Variable Name in PHP

I have a form and when the value is selected from the drop down menu and the submit button is hit, I cannot access the variable in my php code. I can access {var_name} outside of my php declaration <?php but gives and error when inside my php code.

Any ideas how to access the variable?

Cheers

Hi decbuck,

For Joomla 1.5 use one of these, getString and getInt just do a little more type checking:

<?php
$var_name =& JRequest::getVar('var_name', 'default_value', 'post');
$var_name =& JRequest::getString('var_name', 'default_value', 'post');
$var_name =& JRequest::getInt('var_name', 'default_value', 'post');
?>

Bob