mysql_insert

smoothcriminal

I've got a form for adding answers to a poll (that the user can create.) There can be up to ten answers, therefore up to ten textboxes displayed to the user to type the possible answers into. These boxes are named 'answer' followed by numbers 1-10 (i.e 'answer1' and 'answer2').

However, when it comes to the script that will insert these to the database I am unsure as to how to do this. I realise that I can write out the submission code ten different times for each of the ten different, but this seems to take up a lot of time and room, and probably not the best way to do it.

Is it possible that someone could write me a short loop on how this could be submitted and leave room for me to write the query myself? Would it also be possible to comment so that I understand what is happening and can hopefully learn from it.

Incase it's relevant I've attached a screenshot of how my database should look after submission. Each answer is submitted as a seperate row.

If anybody doesn't understand, let me know and I'll try to explain further.

dalecosp

$x=0;

while ($x<10) {
   $qry="insert into mytable values('$answer$x')";
   $result=mysql_query($qry);
   $x++;
}

General principle; oughtta work.

HTH,

TheDefender

$x=1; 

while ($x<=10) { 
   $qry="insert into mytable values('$answer$x')"; 
   $result=mysql_query($qry); 
   $x++; 
}

You'd want to start with $i equal to 1 and end with $i equal to 10 to follow smoothcriminal's desire to use the answer1, answer2, answer3.... format...

dalecosp

Um, yes. Well do I know this. Please also note well that double quotes are necessary for the parser to correctly handle this.

Now, as to why I wrote it that way? "General principle", I said.

"Give a man a fish and he'll eat for one day ..." 😉

smoothcriminal

Hi,

Your code is exactly what I'm looking for, but I'm still having problems.

The values submitted to the database are just the incrementing numbers between one and ten. (See attachment.)

On the submit.php page, the page containing the form, the following HTML is outputted to the browser


<p><b>Answers: </b>(?)</p>
      <p>
	  	  <input type="text" name="answer1" maxlength="23" size="30">
	  <select name="colour1">

  <option>Aqua<option>Blue<option>Brown<option>Green<option>Grey<option>Orange<option>Pink<option>Purple<option>Red<option>Yellow	  </select><br>

  	  <input type="text" name="answer2" maxlength="23" size="30">
  <select name="colour2">

  <option>Aqua<option>Blue<option>Brown<option>Green<option>Grey<option>Orange<option>Pink<option>Purple<option>Red<option>Yellow	  </select><br>

  	  <input type="text" name="answer3" maxlength="23" size="30">
  <select name="colour3">

  <option>Aqua<option>Blue<option>Brown<option>Green<option>Grey<option>Orange<option>Pink<option>Purple<option>Red<option>Yellow	  </select><br>

  	  <input type="text" name="answer4" maxlength="23" size="30">
  <select name="colour4">

  <option>Aqua<option>Blue<option>Brown<option>Green<option>Grey<option>Orange<option>Pink<option>Purple<option>Red<option>Yellow	  </select><br>

  	  <input type="text" name="answer5" maxlength="23" size="30">
  <select name="colour5">

  <option>Aqua<option>Blue<option>Brown<option>Green<option>Grey<option>Orange<option>Pink<option>Purple<option>Red<option>Yellow	  </select><br>




  </p>

Ignore the bit to do with the colours, because that's going to be a different query.

I've made a few small modifications to your code, which I don't think is making a difference. The code on the create_entry.php page now looks like:


$x=1;  

while ($x<=10) 
{  

   $qry="INSERT INTO `poll_answers` (`a_text`) VALUES ('$answer$x')";  

   $result=mysql_query($qry);  

   $x++;  

}

You can see the screenshot of what is added to the database as the attachment.

dalecosp: where were you mentioning that the double quotes were necessary for?

Can anyone suggest what changes I need to make to anything to get this to sumit the answers from the form as opposed to consecutive numbers?

TheDefender

Originally posted by dalecosp
Um, yes. Well do I know this.

Hey, you have seen me around long enough to know I am not trying to be a wiseguy 🙂 I was just lending a hand based on smoothcriminal's original post...

These boxes are named 'answer' followed by numbers 1-10 (i.e 'answer1' and 'answer2').

dalecosp

Originally posted by smoothcriminal
dalecosp: where were you mentioning that the double quotes were necessary for?

Some people enclose strings in single quotes as a matter of habit, or so I've gathered. Doing so would not parse $answer$x correctly.

Can anyone suggest what changes I need to make to anything to get this to sumit the answers from the form as opposed to consecutive numbers?

First thing I'd do is check the POST array and make sure of the names and values of all variables being posted.

// check post array
print_r($_POST);

Have a look at the "Debugging 101" thread, it's either here in Newbies or over in the Echo Lounge as a sticky....

smoothcriminal

Thanks for the suggestion and link.

Now I'm given:

(
    [p_text] => How many members are there in Coldplay?
    [link] => [url]www.coldplay.com[/url]
    [answer1] => One
    [colour1] => Aqua
    [answer2] => Two
    [colour2] => Blue
    [answer3] => Three
    [colour3] => Brown
    [answer4] => Four
    [colour4] => Green
    [answer5] => Five
    [colour5] => Grey
    [day] => 4
    [month] => 10
    [year] => 2004
    [end_value] => 100
    [end_type] => 1
    [show_results] => 2
    [c_id] => 5
    [Submit] => Next
)

This seems to suggest that the form is going through alright, so any other suggestions?

dalecosp

I think I've forgotten the problem or symptoms. The POST array is coming through fine, but the database is still getting wrong values?

Check the logic of your insert statements.