What are common pitfalls when passing values through a form using PHP?

One common pitfall when passing values through a form using PHP is not properly sanitizing user input, which can lead to security vulnerabilities such as SQL injection or cross-site scripting attacks. To solve this, always sanitize and validate user input before using it in your application.

// Sanitize and validate user input before using it
$name = isset($_POST['name']) ? htmlspecialchars($_POST['name']) : '';
$email = isset($_POST['email']) ? filter_var($_POST['email'], FILTER_SANITIZE_EMAIL) : '';
```

Another common pitfall is not properly handling form submission, which can result in unexpected behavior or errors. To solve this, always check if the form has been submitted before processing the data.

```php
// Check if the form has been submitted
if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] == 'POST') {
    // Process the form data
    // Code to handle form submission
}