Really simple form to insert into table - won't work!

Sharky

Hi guys

I'm really a java programmer and this is basically my first day of php coding! I'm trying to do somethin really simple - i want to insert some data into a table (hey, start small!). The code is here:

<html>
<body>
<?php

if ($submit) {
  // process form
  $db = mysql_connect("localhost", "ali", "ali1");
  mysql_select_db("test",$db);
  $sql = "INSERT INTO customers (name,second_name,age,address) VALUES ('$name','$second_name','$age','$address')";
  $result = mysql_query($sql);
  echo "Thank you! Information entered.\n";

} else{
  // display form
  ?>

  <form method="post" action="<?php echo $PHP_SELF?>">
  First name:<input type="Text" name="name"><br>
  Last name:<input type="Text" name="second_name"><br>
  Age:<input type="Text" name="age"><br>
  Address:<input type="Text" name="address"><br>
  <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Enter information">
  </form>

  <?php
} // end if
?>

</body>
</html>

Basically what happens is that it doesn't 'detect' the if($submit) - i never see the echo statement telling me the info has been added - it just reloads the form and the data has not been added to the table when i check. Can anyone tell me what i'm doing wrong please?

Many thanks

Eddie

Sharky

i've noticed it seems to be a problem with not 'recognising' if the variables in if stamtents exist!

I made another script (modified a webmonkey tutorial) and it has something like:

if ($id) {

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM employees WHERE id=$id",$db);

$myrow = mysql_fetch_array($result);

etcccc

it would never 'do' the if part?

maybe that is an unrelated error though.

Thanks guys

Eddie

Roger_Ramjet

Syntax error: assuming your $submit is a post var then it should read

if (isset($_POST['submit'])) { 
  // process form 
  $db = mysql_connect("localhost", "ali", "ali1"); 
  mysql_select_db("test",$db); 
  $sql = "INSERT INTO customers (name,second_name,age,address) VALUES ('$name','$second_name','$age','$address')"; 
  $result = mysql_query($sql); 
  echo "Thank you! Information entered.\n"; 

} else{ 
  // display form 
  ?> 

  etc

Sharky

hi there - yes, thanks for that!

I am on a mac and didn't have register_globals on, so i need to use $_POST etc.

Only problem is now it's working in that its creating a new record but all the fields are empty. i changed the syntax to:

$sql = "INSERT INTO customers (name,second_name,age,address) VALUES (\"$name\",\"$second_name\",\"$age\",\"$address\")";

and it comes out as . INSERT INTO customers (name,second_name,age,address) VALUES ("","","","")

which is obviously wrong.

(btw, this forum keeps chopping parts of my posts off!)

Roger_Ramjet

Use this syntax:

$name = $_POST['name'];
$second_name = $_POST['second_name'];
$age = $_POST['age'];
$address = $_POST['address'];
$sql = "INSERT INTO customers (name,second_name,age,address) VALUES ('$name', '$second_name', '$age', '$address')";

or this:

$sql = "INSERT INTO customers (name,second_name,age,address) VALUES ('$_POST[name]', '$_POST[second_name]', '$_POST[age]', '$_POST[address]')";

Sharky

ah, i'll try that thanks!

Sharky

when i try your suggestions i unfortnately lost everything and the page laods blank, which is strange! can you guess what is wrong?

thanks for you patience with me on this!

thanks again

Sharky

anyone out there able to help? This is driving me up the wall.

Basically even though i know the code roger gave me is correct, it just gives me a blank page. If i revert back to what i have i get the form come up, but it inserts blank fields.

Anyone? 😕 😕 :queasy: :bemused:

furtivefelon

if your page is completely blank.. the most likely reason is that your display_error setting in your php.ini file is set to off.. so go to where ever the php.ini file is, edit the display_error to on and then save it, restart your server, it should at least display an error message or something..

Sharky

Hi - Unfortunately that's not it, i checked 🙁 Here's the code i'm now using:

<html>
<body>
<?php

if ($_POST['submit']) {
	// process form

$db = mysql_connect("localhost", "ali", "ali1");
mysql_select_db("test",$db);

$name_=_$_POST['name']; 
$second_name_=_$_POST['second_name']; 
$age_=_$_POST['age']; 
$address_=_$_POST['address']; 
$sql_=_"INSERT_INTO_customers_(name,second_name,age,address)_VALUES_('$name', '$second_name', '$age', '$address')";
$result = mysql_query($sql);

echo "Thank you! Information entered.\n";
echo $sql;
} 

else{
  // display form
  ?>

  <form method="post" action="<?php echo $PHP_SELF?>">
  First name:<input type="Text" name="name"><br>
  Last name:<input type="Text" name="second_name"><br>
  Age:<input type="Text" name="age"><br>
  Address:<input type="Text" name="address"><br>
  <input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit">
  </form>

  <?php
} // end if
?>

</body>
</html>

(I have register_globals set to OFF by the way.)

And like i say, all i get is a blank white page.

Any ideas?

I'm really not having a great 'first day' :bemused:

Thank you

cgraz

Try some error checking. Something along the lines of

// query
$sql = "INSERT INTO customers(name,second_name,age,address) VALUES('$name','$second_name','$age','$address')"; 

// print query to see what you are sending
print "Sql: " . $sql . "<br>";

// process using mysql_error() to know if there were any errors
$result = mysql_query($sql or die(mysql_error());

Let me know what that gives you and if you found out what the problem was.

Cgraz

Sharky

totally blank i'm afraid!

perhaps it is my setup. i am running on mac os 10.3.5. is there any setting/config i should be tweaking etc?

Roger_Ramjet

Sharky, I'm not following you. First thing, regardless of what the browser displays, does the insert work, ie has the new record been added to the customers table? If you are not using phpmyadmin or suchlike then use a seperate page and query to check.

Second, is it just something funny in your editor that has inserted all the underscores, or is what you pasted here the actual code in your script?

Sharky

Hi there

When the page loads up blank, then obviously no data goes into the table as i can't get the form up to input anything! However before i started naming the variables explicitly, it was not insertin any values for the fields in the table, they were blank.

I have NO idea where those underscores come from. They certainly aren't in my scripts. However i did just paste them in.

Any ideas?

Roger_Ramjet

I just uploaded your script to my server (minus the odd _ s) and it displayed your form ok. It also displayed the thank you message and the query with the data I entered when I clicked the submit button, (of course the query actually failed because I commented out the db connect).

I've no idea why it is not working on your server. Here is what I loaded:

<html> 
<body> 
<?php 

if ($_POST['submit']) { 
    // process form 

//    $db = mysql_connect("localhost", "ali", "ali1"); 
//    mysql_select_db("test",$db); 

$name = $_POST['name'];  

$second_name = $_POST['second_name'];  

$age = $_POST['age'];  

$address = $_POST['address'];  

$sql = " INSERT INTO customers (name,second_name,age,address) VALUES ('$name', '$second_name', '$age', '$address')"; 
$result = mysql_query($sql); 

echo "Thank you! Information entered.\n"; 
echo $sql; 
}  

else{ 
  // display form 
  ?> 

  <form method="post" action="<?php echo $PHP_SELF?>"> 
  First name:<input type="Text" name="name"><br> 
  Last name:<input type="Text" name="second_name"><br> 
  Age:<input type="Text" name="age"><br> 
  Address:<input type="Text" name="address"><br> 
  <input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit"> 
  </form> 

  <?php 
} // end if 
?>

(I would check your file for the _s though )