salesforce - How to get an input value on a Visualforce page from an Apex controller? -

let's pretend have sobject called mycutomobject fields column1, column2, column3, pickmecolumn , others. type of pickmecolumn picklist.

while it's easy access object's instance data in page, i'm bit stucked how user's input data page accessible inside controller.

page code:

<apex:page sidebar="false" standardcontroller="mycustomobject__c" extensions="mycustomsearchcontroller">     <apex:form >         <apex:pageblock title="search criteria">             <apex:pageblocksection>                 <apex:inputfield value="{!myobject.pickmecolumn__c}" />             </apex:pageblocksection>              <apex:commandbutton value="search" id="searchbutton" action="{!search}"/>         </apex:pageblock>          <apex:pageblock title="search results">             <apex:pageblocktable value="{!myobjectlist}" var="myobject">                 <apex:repeat value="{!myobject}" var="arecord">                     <apex:column value="{!arecord.column1__c}"/>                     <apex:column value="{!arecord.column2__c}"/>                     <apex:column value="{!arecord.column3__c}"/>                 </apex:repeat>             </apex:pageblocktable>         </apex:pageblock>      </apex:form> </apex:page> 

controller code:

public class mycustomsearchcontroller {     public mycutomobject__c myobject {get;set;}     public list<mycutomobject__c> myobjectlist {get;set;}      public mycustomsearchcontroller(apexpages.standardcontroller controller) {     }      public pagereference search() {         string valueselectedbyuser = '??? help!';         myobjectlist = [select column1__c, column2__c, column3__c mycutomobject__c pickmecolumn__c = valueselectedbyuser];         return apexpages.currentpage();     } } 

in controller's code so:

public class mycustomsearchcontroller {     public mycutomobject__c myobject {get;set;}     public list<mycutomobject__c> myobjectlist {get;set;}      public mycustomsearchcontroller(apexpages.standardcontroller controller) {         myobject = new mycustomobject__c(); // must create object!     }      public pagereference search() {         string valueselectedbyuser = myobject.pickmecolumn__c;         myobjectlist = [select column1__c, column2__c, column3__c mycutomobject__c pickmecolumn__c = :valueselectedbyuser];         // have add colon         return apexpages.currentpage();     } }