mysql query problem

[chrisleon]

I have an input page with 40 text boxes. Each one is name input1 input2 ....... input40. I then submit the text into a select string like so

select * from table_name where item like '%$input$i%';

This obviously does not work. I am a little confused if I need to put my select query statement inside a for loop or maybe a while loop, but I need it to look at all of the input boxes and find the fields associated with the item. My code is very ugly looking, so if anyone has any ideas and wants to see my current code, I will post it, but it won't be pretty.

Any help would be great

thanx

[jeremuck]

someone had the same question in the coding forum (I think) today.

anyway, you don't have to uniquely name the form elements.
You can name them like this name=formvar[] and they will show up in an array.
However, I prefer unique names too.
I prefer to name them according to fields in my database.
I get the names of the fields, and then print out a form using those names. You need to do some special handling, if you care about what kind of input it is.
Once I have that, I get my fields list from the database, and I use them as keys into the HTTP_POST_VARS array.
Loop through it to build your select query.
I like to build an array I call $WHERECLAUSES which are indexed by the fieldname that end up like $WHERECLAUSES[$key] = "" . $key . $" = '" . $myForm[$key] . "'";

THen I explode it and concatenate it onto the first part of SELECT .....

Also, when you are going through the loop to get the values from the HTTP_POST_VARS, you may need to have special handling.
You do this by making a list of keys that need the special handling.When your looping, you see if the current key is in the special keys list, and if it is you do what you need to do.

If this wasn't specific enough, post some code and I'll help you sort it out.
Feel free to email me.