[Resolved] News Script

[Stu]

Greetings all.

By using pages 469-472 in a book called "Beginning PHP4" by Wrox Press, I have attempted to create a code which will display a table with fields to input news for a website.

Below is the code I am using and a "working" (or otherwise 😉) version of the code can be found here: http://www.2312.co.uk/phpprojects/news/addnews.php

I would be glad for any assistance that can be offered with this script. Please note that I have learnt all I know about MySQL (which is VERY little) in 2 days or so so please spell things out when replying 😃

Here is the code:

<?php

include "./common_db.inc";

$link_id = db_connect();
mysql_select_db("sleyland");

function add_news_form()
{
global $subject, $postedby, $email, $message;
global $PHP_SELF;
?>

<center><h3>Add News</h3></center>
<form method="post" action="<?php echo $PHP_SELF ?>">
   <div align="center"><center><table border="1" width="90%">
      <tr>
         <th width="30%" nowrap>Subject</th>
         <td width="70%><input type="text" name="subject" size="20">
         </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
         <th width="30%" nowrap>Posted by</th>
         <td width="70%"><input type="text" name="postedby" size="20">
         </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
         <th width="30%" nowrap>Email address</th>
         <td width="70%"><input type="text" name="email" size="20">
         </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
         <th width="30%" nowrap>Message</th>
         <td width="70%"><td width="70%"><textarea rows="5" cols="40" name="message"></textarea>
         </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
         <th width="30%" colspan="2" nowrap>
         <input type="submit" value="Submit">
         <input type="reset" value="Reset">
         </th>
      </tr>
</table>
</center></div>
</form>

<?php

function add_news()
{
global $subject, $postedby, $email, $messasge;
global $default_dbname, $news_tablename;

if(empty($subject)) error_message("Please enter a subject!");
if(empty($postedby)) error_message("Please state who is posting this message!");
if(empty($email)) error_message("Please enter your email address!");
if(empty($message)) error_message("Please enter a message!");

$query = "INSERT INTO news VALUES(NULL, '$subject', '$postedby', '$email', curdate(), '$message')";
$result = mysql_query($query);
if(!$result) error_message(sql_error());

html_header();
?>

<center><h3>
<?php echo $postedby ?>, your news has been added.</h3></center>

<?php
html_footer();
}
?>

Thanks very much in advance for any help offered.

Stu

[eternalprophet]

I think the problem might lie in...
$query = "INSERT INTO news VALUES(NULL, '$subject', '$postedby', '$email', curdate(), '$message')";

Believe syntax is:
$varname="INSERT INTO tablename (field1, field2, field3, field4) VALUES ('$val1', '$val2', '$val3', '$val4')

Taken from this link:
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/99/21/index3a_page4.html?tw=programming

$sql = "INSERT INTO employees (first,last,address,position) VALUES ('$first','$last','$address','$position')";

I would urge you to read the tutorial from the link above, maybe from the beginning, maybe not depending on how much you know. Alot of us started by reading that tutorial, good luck!

[Stu]

eternalprophet,

Thanks for your reply. I will try what you suggest and also read the tutorial on that link you have posted. I'll let you know if your suggestion works. However, the line of code you mention was taken almost directly from the book with only the substiuation of the correct table name and info was changed.

I believe a switch() is needed at the end of the script as it is utilised in the book but I'm not sure how to use them!

Once again, any more advice would be welcome 🙂

[jimson]

To : Stu
Your SQL statement is nothing wrong but your code is weird enough...
I will explain to you why i said it weird.
first, the all code is located in a file (I named it a.php) which means, who ever who access the a.php, db_connect() will be called and mysql_select_db() will be called also. The problem is why call them where you actually just want to present them a HTML form for them to add news? we suppose to call the db_connect() and mysql_select_db() only when we need database connection.

second, i don't think that your a.php file will get parsed because look at the function add_news_form() which starts with a { but never end with the } !. You should put a

} ?>

after the </form> tag.

third, your sql statement is correct, but it depend on how you set up your database columns. Let say, if we got a table named contry.

country table

cCode - char(2)
cName - char(100)
cCurrency - char(10)

with your SQL statement, you can insert record into this table with

$sqlstm = "INSERT INTO country VALUES ( 'MY', 'Malaysia', 'Ringgit' )";

the insert values must same order with your database layout.

if you want to change the order, then you will use

$sqlstm = "INSERT INTO country (cName,cCode,cCurrency) VALUES ( 'Singapore', 'SG', 'Dollar')";

do you see the difference!

fourth, what function to call when somebody reach a.php?
you put your form and process into function based but what gets called when I go to a.php

i help you a bit here.

if( isset( $_POST ) ) {
	add_news();
} else {
	add_news_form();
}

[Stu]

jimson,

Thanks for the information you have provided, it is very useful and has at least managed to stop errors appearing when the page is loaded.

However, the page does not load fully; I just get a blank page (see http://www.2312.co.uk/phpprojects/news/addnews.php). I believe adding that last piece of code you posted:

if(_isset(_$_POST_)_)_{

____add_news();

}_else_{

____add_news_form();

}

would do the trick but am unsure where to put it. Here is my current code and hope that you can offer assistance as to where it should go.

