I got a few form/mysql related questions

[Xephon]

ok i am trying to make a CMS/Forum setup, but i have a few questions.

1) How do i setup the form, so that if they mess up, and get redirected back to it because, say they typed in an inuse username, how do i keep all the info they already posted in the other field so they dont have to retype anything except the username.

2) how do i handle the mysql query of a form that has optional feilds, because if i make a query like this

mysql_query("insert into users (username, email_address, password,
                          first_name, last_name, info, signup_date) values ('$username','$email_address',
                          '$password','$first_name','$last_name','$info', now())");

and the first_name, last_name, and info are all optional, the query would mess up since they would not be defined. so what kind of code would i need to make it handle them maybe being blank?

i know ill think of more questions lol, ill just keep adding them here.

thx in advance

[nemonoman]

Question 1:
You have to return $_POSTed values

echo "
<input type=text name=first_name value=".$_POST['first_name'].">"

If $_POST['first_name'] hasn't been POSTed, the input field will be blank

Question 2:

The query you have written should process OK. If $first_name is empty, the inserted value would be '' which is legit and should work.

[Xephon]

thx 🙂