[Resolved] problem's inside out and backawards

[coalduststar]

I finally have all the error handling working but now it doesn't update the database!

mysql_connect ('online.ulst.ac.uk', 'ltsn','ics' );
mysql_select_db (ltsn);
$sql_email_check = mysql_query("SELECT email FROM italics WHERE email='$email'");

$email_check = mysql_num_rows($sql_email_check) or die(mysql_error());

if($email_check > 0){
    $email2 = '<font face="Tahoma"><font color="#FF0000"><strong>Your email address has already been used by another member in our database. Please submit a different Email address!<br /><br />';
    $email2c = 1;
	echo $email2;
    unset($email);

exit(); // exit the script so that we do not create this account!
}
mysql_close();

//update database

mysql_connect ('online.ulst.ac.uk', 'ltsn','ics' );
mysql_select_db (ltsn);
mysql_query ("INSERT INTO italics (title, name, sname, pos, dept, inst, address, city, country, postcode, phone, fax, email, url, teach_area, review_paper, mail_list, comp_sci, ILS, edu_dev) VALUES ('$title', '$name', '$sname', '$pos', '$dept', '$inst', '$address', '$city', '$country', '$postcode', '$phone', '$fax', '$email', '$url', '$teach_area', '$review_paper', '$mail_list', '$comp_sci', '$ILS', '$edu_dev') ");

?>[/SIZE]

[TheDefender]

I assume by update, you mean the insert query you have here...

mysql_query ("INSERT INTO italics (title, name, sname, pos, dept, inst, address, city, country, postcode, phone, fax, email, url, teach_area, review_paper, mail_list, comp_sci, ILS, edu_dev) VALUES ('$title', '$name', '$sname', '$pos', '$dept', '$inst', '$address', '$city', '$country', '$postcode', '$phone', '$fax', '$email', '$url', '$teach_area', '$review_paper', '$mail_list', '$comp_sci', '$ILS', '$edu_dev') "); 

Try adding a DIE() to it, to see if it echos an error.

mysql_query ("INSERT INTO italics (title, name, sname, pos, dept, inst, address, city, country, postcode, phone, fax, email, url, teach_area, review_paper, mail_list, comp_sci, ILS, edu_dev) VALUES ('$title', '$name', '$sname', '$pos', '$dept', '$inst', '$address', '$city', '$country', '$postcode', '$phone', '$fax', '$email', '$url', '$teach_area', '$review_paper', '$mail_list', '$comp_sci', '$ILS', '$edu_dev') ") or DIE(mysql_error());

[coalduststar]

tried it and it's returning nothing- just a blank screen and not updating the database :bemused:

it seems to be executing ok but not putting the data into the database

[rachel2004]

Echo out your INSERT statement and see if you even have values inside of your variables. My guess is that they're empty. If they're not, can you post the code where you assign values to them? Are you running this with register_globals = ON?

[coalduststar]

$title = $POST['title'];
$name = $POST['name'];
$sname = $POST['sname'];
$pos = $POST['pos'];
$dept = $POST['dept'];
$inst = $POST['inst'];
$address = $POST['address'];
$city = $POST['city'];
$country = $POST['country'];
$postcode = $POST['postcode'];
$phone = $POST['phone'];
$fax = $POST['fax'];
$email = $POST['email'];
$url = $POST['url'];
$teach_area = $POST['teach_area'];
$review_paper = $POST['review_paper'];
$mail_list = $POST['mail_list'];
$comp_sci = $POST['comp_sci'];
$ILS = $POST['ILS'];
$edu_dev = $POST['edu_dev'];

thats what i have for my variables- what does register globals do? i'm not too keyed in by the way. Is it possible the variables need to be re-posted or something? The whole code is attached to my first post there if that helps.

[coalduststar]

did what you suggested and it just returns a blank screen and enters nothing into the database 😕

[rachel2004]

In your post, I didn't see what your echo output looked like so I'm not sure if you tried that. I modified some of your code to make it a little easer for me to identify what does what. Please try it and post what it displays in your browser:

//update database
$conn = mysql_connect ('online.ulst.ac.uk', 'ltsn','ics' );
$db = mysql_select_db (ltsn);
$sql = "INSERT INTO italics (title, name, sname, pos, dept, inst, address, city, country, postcode, phone, fax, email, url, teach_area, review_paper, mail_list, comp_sci, ILS, edu_dev) VALUES ('$title', '$name', '$sname', '$pos', '$dept', '$inst', '$address', '$city', '$country', '$postcode', '$phone', '$fax', '$email', '$url', '$teach_area', '$review_paper', '$mail_list', '$comp_sci', '$ILS', '$edu_dev')";
echo "<p>Here is what is contained in the SQL statement:</p>
      <br />".$sql;
$result = mysql_query($sql, $conn)
    or die("Couldn't execute query: ".mysql_error());
$num = mysql_affected_rows();
echo "<p>Total number of records inserted: ".$num."</p>";

[rachel2004]

Originally posted by coalduststar
did what you suggested and it just returns a blank screen and enters nothing into the database 😕

Then you need to parse through your other code and find out if $POST['title'] (as an example) has a value. Use echo $POST['title'] to see if it shows anything. If it does not, then you know where you need to do your troubleshooting and for now, don't spend more time troubleshooting your INSERT statement.

