What's wrong with my code???

DRTechie

I can't figure out what's wrong with my code. When I open it up using a web browser nothing comes up. I don't even get an error message. Can someone please tell me what I am doing wrong.

//connect to database and select database
$connection = mysql_connect("localhost","root","netops") or die ("couldn't connect to the database.");
$db = mysql_select_db("intranet",$connection) or die ("couldn't select DB.");

//SQL Select statement and execute query
$sql = "SELECT ticketnumber, sitename FROM cablerequest ORDER BY ticketnumber ASC";
$sql_result = mysql_query($sql,$connection) or die ("could not execute query");

if (!$sql_result){
echo "<p>Could not get list!";
} else {

echo "
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>System Outage Monitor: Close a Ticket</TICKET>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<h1>Select a ticket to close</h1>
<FORM method=\"POST\" action=\"show_deloutage.php\">
<table cellspacing=5 cellpadding=5>

<tr>
<td align=right><strong>Ticket Number / Site Name:</strong></td>
<td valign=top>
<select=\"sel_record\">
<option value=\"\">--Select--</option>
";

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql_result)){
$ticketnumber = $row["ticketnumber"];
$sitename = $row["sitename"];
echo "
<option value=\"$ticketnumber\">$ticketnumber : $sitename</option>
";
}

echo "
</select>
</td>
</tr>

</table>
</form>
</body>
</html>
";
}

largo

I commented out the db connection lines and all and ran it via zend studio. The debug window showed:

X-Powered-By: PHP/4.1.0
Content-type: text/html

<p>Could not get list!

When you run it in your browser and get a blank page, have a look at the page source. What do you see there?

-m.

DRTechie

Largo, from what I can see the sql query is being executed so i am guessing it must be something with my "echo;"...still can't figure out what it is though.

Here's what I get when I do view source.....

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>System Outage Monitor: Close a Ticket</TICKET>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<h1>Select a ticket to close</h1>
<FORM method="POST" action="show_deloutage.php">
<table cellspacing=5 cellpadding=5>

<tr>
<td align=right><strong>Ticket Number / Site Name:</strong></td>
<td valign=top>
<select="sel_record">
<option value="">--Select--</option>

<option value="1111">1111 : TEST</option>

<option value="1228">1228 : Generic Boca</option>

<option value="123456">123456 : Bank of Bananistan</option>

<option value="846536">846536 : Graham2</option>

<option value="adsf">adsf : asdf</option>

<option value="EC154238">EC154238 : EMPIRE_CT_NY</option>

</select>
</td>
</tr>

largo

Okay, so we we see source output but nothing on page?

If so: I am assuming you're using netscape and it's not displaying an incorrect html table. (missing

</table>

I didn't run html through debug though, I am guessing!

DRTechie

I tried using Konkeror on linux and IE. I checked my html and it seems ok. The table is closed too.

jwalk76

this line may be causing your problems:

 <TITLE>System Outage Monitor: Close a Ticket</TICKET>

* Note: </TICKET>

DRTechie

doh! Thanks Jwalk, that solved that problem. But now instead of getting a drop down menu I get something like this:

"Ticket Number / Site Name: --Select-- 1111 : TEST 1228 : Generic Boca 123456 : Bank of Bananistan 846536 : Graham2 adsf : asdf EC154238 : EMPIRE_CT_NY "

any ideas?

largo

that's because of:

<select="sel_record">

Should be:

<select name="sel_record">

DRTechie

Thanks Largo, another dumb mistake on my part.

Question: If I want to pass the value that was picked from the drop down menu to another page, do I need to create user sessions or is there a way to just pass the value?

largo

when you post the form to another page (or the same page depending on how your layout is):

<?php 
    echo $sel_record;
?>

would display the value selected.

If you want to hold this data later on, you can assign it to a session (for example, if the user comes back to the page and you want to pre-select his choice in the drop down list or write it a database at a later stage*).

*If you're writing the it to db later on, just take it across in hidden fields - I like to deal with form data in serialized array format. Easier to error check too:

// example of form field
select_name=data[sel_record]

// on form post
required_fields = array('name','sel_record');

loop through data array via foreach and check in_array with required field (via key name) and value for null. Cuts down on the if else crap.

Hope this helps.

-m.