Inserting multiple details

obrienkev

Hi all,

I have created a form that allows the user to enter a question and three possible answers.

When the user clicks submit the following php page should insert the question into a question table and the answers into a answer table.

Inserting the question works fine but only the last answer will go into the table. Why is this??

Here is the PHP code to insert answers:

$query2 = "insert into answer_entry (answer) values('".$answer."')"; 
$result2 = mysql_query($query2);

Form HTML Code:

<label>Question:</label>
<input type="text" name="inputquestion" size="24">

Thanks for your help.

Kevin.

LordShryku

Because the same input keeps overwriting itself. Using [] on the input name converts it to an array, allowing multiple inputs of that name to be collected.

<input type="text" name="inputanswer[]" size="24"><br />
<input type="text" name="inputanswer[]" size="24"><br />
<input type="text" name="inputanswer[]" size="24"><br /> 


<?php
# Loop through them
foreach($_POST['inputanswer'] as $answer) {
   $query2 = "insert into answer_entry (answer) values('".$answer."')"; 
   $result2 = mysql_query($query2);
}
?>

obrienkev

Thanks for that!!

How do I allow the user to mark which one is the right answer? do I use a checkbox or something??

Thanks again.

Kevin.

LordShryku

I guess that would work, but you would want to use php to mark the array numbers in the form then. When a form is posted in this manner, a checkbox will post a value if it checked or not. A text box won't. So matching them up would become tricky if you don't provide the keys yourself. Though, a better solution here would probably be radio buttons since you probably only want one answer to be returned as the correct one, and in a radio series, only one can be chosen.

I'm not exactly sure what you're doing allowing them to provide multiple answers and mark one as correct, but here's a crack at the code. Maybe you can expand on this to accomplish what you need to.

# Here's an example of the form using radio buttons.
# Table is there just for layout purposes

<table>
  <tr>
    <th>Answer</th>
    <th>Correct Answer?</th>
  </tr>
<?php
for($i=1;$i<=3;$i++) {
?>
  <tr>
    <td><input type="text" name="inputanswer[<?php echo $i; ?>]" /></td>
    <td><input type="radio" name="correct" value="<?php echo $i; ?>" /></td>
  </tr>
<?php
}
?>
</table>


<?php
# Now on the handler, you'll only have one value for the correct answer.
# Just match it with the predefined keys
# 
# This assumes you've done your checking already to make sure
# the values are set and so forth.

foreach($_POST['inputanswer'] as $key => $answer) {
   if($key == $_POST['correct']) {
      # if this is true, this is the one they marked as correct
   }

   $query2 = "insert into answer_entry (answer) values('".$answer."')"; 
   $result2 = mysql_query($query2);
} 
?>

obrienkev

Cheers!

But how do I know which entry in my database is marked as the correct one?

Do I have to create another field?? I just copied the code above.
Here is my code that process the form details into database:
Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.


<?php

// Declare variables
$question = $HTTP_POST_VARS['inputquestion'];
$answer = $HTTP_POST_VARS['inputanswer'];

// Check user has entered text
if(!$question || !$answer)
{
echo 'Please go back and enter the details<br />';
echo '<a href="#" onClick="history.go(-1)">Return</a>';
exit;
}

// Connect to database
@ $db = mysql_pconnect('localhost', 'root', 'chevin');

if (!$db)
{
echo 'Error: Could not connect to the database.';
exit;
}

mysql_select_db('quiz') or die('Could not select Database');
$query = "insert into question_entry (question) values('".$question."')";	
$result = mysql_query($query);


foreach($_POST['inputanswer'] as $key => $answer) 
{ 
   	if($key == $_POST['correct']) 
   	{ 
     	 // if this is true, this is the one they marked as correct 
   	} 

  $query2 = "insert into answer_entry (answer) values('".$answer."')";  

  $result2 = mysql_query($query2); 
}  

if ($result && $result2)
echo mysql_affected_rows().' details inserted into database.';
else
echo 'Question and Answer not entered!';

obrienkev

Also my form code:

<?php 
for($i=1;$i<=3;$i++) { 
?> 
 <tr> 
 <td><input type="text" name="inputanswer[<?php echo $i; ?>]" /></td> 
  <td><input type="radio" name="correct" value="<?php echo $i; ?>" /></td> 
  </tr> 
<?php 
}

LordShryku

Yeah, I would think you'd have to create a field for this