Deleting multiple records with check boxes

[kdeveron]

I have mysql database output using the dreamweaver mx repeat function. I have a check box by each item. The box is bound to the record id for the record. There is a delete button at the bottom of the form that takes the data to a processing page for deletion.

Here is the form code:

<form action="test.php" method="POST" name="delete" id="delete">
<table width="50%" border="0" align="center">
<tr bgcolor="#000000">
<td colspan="2">&nbsp; <table border="0" width="50%" align="center">
<tr>
<td width="23%" align="center"> <?php if ($pageNum_rs_links_editlist > 0) { // Show if not first page ?>
<a href="<?php printf("%s?pageNum_rs_links_editlist=%d%s", $currentPage, 0, $queryString_rs_links_editlist); ?>"><img src="First.gif" border=0></a>
<?php } // Show if not first page ?> </td>
<td width="31%" align="center"> <?php if ($pageNum_rs_links_editlist > 0) { // Show if not first page ?>
<a href="<?php printf("%s?pageNum_rs_links_editlist=%d%s", $currentPage, max(0, $pageNum_rs_links_editlist - 1), $queryString_rs_links_editlist); ?>"><img src="Previous.gif" border=0></a>
<?php } // Show if not first page ?> </td>
<td width="23%" align="center"> <?php if ($pageNum_rs_links_editlist < $totalPages_rs_links_editlist) { // Show if not last page ?>
<a href="<?php printf("%s?pageNum_rs_links_editlist=%d%s", $currentPage, min($totalPages_rs_links_editlist, $pageNum_rs_links_editlist + 1), $queryString_rs_links_editlist); ?>"><img src="Next.gif" border=0></a>
<?php } // Show if not last page ?> </td>
<td width="23%" align="center"> <?php if ($pageNum_rs_links_editlist < $totalPages_rs_links_editlist) { // Show if not last page ?>
<a href="<?php printf("%s?pageNum_rs_links_editlist=%d%s", $currentPage, $totalPages_rs_links_editlist, $queryString_rs_links_editlist); ?>"><img src="Last.gif" border=0></a>
<?php } // Show if not last page ?> </td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#999999">
<td width="53%"><strong>Title</strong></td>
<td width="53%"><strong>Select</strong></td>
</tr>
<?php do { ?>
<tr>
<td><a href="links_editlinks.php?links_id=<?php echo $row_rs_links_editlist['links_id']; ?>"><?php echo $row_rs_links_editlist['links_name']; ?></a></td>
<td><input name="deletelinks[]" type="checkbox" id="deletelinks" value="<?php echo $row_rs_links_editlist['links_id']; ?>"></td>
</tr>
<?php } while ($row_rs_links_editlist = mysql_fetch_assoc($rs_links_editlist)); ?>
<tr>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> <input type="submit" name="Submit2" value="Delete"></td>
<td>&nbsp;</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>

Here is the page being taken to:

<?php require_once('Connections/conn_guard.php');
//$query = "DELETE FROM tbl_links WHERE links_id IN ('" . implode("','", $_POST['deletelinks']) . "')";
$array = $HTTP_POST_VARS['deletelinks[]'];
$sql = "delete FROM tbl_links WHERE links_id IN ($array) ";
?>

What am I missing. Thus far, nothing deletes. BTW, I am not an experienced coder. I have generated this code using Dreamweaver and by looking at examples of others work.

[sgoku01]

You are not executing the query. You only do this:

$sql = "delete FROM tbl_links WHERE links_id IN ($array) ";

Now you are only assigning a bit of text to a variable names $sql.
To proccess a query type this at the end of your page:

$query = mysql_query( $sql );

Now the query will be executed 🙂

BTW: use the

 tags for coding. It's a lot easier for us to read your code..

[kdeveron]

So my processing page should look like this?

<?php require_once('Connections/conn_guard.php');
$array = $HTTP_POST_VARS['deletelinks[]'];
$sql = "delete FROM tbl_links WHERE links_id IN ($array) ";
$query = mysql_query( $sql );
?>

[sgoku01]

yeah. I think that will work 🙂
Try it, and post the result 🙂

[kdeveron]

I appreciate the help. Its still not processing though 🙁

[ahundiak]

sql needs a comma delimited list of id's. It knows nothing about php arrays.

Example:
DELETE FROM table WHERE id IN(3,6,9);

Use the implode function to generate the comma delimited list. (And don't use [] when getting the array)

$array = $_POST['deletelinks'];
if ($array === null) die('NO BOXES WERE CHECKED');
$ids = implode(',',$array);

$sql = "delete FROM tbl_links WHERE links_id IN ($ids) "; 

[kdeveron]

Thanks for the great information!

The code I have for the processing page is as follows:

<?php
$array = $_POST['deletelinks'];
if ($array === null) die('NO BOXES WERE CHECKED');
$ids = implode(',',$array);
$sql = "delete FROM tbl_links WHERE links_id IN ($ids) ";
$query = mysql_query($sql);
?>

I replaced the last two lines with

echo $ids;

to see what I got, and it DOES show the right record ids. This tells me the form is passing variables properly and taht the implode function is working as well. However, nothing is being deleted still.

However, with some additional tweaking and looking at code from the default dreamweaver delete function, I came up with:

$array = $_POST['deletelinks'];
if ($array === null) die('NO BOXES WERE CHECKED');
$ids = implode(',',$array);
$sql = "delete FROM tbl_links WHERE links_id IN ($ids) ";
//$query = mysql_query($sql);
mysql_select_db($database_conn_guard, $conn_guard);
$query = mysql_query($sql, $conn_guard) or die(mysql_error());

Which worked beatifully!

Thanks so much for the help! I very much appreciate it.

[ITEagle03]

I'm trying to delete multiple records from the database by entering data into a form text box. It kinda works, but only deletes the first record entered, not all that I put in. I've seen plenty of posts doing it using click boxes, but I don't want to do it that way. :rolleyes:

<?php
//getting the data from the post operation
$input_data = $_POST['input_data'];

if ($delete = "y" || $input_data != "")
{//SQL I'm think should work
$sql = "DELETE FROM log WHERE RECORD_ID IN ('$input_data') ";
$result = mysql_query($sql) or
die ("Error:" . mysql_error() );
echo $input_data; //checking to see if they data is passes (good)
}//the form I'm getting data from
?>
<form name="form1" method="post" action="adisplaystats.php">
  Please enter the records you wish to delete: (4, 15, 20-23, ... etc.) <br>
  <input name="input_data" type="text">
  <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit">
</form>

I don't know how to get it to work, cause in theory, everything looks like is good to go. 🙁

[cahva]

Get those sinqle quotes off from the query and it will work:

$sql = "DELETE FROM log WHERE RECORD_ID IN ($input_data)";

In my opinion you should do some checking on that $input_data before using that query. Nasty people like me could do some damage to your database with that 🙂

Ofcourse if its only for your own use then its okay.