[coalduststar]

ok- i'll check elsewhere

i also added the code you put in and removed what i had and it put up:

Parse error: parse error, unexpected $ in /web2/ltsn-ics/pub/italics/register.php on line 168

which is the line that contains the closing of the php block "?>"

[coalduststar]

right checked them all and the variables are all holding the posted data right up to where they're supposed to be entered into the database- at which point it chokes!

[rachel2004]

For the first subsequent post regarding the error message, I looked over the code I posted for you to use to make sure I had matching curly braces, closing parentheses... I didn't see a problem. Maybe you can post what you code currently looks like with my changes.

Your second subsequent post: even without using my changes, you need to parse through your file and use echo statement every few places where you have $title or $_POST['title'] (again, as an example) to find out where it is not containing the value you expect for it). Even I were to do it or TheDefender were to do it, that's what we'd be doing to help you troubleshoot. But better for you to do it since it's your code and it's goog to debug your own stuff.

[coalduststar]

ok there's the code with your changes and as for parsing, I did go through the document and various stages and echo all the variables but i'll do it again cos i do want to get this working as much as possible on my own!

but it's hella hard!!

[rachel2004]

Yep, missing a closing curly brace. Try inserting it here:

echo "<p>Total number of records inserted: ".$num."</p>";
}
?> 

That'll remove the parse error message with my code.

[coalduststar]

just does the same thing- returns an empty page with nothing being updated- i am SO confused right now!

does this mean the variables are empty, or could it be the browser i'm using (mozilla firefox)??

[rachel2004]

Apply the following code and then tell me what you get:

echo "<p>We are now after the bucha IF statements.  So far, so good!</p>";    

$conn = mysql_connect ('online.ulst.ac.uk', 'ltsn','ics' ); 
$db = mysql_select_db (ltsn); 
// mysql_connect ('online.ulst.ac.uk', 'ltsn','ics' );
// mysql_select_db (ltsn);

echo"<p>The value of the variable 'email' is: ".$email."</p>";

$sql_email_check = mysql_query("SELECT email FROM italics WHERE email='$email'");

$email_check = mysql_num_rows($sql_email_check) 
    or die(mysql_error());

if($email_check > 0)
{
    $email2 = '<font face="Tahoma"><font color="#FF0000"><strong>Your email address has already been used by another member in our database. Please submit a different Email address!<br /><br />';
        $email2c = 1;
		echo $email2;
        unset($email);
mysql_close(); // move mysql_close before the call to exit
exit("Inside of the IF statement");  // exit the script so that we do not create this account!
}else{
//update database
echo "<p>Inside of the ELSE statement</p>";

$sql = "INSERT INTO italics (title, name, sname, pos, dept, inst, address, city, country, postcode, phone, fax, email, url, teach_area, review_paper, mail_list, comp_sci, ILS, edu_dev) VALUES ('$title', '$name', '$sname', '$pos', '$dept', '$inst', '$address', '$city', '$country', '$postcode', '$phone', '$fax', '$email', '$url', '$teach_area', '$review_paper', '$mail_list', '$comp_sci', '$ILS', '$edu_dev')"; 
echo "<p>Here is what is contained in the SQL statement:</p> 
      <br />".$sql; 
$result = mysql_query($sql, $conn) 
    or die("Couldn't execute query: ".mysql_error()); 
$num = mysql_affected_rows(); 
echo "<p>Total number of records inserted: ".$num."</p>";
}
?> 

[coalduststar]

We are now after the buncha IF statements. So far, so good!

The value of the variable 'email' is: [e-mail]

is it worth noting that if i put and email address that's already in the database, into the email field, the validation works and it prints the error message along with "Inside of if statement" ?

[rachel2004]

Okay, so your problem is somewhere after those that second echo statement that actually got displayed. And now we know that the reason that your code is not executing the INSERT statement is because we aren't even getting inside of the ELSE statement. If we were in there, we'd have seen the sentence:

Inside of the ELSE statement.

I'm guessing now that the problem is here:

$sql_email_check = mysql_query("SELECT email FROM italics WHERE email='$email'");

So, look at the how I broke up your SQL statement in your ELSE block and we followed TheDefender's suggestion of using mysql_error().

Do that with your $sql_email_check as well and try running the script again and post back your results and/or what your modified code looks like.

[rachel2004]

Originally posted by coalduststar
is it worth noting that if i put and email address that's already in the database, into the email field, the validation works and it prints the error message along with "Inside of if statement" ?

Okay, I won't go ballistic, but yeah, thta would help to know these things. 🙂 (Okay, Rachel, calm down, go get some coffee... )

[coalduststar]

:queasy: sorry!! This is the first thing i've done in php and my programming knowledge is scarily small!

[coalduststar]

Parse error: parse error, unexpected '=', expecting ',' or ';' in /web2/ltsn-ics/pub/italics/register.php on line 152

and line 152 is:

echo = "<p>this is what's in the select thingy".$sql1;