Associating a URL-carried number to a name

mdkade

Hi,

Here's the problem:

I need to associate a value (product name) to a number (product number) that is carried in a URL.

Here's the scenario:

I have a page that has links to a few other pages. Each link to the different pages ends in /blah.php?prod_id=(num)

When you visit that page, there is a form with input values that need to be filled for a form submission.

The product number is in the URL, so I can pull that up with $prod_id in an "echo" statement.

The problem is, there are different values such as prod_name and prod_price that need to be placed into the form as well.

I know this is done with arrays, but I can't find anything on the web that I can use - can anyone here point me in the right direction?

Thanks!

jpmoriarty

i wouldnt pass those along with the page - put them in a database and pull them out on the page based on the product id that's passed. Otherwise you'll have people trying to change the price if it's encoded with the URL.

All you'll want then is a query that's based on the GET variable:

$sql = "select * from [i]products[/i] where product_id='".$_GET['prod_id']."'";

mdkade

OK, I understand about not putting the price in the URL - I'm glad you thought of that.

I still can't get the code to work. I put some echo functions in to test it out, but the HTML page shows up blank. Here's the code - what am I doing wrong?


<?php

$link = @mysql_connect ("localhost", "root", "password");
	mysql_select_db("amember", $link);


$sql = "select * from products where product_id='".$_GET['product_id']."'";
$sql = "select * from products where title='".$_GET['product_name']."'";
$sql = "select * from products where price='".$_GET['product_price']."'";

?>

<?
echo "<html>";

echo "$product_name";
echo "<p>";
echo "$product_price";


include('_orderopt.html');

echo "</html>";


?>

stolzyboy

you aren't running your queries with mysql_query() and you aren't grabbing the result from the ran query with mysql_fetch_array() or another fetch method

jpmoriarty

i think that's the last of his problems stolzy 😕

do you know what i mean by databases mdkade? that may sound patronising but i do ask in all seriousness. In a database you would keep recods like so:

Product ID : 1
Product Name: Computer
Product Price: £100

Product ID : 2
Product Name: Monitor
Product price: £50

do you see? Every entry in the DB has an ID, a name and a price.

Hence if you look up a product with ID 2 in the db, you get back the name (monitor) and the price (£50). There would be no point in looking up everything with a price of £50, since there may be 100 items in your db with that price.

Hence you only want to run one sql statement (as stolzy suggested, using mysql_query($sql) and mysql_fetch_array($result etc)) to get the info you need.

I suggest buying a book which will explain all the principals behind this, but if you dont mind me saying, i think you're trying too much too soon - you need a good foundation on these things before trying to expand, otherwise it'll all come tumbling down later.

stolzyboy

yeah you are very right jpmoriarty, i was just hoping he was in the dazed and confused state of seeing that it is right, you know how you look over code and look again, and it is just a semicolon or something, well i was just hoping he was doing the same with his query running, obviously not when i look through the code thoroughly, 😃

mdkade

I'll admit - I'm *not a php person, I'm an HTML person.

I can do the basics, like building dynamic pages using includes, but dipping into SQL for me is like a toddler learning the high-dive.

I have no clue what I'm doing, but this is something I need to make work asap - looking stuff up on the web is so hit-and-miss, and I could buy a book, but I don't write enough intermediate PHP to justify the price right now.

The database name is "amember" and the names and prices are in "name" and "price" (oddly enough) respectively.

I'm not looking for anyone to write an entire code for me, just this little snippet so I can go back to talbles, hrefs and src's 🙂

-mike

keith73

Originally posted by mdkade
I'll admit - I'm not a php person, I'm an HTML person.

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

I can do the basics, like building dynamic pages using includes, but dipping into SQL for me is like a toddler learning the high-dive.

what's to learn for the toddler, just step off the ledge.

I have no clue what I'm doing, but this is something I need to make work asap - looking stuff up on the web is so hit-and-miss, and I *could* buy a book, but I don't write enough intermediate PHP to justify the price right now.

Now here's where I have to get serious. Looking up PHP on the web is by no means hit and miss. It's about 99.9% hit. There are tons of resources for free scripts that you could get and just modify without knowing the code. You'd just have to change some config values. A good PHP book can cost you from $30-$50 but is worth the investment. You don't even need the book. read through posts on this site and review the manual at http://www.php.net/manual
If you use php now, trust me you're going to need to know more later. Webmasters can not live on HTML alone. It's all about the apps.
If you need it to work ASAP, then I suspect you told a client you'd do something for them, and are now pushing deadline and are over your head. It happens. In that case, pay someone to do it for you, don't ask for free code then tell everyone you want to get back to HTML. We here at phpbuilder are all about learning, not copying.

The database name is "amember" and the names and prices are in "name" and "price" (oddly enough) respectively.

I'm not looking for anyone to write an entire code for me, just this little snippet so I can go back to talbles, hrefs and src's 🙂

-mike

keith

mdkade

Just for the record, this is for a personal website of mine, and I wanted to impliment some sort of script to make it easier for users, and myself so I don't have to write 200 separate HTML files for each product available.

I do want to learn php, but it's the first real programming language I've tried to understand and there is so much to learn.

Part of learning is being shown how to do something, and once its shown, you don't forget, and you SEE how it was done and WHY script A worked whereas script B did not.

Sorry to be a bother everyone.

keith73

hey, we're all about helping each other around here. We don't write entire scripts for people because you learn by doing.
post your code here and folks will tell you where you need to change things. If you want to look at code to see how it works, find some of the free scripts at places like
http://php.resourceindex.com
and just go through the code or buy a book. A book will usually only give you snippets and examples that you can try on your own. PHPBuilder also has lots of articles and tutorials you can try.
Do a google search on PHP tutorials and you'll probably find some nice sites with info.

keith