<?php

include "./common_db.inc";

$link_id = db_connect();
mysql_select_db("sleyland");

function add_news_form()
{
global $subject, $postedby, $email, $message;
global $PHP_SELF;
?>

<center><h3>Add News</h3></center>
<form method="post" action="<?php echo $PHP_SELF ?>">
   <div align="center"><center><table border="1" width="90%">
      <tr>
         <th width="30%" nowrap>Subject</th>
         <td width="70%><input type="text" name="subject" size="20">
         </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
         <th width="30%" nowrap>Posted by</th>
         <td width="70%"><input type="text" name="postedby" size="20">
         </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
         <th width="30%" nowrap>Email address</th>
         <td width="70%"><input type="text" name="email" size="20">
         </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
         <th width="30%" nowrap>Message</th>
         <td width="70%"><td width="70%"><textarea rows="5" cols="40" name="message"></textarea>
         </td>
      </tr>
      <tr>
         <th width="30%" colspan="2" nowrap>
         <input type="submit" value="Submit">
         <input type="reset" value="Reset">
         </th>
      </tr>
</table>
</center></div>
</form>

<?php
}

function add_news()
{
global $subject, $postedby, $email, $messasge;
global $default_dbname, $news_tablename;

if(empty($subject)) error_message("Please enter a subject!");
if(empty($postedby)) error_message("Please state who is posting this message!");
if(empty($email)) error_message("Please enter your email address!");
if(empty($message)) error_message("Please enter a message!");

$query = "INSERT INTO news VALUES(NULL, '$subject', '$postedby', '$email', curdate(), '$message')";
$result = mysql_query($query);
if(!$result) error_message(sql_error());

html_header();
?>

<center><h3>
<?php echo $postedby ?>, your news has been added.</h3></center>

<?php
html_footer();
}
?>

Thanks for the other information you have posted. Whilst at this time I have not corrected my MySQL query as it fits in with the layout of the table, I will bear it in mind for when I come to expand the script.

Regards
Stu

[jimson]

To : Stu
Em. okay, for your information

<center><h3>
<?php echo $postedby ?>, your news has been added.</h3></center>

code like this can be combined in one statement.

echo "<center><h3>$postedby, your news has been added.</h3></center>";

html code can reside in PHP bounder.
another way to show (more simple and clean).

echo	'<center>'.
		'<h3>'.
			$postedby.', your news has been added.'.
		'</h3>'.
	'</center>';

ok, about where should it resides.
first, the include and database statement should be inside the add_news() function.

function add_news() {
	include( './common_db.inc' );
	$link_id =	db_connect();
			mysql_select_db('sleyland');
}

and add this on the top of the page.

if( isset( $_POST ) ) {
	add_news();
} else {
	add_news_form();
}

you might be wondered, can the add_news or add_news_form function be called, because it was not on the top of the If statement, don't worry, actually the PHP read through all the function in the current file before they execute it.

I think this hopefully solve your mind problem... 🙂

[Stu]

Hi jimson.

Sorry I've taken so long to reply. I managed to get the script to work by having a HTML page with the fields on and including it on the PHP page where the information was added to the database.

Here is the code for the php file:

<html>

<head>
<title>Add a news item</title>
</head>
</html>
<?php

$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbusername = '***';
$dbuserpassword = '***';
$default_dbname = '***';

if (!$valid){
include ("addnews.htm");
}

else 

if (!$message || !$subject || !$postedby || !$email){
echo "<SCRIPT>alert(\"Error: You have not filled in all the required information.\");history.go(-1)</SCRIPT>";
}

else{
$db=mysql_connect($dbhost,$dbusername,$dbuserpassword);
mysql_select_db("sleyland");
$query = "INSERT INTO news (id,subject,postedby,email,date,message) VALUES(NULL, '$subject', '$postedby', '$email', curdate(), '$message')";
$result = mysql_query($query);
if(!$result) error_message(sql_error());
include ("addnews.htm");
echo "<center>$postedby, your message <font color=red>'$subject'</font> has been added to the database<br><br>
To add another item, simply fill in the 'message' field again</center>";
}
?>

Hope that helps anyone else who may need it.

Thanks to those that have helped me in this thread 🙂

Stu

[jimson]

<html>
	<head>
		<title>Add a news item</title>
	</head>
</html>
<?php
// this will make the all users that coming to this page will see the title "Add a news item" in their browser
// the HTML will be illegal because </html> tag marks the end of HTML but you put HTML tag in the below PHP code.
//
// if( logic ) {
// } else if( logic ) {       <= I don't think this line is correct. change it to elseif( logic )
//     logic
// } else {
//     if( logic );
//     logic
// }


$dbhost = 'localhost';
$dbusername = '***';
$dbuserpassword = '***';
$default_dbname = '***';

if (!$valid){
include ("addnews.htm");
}

else 

if (!$message || !$subject || !$postedby || !$email){
echo "<SCRIPT>alert(\"Error: You have not filled in all the required information.\");history.go(-1)</SCRIPT>";
}

else{
 $db=mysql_connect($dbhost,$dbusername,$dbuserpassword);
mysql_select_db("sleyland");
$query = "INSERT INTO news (id,subject,postedby,email,date,message) VALUES(NULL, '$subject', '$postedby', '$email', curdate(), '$message')";
$result = mysql_query($query);
if(!$result) error_message(sql_error());
include ("addnews.htm");
echo "<center>$postedby, your message <font color=red>'$subject'</font> has been added to the database<br><br>
To add another item, simply fill in the 'message' field again</center>";
}
?>

anyway, it is a weird code ... i will try to visit your site later.