insert into database problem

[ging8]

I have a function that inserts a record into a databse, but the problem is if the form on the previous page is not completly filled in then I get this error

"Field 'table.field' cannot be a zero-length string."

if all the fields are filled in than everything is fine. Is there something that I can add to this function to check for any fields that were not filled in and put a default value.

function db_insert($table){

//$query = "INSERT INTO <table>(
$query = "INSERT INTO ".$table." (";


//$query = "INSERT INTO <table>($fldnm1, $fldnm2, ... $fldnmN
//$fldnmN = $fieldnameN //EXPLANATION//
$trigger = 0;
foreach($_POST as $field => $value){
  if($trigger > 0) $query = $query . ", ";
  $query = $query . $field;
  $trigger++;
}


//$query = "INSERT INTO <table>(fldnm1, fldnm2, ... fldnmN) VALUES(trim('
$query = $query . ") VALUES (trim('";


//$query = "INSERT INTO <table>(fldnm1, fldnm2, ... fldnmN)	VALUES(trim('value1'), trim('value2'), trim('valueN')
$trigger = 0;
foreach($_POST as $field => $value){
  if($trigger > 0) $query = $query . ", trim('";
  $query = $query . $value."')";
  $trigger++;
}


//$query = "INSERT INTO <table>(fldnm1, fldnm2, ... fldnmN) VALUES(trim('value1'), trim('value2'), trim('valueN'));
$query = $query . ");";
// CONNECT TO DB

			$odbc = odbc_connect ('honeywell_DB', 'root', '') or die( "Could Not Connect to ODBC Database!");
			$sql="$query" ;
			$insert = odbc_exec($odbc,$sql) or die (odbc_errormsg());


//IF query runs, return.  Else, tell me why
echo $query."<br><br>";
//if($result = mysql_query($query)) return(0);
//else echo(mysql_error());

}

[dhodge]

Just check the values before you do any insertions. empty() is a good function to check for empty values. so...

if (empty($_POST["name"]))
$msg = "Invalid Entry";
else
// insert into db

...
<input type="text" name="name"><?php echo $msg; ?>

Granted there are better ways to do this, this is just a quick easy way. If you want to make it better you can write a class or a function to do it all. I use a validater class that has functions to check for empty fields, numeric fields etc...

[ging8]

I hear what you are saying and you are right with the latter statement I would really like to build it into the exsiting function that I have which is the one that I posted in the first thread. But thanks alot for the quick response. any other ideas!

[dhodge]

You could use my validater class...I wrote it up quick for work. Im sure ill tweak it as I go but it works great for me.

<?php
/*
FILE: Validate.php
DESCRIPTION: A validation utility that takes values and checks them against constraits.  Will return an array or errors if an error occured.
FUNCTIONS: Validate, SetNullMsg, SetEmailMsg, SetNumericMsg, CheckNull, CheckEmail, CheckNumeric, CheckRange, GetErrors, Reset, CheckArray, CheckDate, CheckMySqlDate, Override
*/

class Validate
{
    var $errors;
    var $null_msg;
	var $email_msg;
	var $numeric_msg;
	var $date_msg;
	var $phone_msg;
	var $valid;

function Validate()
   {
    $this->errors = array();
	$this->null_msg = "Required Field";
	$this->numeric_msg = "Invlaid Number";
	$this->email_msg = "Invalid Email";
	$this->phone_msg = "Invalid Phone Number";
	$this->date_msg = "Invalid Date";
	$this->valid = true;
   }

function SetNullMsg($msg)
	{
	$this->null_msg = $msg;
	return true;
	}

function SetNumericMsg($msg)
	{
	$this->numeric_msg = $msg;
	return true;
	}

function SetEmailMsg($msg)
	{
	$this->email_msg = $msg;
	return true;
	}

function SetPhonelMsg($msg)
	{
	$this->phone_msg = $msg;
	return true;
	}

function CheckNull()
	{
	$total_fields = func_num_args();
	$field_list = func_get_args();
	if (($total_fields % 2) != 0)
		return false;
	$ok = true;
	for($i=1; $i < $total_fields; $i+=2)
		{
		if (empty($field_list[$i]))
		   {
		   $ok = false;
		   $this->errors[$field_list[$i-1]] = $this->null_msg;
		   $this->valid = false;
		   }
		}
	return $ok;
	}

