user 'REFRESHs', page inserted into db

[tshaik]

Hi

If anyone has a solution to this, please let me know asap.

i'm using a mysql database, and form. when the user just refreshes the page, and the form already contains info, that info is submitted AGAIN into the database.

how do i get these redundant entries to stop!?!?!?

in dire need of guidance, here!

tasneem

[knickerlas]

Do a search, this question gets asked 3-4 times a week, every week.

Nick

[Anon]

I sincerely doubt that the answer would spring out at you from a search. I tried and was unable to locate anything pertinent. I am by no means saying the information you need is not there, but the search is a little cumbersome.

Instead, I'd consider this:
if you clear the variables (or set them equal to '') immediately after submitting them, and do some check just before submission to check that each variable has come content, this problem should be avoided.
However, this may not help if the browser retains the values. In this case, you could search your database with something like:

SELECT all,your,fields FROM your_table WHERE 1 AND all LIKE 'entered_value_for_all_field' AND your LIKE 'entered_value_for_your_field' AND fields LIKE 'entered_value_for_fields_field'

for an identical record and deny the INSERT.

I will add at this point that I have been messing with PHP for less then 3 weeks, so my knowledge is limited. I have no doubt that purists and experts are laughing at my pathetic solution. It is probably an intensive method of solving what should be a simple problem.

Still...

if this was any help, then hey, all is not lost.

[Anon]

thanks for your help.

i'll try out what u said, whether or not its simple.

regards
tasneem

[Anon]

Good luck. It's worked for me.
In one instance, my records have 10 fields, but I identified 4 of them as being crucial information, and also information that should be able to uniquely identify any one record given the number of records I am working with.
Then, in the 'if ($submit)' part of my page, I do a check as described above, and have some sort of variable set at the top of the $submit section ($identical = 0; or something like that) which is set to 1 if I find an identical record.
Then, instead of just blindly INSERTing the data, I check $identical, and if it comes out as being > 0, I don't INSERT, but display an error message. I also log it in another table, but that may not be necessary for what you want.
Like I said, there is probably a better way to do this, but this works for me. I'm sorry this message is so hard to understand, explaining things was never my strong point 😉 Good luck.

[Anon]

Hi Shallimus

I took your advice, but changed the select statement a bit. However, with the $identical checks, i seem to go into the if-part of my statement, which displays an error message. I understand why, because identical=1.

What i would like to know, is if I am putting the $identical check in the right place???

Here's the code causing me endless problems:

else if ( $SelectID == "New ID Entry" )
{
$identical = 0;
if ( $SelectBehaviour == "Todays Focus" )
{
$check_record = "select behaviour,
active_date, active_time, headline,
image_path";
$check_record .= "from focus_line ";
$check_record .= "where behaviour
= '$SelectBehaviour' ";
$check_record .= "and active_date
= '$years-$months-$days' ";
$check_record .= "and active_time
= '$hours-$minutes' ";
$check_record .= "and headline
= '$headline' ";
$check_record .= "and image_path
= '$image_path' ";
$identical = 1;
}
else if ( $SelectBehaviour == "Focus
Line" )
{
$check_record = "select behaviour,
headline, focus_url ";
$check_record .= "from focus_line ";
$check_record .= "where behaviour
= '$SelectBehaviour' ";
$check_record .= "and headline
= '$headline' ";
$check_record .= "and focus_url
= '$url' ";
$identical = 1;
}

$result = dbi_query( $check_record );

if ( $identical == 1 )
{
echo "<h4 align=\"center\"> This
record already exists!!! </h4>";
}
else if ( $identical == 0 )
{
if ( $SelectBehaviour == "Todays
Focus" )
{
$ins_sql = "insert into ...blah, blah
}
else if ( $SelectBehaviour == "Focus
Line" )
{
$ins_sql = "insert ... blah, blah
}
dbi_query( $ins_sql );
}

Do u see where I am going wrong???

Tasneem