Getting values into a form: PHP (Server) or Javascript (Client) Side?

[Good Man]

Hi

This is sort of a weird question, perhaps a bit off-topic...

I am on the 'edit' screen of a web form, and I have a bunch of variables
coming from a database that need to be placed into the form. In the
past, I have been using PHP to pre-populate each field, something like

<input type="text" id="firstName" value="<?= $first_name ?>" />

But, since my "add" and "edit" screens are virtually the same, I'm
thinking about using PHP to dynamically create "onload" javascript
events that use a custom function... essentially something along the
lines of

onload = "setForm('firstName','<?= $first_name ?>');"

So, option one hard-codes the form-field value directly into the HTML.
Option two uses javascript to populate the fields.

This is a specific web application targeted to a finite audience who
will be using javascript-enabled browsers. At this point, I'm thinking
of going with the second option(javascript based), because I won't have
to scroll down to each form-field tag in my document and add the "value"
parameter (read: time saver).... the only drawback I can see is CPU Power
I guess... Or is that a ridiculous concern? What about using Javascript
to populate 100 fields?

Most importantly, do I need to worry about client-side interruptions that
can prevent the form from being populated (other than turning javascript
off)?

Thoughts appreciated!

 

[Good Man]

I don't really see the point in using javascript at all in this case,
you get a more difficulty to figure out bugs.

if you use

<input type="text" id="firstName" value="<?= $first_name ?>" />
<input type="text" id="secondtName" value="<?= $second_name ?>" />
<input type="text" id="lastName" value="<?= $last_name ?>" />

You either have a value set of the variables $first_name,
$second_name, $last_name and so on (I know, I added the two last
ones).

If a value isn't set, then the box will be empty and it's just to add
the values manually.

The only point would be saving me programming time. On a page with 50+
form-fields, I can save lot of time by writing a PHP loop that writes an
HTML call to a javscript function instead of going to each form field and
entering the value="<?= $first_name ?>" stuff...