but since nothing happens when submit is clicked, I would think that the database has not even been accessed at that point.

Any suggestions?

[korkus2000]

Are you using get as your form method? I believe there is a character limit to urls.

[coopster]

It may not be a textarea issue at all. If you are using the POST form method (Korkus2000 has something for you to check there first!), then it may be a number of things...file size limitations, maximum execution time, etc. Here is a good thread to review [webmasterworld.com...] some of your directive settings to begin troubleshooting.

<edit>misspelled a word</edit>

[edited by: coopster at 8:12 pm (utc) on Oct. 15, 2003]

[macrost]

If you use the get method, the address bar can only accept up to like 1700 chars or something like that.

Mac

[pwrmacbob]

I am using the POST method. It does not appear that the link above will help me. Just in case it helps, I'm using Solaris 8.

[coopster]

How long does your page sit there after clicking submit? 30 seconds?

Yes, the link earlier is about file uploads but it has some useful information to help determine whether or not you have a file size issue or a timeout issue. Create a phpinfo script and run it:
<?php
phpinfo();
?>
Find a couple configuration directives on the page that is displayed and let us know what their values are on your server:

• max_execution_time
  
• post_max_size

[pwrmacbob]

Actually it seems like there is a buffer overload in the URL in IE 5.5. I read elsewhere that it is 1753 characters. I tried using Netscape 7 and it works fine. I have not tried using IE 6 since our company is stuck on 5.5.