Project Help

jigajigajason

I am trying to write a Troubleshooting walkthru and I need it to record each step a person takes and then at the solution dump the info into a db and assign a ticket number. I thought about using an array and use array_push to add to the array as they move thru the pages but I have run into several problems with that. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can record each step the rep makes until they reach a solution? If I can hold the info properly then the data shouldn't be hard to dump into a MySQL Table and assign a number to it but I am having trouble finding a practical way of holding the info.

eoghain

Re-design your database so that you hold each step there once the rep has entered it, instead of storing all of the steps in memory.

jigajigajason

I thought about this but I am uncertain as to the number of steps the reps might take so a certain number of fields is out of the question and I am unsure of how to have a database rs field add to the info already in it.

eoghain

What you need to do is create a table called steps that links to the main record. That way you can enter as many steps as you want without worrying about space.

Trouble_Tickets
----------------
trouble_ticket_id int
rep_name varchar(50)
trouble_date timestamp

Fix_Steps
---------------
fix_step_id int
trouble_ticket_id int
step varchar(255)

Using 2 tables allows you to enter many steps, you can even remove a step if it turns out you need to back it out.

jigajigajason

OK, I am sorta understanding this but am running into one small problem when trying to apply it. How do I pull the Trouble_Ticket.trouble_ticket_id value and hold it so that it writes to the Fix_Steps.trouble_ticket_id so that it coresponds properly?

eoghain

That depends on the database that you are using. But check the PHP manual for your database and I'm sure you'll find a function that returns the last gererated id number.

So once you create the ticket you use this function to return the id and store it in a session variable that will be used whenever your rep enters a step.

jigajigajason

Ok I think mysql_insert_id() doest that for mysql. Thanks for all of the help, I may have some questions on how to kill session variables as I get into this because I have had trouble getting that to work properly in the past but I am going to try this and see what I can get out of it =).

Thanks for all of your help, I am still fairly new to programming as I have been on the administration side for far too long and it is great to have such a great site with a friendly community to help me out as I make the transition =).