Using a form to insert date into a mysql table

[Sharif]

I am trying to insert some data from a form to a mysql table all in ONE PAGE. Here is my code:

<FORM ACTION="<?php echo($PHP_SELF); ?>" METHOD=POST>
<P>Insert your info below to submit into news database:
<P>
  Title: 
  <input name="title" type="text" id="title">
  <P>Author: 
    <select name="author" size="3" id="author">
      <option value="author1">Author 1</option>
      <option value="author2">Author 2</option>
      <option value="Author 3">Author 3</option>
    </select>    

      <P>Email: 
        <select name="email" size="3" id="email">
          <option value="[e-mail]">Author 1
          <option value="[e-mail]">Author 2
          <option value="[e-mail]">Author 3          

          </select>
        <P>Insert your News: 
          <textarea name="textarea" cols="90" rows="10"></textarea>
          <BR>
          <INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT VALUE="SUBMIT">        

</FORM>


<?php
if ($submit){
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","user","pw");
mysql_select_db("news",$con);
$action = "INSERT INTO news (title,author,authoremail,html,date) VALUES ($title,$author,$email,$html,date == date())";
$query = mysql_query($action,$con) or die ('Could Not Insert News');
echo 'inserted successfully';
}
?>

I test it on the server and nothing happens. Where am I messing up?

[leetcrew]

try

if ( $_POST['SUBMIT'] )

[Sharif]

No, still no luck.

[mcgruff]

Originally posted by Sharif

// quotes around the form method
<FORM ACTION="<?php echo($PHP_SELF); ?>" METHOD="POST">
<P>Insert your info below to submit into news database:
// ...etc...
</FORM>


<?php
if (isset($_POST['submit'])){

$con = mysql_connect("localhost","user","pw");
mysql_select_db("news",$con);

// make POST vars safe
foreach ($_POST as $key=>$value) { 

    $_POST[$key] = htmlspecialchars(addslashes(trim($value)));

}

// unix timestamp time() - store in integer col and use php date() fn to format it when you retrieve the value from the database
$action = "INSERT INTO news SET title='" . $_POST['title'] . "', author='" . $_POST['author'] . "', authoremail='" . $_POST['email'] . "', html='" . $_POST['html'] . "', date='" . time() . "'";
$query = mysql_query($action,$con) or die ('Could Not Insert News');

echo 'inserted successfully';

}
?>

Oh I just realised: you don't have a form field called "html": is that the textarea - if so rename to "html".

[cgraz]

Posted by leetcrew

try

if ( $_POST['SUBMIT'] )

This would only work if he assigned a name to his submit button, which he didn't. The submit button should be

<input type="submit" name="submit" value="SUBMIT">

And the if statement would be better written using isset()

if(isset($_POST['submit'])) {

Cgraz

[Sharif]

McGruff,

Thanks so much for your reply. But I still have a few problems, the form inserts the title, the author, and the html. It does not insert the date and timeor the author email. And also, after successfully inserting a news article, if you refresh the page, it inserts the same data as before again. I also turned this:

date='" . time() . "'

into this:

date='" . time("Y-m-d G-H-s") . "'

hoping it would insert the date and time correctly but doesn't insert anything at all.

How can I fix these bugs?

[cgraz]

what kind of field are you using to insert the time? If i were you, I'd make it a timestamp or date field then use mysql's now() function to insert the current date.

$action = mysql_query("INSERT INTO news SET title='".$_POST['title']."', author='".$_POST['author']."', authoremail='".$_POST['email']."', html='". $_POST['html']."', date=now()") or die(mysql_error());

You have to execute the query all together I believe when using now(), or else you'll get a unknown function error from php.

I also added mysql_error() for error checking.

Cgraz

[Sharif]

cgraz, I have no form field to insert the date+time, I want it to be automatically inserted. The code you gave me, will it inser the date AND time together?

[cgraz]

If your mysql field is a timestamp or datetime, then yes, it will insert the date and time automatically with no form. now() is a mysql function, so no form is needed. I use it all the time.

Cgraz

[Sharif]

Hey now it works, inserts the time correctly. But that refresh problem is still there. Lets forget this and fine tune this some more, the sql server is located in Kansas, and I am in New York. If I post at 1:00 PM here, phpMyADMIN shows that the post was made at 12:00 PM... because the server is in central time, and I'm in eastern. How can I get PHP to insert the time AS it was posted, not as the time of the server?

[cgraz]

ummm. . . php is server side. Everything it does is based off of the server. It's going to insert the Server's time, not the local time on your computer. If you wanted the time on your computer, you'd have to use javascript (a client-side scripting language).

Cgraz

[Sharif]

Well is there anyway to format the time thats inserted as the time of the users computer? there has to be... php has powers!

[cgraz]

make a php variable that has the javascript time. Then insert that.

Cgraz

[Sharif]

😃 How do I do that? I know how to make variables but nothing about javascript... Any websites with tutorials I can follow? If not, can you tell me how to fix the refresh problem?

[cgraz]

actually, i don't think you can do that. the php gets processed on the server before the js, meaning you would have already inserted into the db before the js even got executed. If you wanted to put php in js, you could. I had it backwards.

Cgraz

[Sharif]

Well how bout this: isn't there a function or anything in php that would add an hour to whatever the time is on the server:

If the user's time is 1:00PM, and the server's is 12:00PM, then the time in the row, instead of being 12:00:00, it would be 13:00:00... can you do that?