Trouble writing new record to MySQL

[filch]

Hello,

Forgive me if this turns out to be a stupid mistake, which it most likely will, but I am quite new to PHP and so can't see the problem.

I have created a couple of scripts, (actually borrowed to learn with), that allows me to create and maintain an FAQ section. I have created the DB with the appropriate permissions and populated it with a couple of dummy records. The faq.php script reads the records from the DB and populated the HTML table fine. BUT, when I try to add an faq back to the database with the following script, it does not work, nor do I receive any error messages. I suspect that it must be something to do with the way I am registering the globals but I am not sure. I am using mysql 3.23.51 and PHP 4.2.2 on a RH 7.3 box. Here is the script:

<?
// form not yet submitted
// display initial form

$slug = $POST['slug'];
$content = $POST['content'];
$contact = $POST['contact'];
if (!$submit)
{
?>
<table cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5">
<form action="<? echo $SERVER[$PHP_SELF] ?>" method="POST">
<tr>
<td valign="top"><b><font size="-1">Slug</font></b></td>
<td><input size="50" maxlength="250" type="text" name="slug"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><b><font size="-1">Content</font></b></td>
<td><textarea name="content" cols="40" rows="10"></textarea></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top"><font size="-1">Contact person</font></td>
<td><input size="50" maxlength="250" type="text" name="contact"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan=2><input type="Submit" name="submit" value="Add FAQ"></td>
</tr>
</form>
</table>
<?
}
else
{
// includes
include("../conf.php");
include("../functions.php");

// set up error list array
$errorList = array();
$count = 0;

// validate text input fields
if (!$slug) { $errorList[$count] = "Invalid entry: Slug"; $count++; }

if (!$content) { $errorList[$count] = "Invalid entry: Content"; $count++; }

// set default value for contact person
if (!$contact) { $contact = $def_contact; }

// check for errors
// if none found...
if (sizeof($errorList) == 0)
{
	// open database connection
	$connection = mysql_connect($host, $user, $pass) or die ("Unable to connect!");

	// select database
	mysql_select_db($db) or die ("Unable to select database!");

	// generate and execute query
	$query = "INSERT INTO faq (slug, content, contact, timestamp) VALUES ('$slug', '$content', '$contact', NOW())";
	$result = mysql_query($query) or die ("Error in query: $query. " . mysql_error());

	// print result
	echo "<font size=-1>Update successful. <a href=http://www.easyonline.ca/admin/faq.edit.php>Go back to the main menu</a>.</font>";

	// close database connection
	mysql_close($connection);
}
else
{
	// errors found
	// print as list
	echo "<font size=-1>The following errors were encountered: <br>";
	echo "<ul>";
	for ($x=0; $x<sizeof($errorList); $x++)
	{
		echo "<li>$errorList[$x]";
	}
	echo "</ul></font>";
}

}
?>

Does it make a difference where in the script I register the globals?

Any help would sincerely be appreciated.

Cheers,

filch

[filch]

The more I mess with this, it seems to me that the script is screwed up in that when the output of the form is sent back to itself (the script), it does not seem to reach the processing portion that writes to the DB. I have out put the variables and the form seems to be outputting them properly but somehow the output is not being processed.

Again, any and ALL help is greatly appreciated.

filch

[[deleted]]

Indeed it is about the globals, you seem to have forgotten to pick $submit out of the $_POST array...

Lesson one in programming: Don't use globals. Use the $_POST array whenever you want to use data from a POST forum.

[filch]

Got this part above working but now I am faced with another challenge. I have the script to delete a record on another page so how, given the new way of doing things with register_globals=off, would I pass the record or row id (one of the columns in my DB is called 'id'), as a parameter over to this other page in order to delete the record?
As I do not want to pass the value or parameter over in the url, would any of the super globals have this value in it?

[[deleted]]

There's no other way than to send the ID it through a POST (html form) or GET (url) operation.

The superglobals are filled with the data that comes from post, get, cookies and sessions. When you want a user to make a choice you can let him submit a form or click a link, which will give a value in $POST or $GET.

There's no other way to do it.

[mad27]

i see the following in your code:

if (!$submit) 

But $submit is not registered if register_globals is off. therefore if(!submit) will always be false.