Help needed with car database

[gfidan]

I recentely started teaching myself PHP/MySQL and I'm not too happy with my learning curve so far. I've got 4 books and it's still very confusing. The first project I'd like to do is create a web site that will display the latest news on specific cars.

Each news item may be related to multiple makes/models (eg: Nissan Xterra) or just the manufacterer (eg: Nissan)

Ultimately, I want my visitors to be able to choose a specific make and model and see the related news items associated with it. I will be entering and updating all of the news through an online form.

Well, here is where my problem lies. I'm kinda confused on how to create a form where I can enter the news items and have the information inserted into the correct tables at the same time.

Here is what I think my tables should look like:

News Table:

newsid | headline | date | body

Cars Table:

carid | make | model

News Cars Table

newscarsid | newsid | carid

So here is my question. How do you make a form that let's you enter a news item and specify the make/models that it is associated with? I'm really confused on how to do this. Basically, the form has to be able to insert data into the News Table, then it has to insert data into the Cars Table AND know what the newsid is when entering into that table.

I hope this makes sense. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[bretticus]

well, without going into this too far, the easiest method is to create a PHP form that queries all news and all cars (seperate queries of course). Then simply write out the results in drop-down menus on the form. You'll want your HTML options as such

//...database rendered in a while loop (see PHP manual on MySQL functions)
<option value="$cardid">$make $model</option>
// PHP renders...<option value="1">Nissan Sentra</option>

Do the same for the news table and then provide a text area in which to add your news. When you submit your form you'll know the selected cardid and newsid and the text to insert or update to your database.You'll need to make an edit form similiar to this insert form.

If you need me to be more specific than this...well, there are plenty of examples at .php.net

[gfidan]

I'm not exactly sure how that would work, but your post gave me a good idea. I could enter the news item first, then the next page would display the newsid that was just generated and it will have select forms for me to enter the makes/models that the news item is associated with.

you think that would work?