multiple insert nightmare - please help :-)

[dotty]

I have a form with an input box (property) and multiple selection menu (categories) and want to allow the user to add property into multiple categories.

My form fields are:

[INDENT]input name="propid"
select name="catid[]"[/INDENT]

My form submits using 'GET' (just so I can see values being passed)

I've tried the following:

$catid = $_GET['catid']; 
$propid = $_GET['propid'];

// Explode into an array
$catid = explode(",", $catid);  

for($i; $i<=count($catid); $i++){ 
//insert into database
mysql_select_db($database_conn_new, $conn_new);
	$insertSQL="INSERT INTO match_prop_cats (catid, propid) VALUES ('$value[catid]', '$propid')";
	 echo $sql . '<br>'; 
	 mysql_query($insertSQL) or die(mysql_error());
    $Result = mysql_query($insertSQL, $conn_new) or die(mysql_error());

The result for the above was that the value entered for $catid was 0. It did however insert the $propid multiple times okay

And when I tried this way:

$catid = $_GET['catid']; 
$propid = $_GET['propid'];

foreach ($_GET['catid'] as $key => $value) 
mysql_select_db($database_conn_new, $conn_new);

$insertSQL="INSERT INTO match_prop_cats (catid, propid) VALUES ('$value[catid]', '$propid')";
 echo $sql . '<br>'; 
 mysql_query($insertSQL) or die(mysql_error());
$Result = mysql_query($insertSQL, $conn_new) or die(mysql_error());

... again $propid was okay but only the first value for $catid was inserted multiple times!

What in the world am I not seeing here? :eek:

[Weedpacket]

In the first piece of code:

$value[catid]

What is this "$value[catid]" of which you speak?

// Explode into an array
$catid = explode(",", $catid); 

$catid was already an array, was it not?

In the second piece of code:

$value[catid]

Did you not already get $value out of the array as described in the foreach() statement? What are you trying to take out of this $value?

[dotty]

Thanks for the reply Weedpacket.

Well this whole business of multiple inserts is confusing me. :queasy:

I managed to get the data to insert - but as a comma separated field - which I can use if all else fails. What I really wanted to do was create a new insert for each one. I've been searching all over this site, php.net and other sites but cannot find a script to do this for me.

This is how I got the comma separated to work - I found this on another thread of this site:

$insert = $_REQUEST['insert'];
if ($insert != "") { 
$propid = $_REQUEST['propid'];
$catid = $_REQUEST['catid']; 
$multiple_sql = '';
foreach ($catid as $key => $value){ 
        $multiple_sql .= "$value,"; 
    } 

$multiple_sql = substr($multiple_sql, 0, -2); 

mysql_select_db($database_conn_new, $conn_new);

$insertSQL="INSERT INTO match_prop_cats (catid, propid) VALUES ('$multiple_sql','$propid')";
// echo $sql . '<br>'; 
 mysql_query($insertSQL) or die(mysql_error());
$Result = mysql_query($insertSQL, $conn_new) or die(mysql_error());

As I desperately needed to get the form up and working in some shape for the client to see today - I've used the above. But I would like to find out how to do it as a separate insert for each (and change it). It will make more sense that way for searches I need to create.

Can you help me? :o

[matto]

a hint: you can always view what is inside a POST (don't have to use GET all the time), just use var_dump($_POST); (write it in the beginning section of your script and delete it when you are finished).

generally, when you have a multiple select box or a bunch of checkboxes named "name[]", on submitting the form you create an array where every selected entry adds to ($name[] = 'bla' is short for array_push($name, 'bla')😉

therefore you can (as you did) iterate over it using:
foreach($my_checkboxes as $this_value)

now, in each loop, the value of the one checkbox is accessibly via $this_value. (NOT like $this_value['value'] or such - just "$this_value" or whatever you named it in the foreach loop head.

as for the comma-delimited input field:

you can always explode it (even if it contains only one item):
explode(',', $field) will return:
for "a,b,c" an array { 0 => a; 1 => b; 2 => c}
and for "a" an array { 0 => a }

if you however have MANY propids and MANY catids and want to store them as pairs ("each one with each one"), you need two nested loops (pseudocode):

foreach( propids as p)
{
foreach( catids as c)
{
=>do an INSERT using p and c<=
}
}

[dotty]

Hi Matto,

Just getting back to this now

Thanks for your help - that is working well now.

Thanks also for the tip about var_dump

🙂