function CheckEmail()
	{
	$total_fields = func_num_args();
	$field_list = func_get_args();
	if (($total_fields % 2) != 0)
		return false;
	$ok = true;
	for($i=1; $i < $total_fields; $i+=2)
		{
		if (eregi("^[a-zA-Z0-9_]+@[a-zA-Z0-9\-]+\.[a-zA-Z0-9\-\.]+$]", $field_list[$i]))
			{
			$ok = false;
			$this->errors[$field_list[$i-1]] = $this->email_msg;
			}
		list($Username, $Domain) = split("@",$field_list[$i]);
		if(!getmxrr($Domain, $MXHost))
			{
			$ok = false;
			$this->errors[$field_list[$i-1]] = $this->email_msg;
			$this->valid = false;
			}
		}
	return $ok;
	}

function CheckNumeric()
	{
	$total_fields = func_num_args();
	$field_list = func_get_args();
	if (($total_fields % 2) != 0)
		return false;
	$ok = true;
	for($i=1; $i < $total_fields; $i+=2)
		{
		if (!is_numeric($field_list[$i]))
			{
			$ok = false;
			$this->errors[$field_list[$i-1]] = $this->numeric_msg;
			$this->valid = false;
			}
		}
	return $ok;
	}

function CheckRange($name, $value, $lower, $upper, $msg="Invalid Length")
	{
	if (!is_numeric($lower) and !is_numeric($upper) and !empty($name) and !empty($value))
		return false;
	else
		{
		$length = strlen($value);
		if (($length >= $lower) and ($length <= $upper))
			return true;
		else
			{
			$this->errors[$name] = $msg;
			$this->valid = false;
			return false;
			}
		}
	}

function CheckPhone()
	{
	$total_fields = func_num_args();
	$field_list = func_get_args();
	if (($total_fields % 2) != 0)
		return false;
	$ok = true;
	for($i=1; $i < $total_fields; $i+=2)
		{
		if (!eregi("^[2-9][0-9]{2}-[2-9][0-9]{2}-[0-9]{4}$", $field_list[$i]))
			{
			$ok = false;
			$this->errors[$field_list[$i-1]] = $this->phone_msg;
			$this->valid = false;
			}
		}
	return $ok;
	}

function CheckArray($name, $value, $msg="Invalid Selection", $count=0)
	{
	if (!is_array($value))
		{
		$this->errors[$name] = $msg;
		$this->valid = false;
		return false;
		}
	else
		{
		if (count($value) == $count)
			{
			$this->errors[$name] = $msg;
			$this->valid = false;
			return false;
			}
		}
	return true;
	}

function CheckDateS($name, $month, $day, $year)
	{
	if (!@checkdate($month, $day, $year))
		{
		$ok == false;
		$this->errors[$name] = $this->date_msg;
		$this->valid = false;
		}
	}

function GetErrors()
	{
	return $this->errors;
	}

function Reset()
	{
    $this->errors = array();
	return true;
	}

function IsValid()
	{
    return $this->valid;
	}

function Override($value)
	{
	$this->valid = $value;
	return true;
	}
}
?>

I use it like this...

if ($POST["submit"])
{
require_once("validate.php");
$validate = new Validate();
$validate->CheckNull("fname", $POST["fname"], "lname", $_POST["lname"]);
if ($validate->IsValid())
{
// do inserts
}
else
$errors = $validate->GetErrors();

....

then a form field would look like this

<input type="text" name="fname" value="<?php echo $_POST["fname"]; ?>"><?php echo $errors["fname"]; ?>

<input type="text" name="lname" value="<?php echo $_POST["lname"]; ?>"><?php echo $errors["lname"]; ?>

as you can see the function take an even number of arguments the first of a set being the returned array key...so passing to...CheckNull("my_name", $fname)

would set $errors["my_name"] = "Error Message";

and everythin is passed like that in sort of a set manner. There are other functions like checkdate, checkarray, etc. that you can look at. Some work the same way while other only take a single form argument instead of multiple. Likewise you can set the error message for the functions that take multiple form fields with the approriate set function.

so in the example above to set the error message for the null messages would be...
$validate->SetNullMsg("Entry Not Good")
}

would set $errors["my_name"] = "Entry Not Good"

that is if there was an error.

🙂