parse error - first of many

[sliquid]

im missing a ; somewhere, but i dont see where. Im kinda just making this all up as I go anyway, pulling examples and tutorials where i can find them.
im trying to allow the user to search a DB for certain fields to match teh submitted info, and to display part of each record that matches.
heres the code:

<?php
include("dbconnection.php");
?>
<?php
if (isset($_POST['search'])) {
	$search = $_POST['search'];
	$date = $_POST['date'];
$query = "SELECT firstname,lastname,city,state,email FROM customers WHERE firstname OR lastname OR city OR state OR email = '$search' AND date >= '$date' ORDER BY date asc";
 }  else {
   $result = odbc_exec($cnx, $query);
}
while ($row = odbc_exec($result)) {
echo "
<center>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=0 CELLSPACING=0 width="80%"><tr align=center bgcolor=lightsteelblue>
<th><font face="Tahoma" size="1"><b>First Name:</b></font></th>
<th><font face="Tahoma" size="1">Last Name:</font></th>
<th><font face="Tahoma" size="1">City:</font></th>
<th><font face="Tahoma" size="1">State:</font></th>
<th><font face="Tahoma" size="1">Email:</font></th>
</tr><br>
<tr align=center bgcolor=gainsboro>
<td><font face="Tahoma" size="1">$row[firstname]</font></td>
<td><font face="Tahoma" size="1">$row[lastname]</font></td>
<td><font face="Tahoma" size="1">$row[city]</font></td>
<td><font face="Tahoma" size="1">$row[state]</font></td>
<td><font face="Tahoma" size="1">$row[email]</font></td>
</tr>
</table>
</center> "; 

}
?>

i know i prolly made a stupid mistake somewhere in here, but i cant find a good reference for PHP ODBC stuff anywhere. yes, I used google. I can find some stuff, but i need something that shows the ODBC equivalent to MYSQL functions.

[bpat1434]

Your problem is this:
You're using double quotes in HTML, and double quotes around the echoed string.

PHP is expecting concatenation or ending delimeter here:

echo "
<center>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=0 CELLSPACING=0 width="

To solve this, chose one option:
1.) Escape each double quote that is an HTML double quote, not one that defines the string to be echoed, with a backslash.
2.) Use single quotes to define the string to be echoed, and concatenate the variables into the string.

OPTION 1

echo "
<center>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=0 CELLSPACING=0 width=\"80%\"><tr align=center bgcolor=lightsteelblue>

OPTION 2

echo '
<center>
<TABLE CELLPADDING=0 CELLSPACING=0 width="80%"><tr align=center bgcolor=lightsteelblue>
...... cut for space ......
<td><font face="Tahoma" size="1">'.$row[firstname].'</font></td>
...... cut for space ......';

~Brett

[rincewind456]

Or use a heredoclike

echo $html=<<<_HTML_
<center> 
<TABLE CELLPADDING=0 CELLSPACING=0 width="80%"><tr align=center bgcolor=lightsteelblue> 
<th><font face="Tahoma" size="1"><b>First Name:</b></font></th> 
<th><font face="Tahoma" size="1">Last Name:</font></th> 
<th><font face="Tahoma" size="1">City:</font></th> 
<th><font face="Tahoma" size="1">State:</font></th> 
<th><font face="Tahoma" size="1">Email:</font></th> 
</tr><br> 
<tr align=center bgcolor=gainsboro> 
<td><font face="Tahoma" size="1">$row[firstname]</font></td> 
<td><font face="Tahoma" size="1">$row[lastname]</font></td> 
<td><font face="Tahoma" size="1">$row[city]</font></td> 
<td><font face="Tahoma" size="1">$row[state]</font></td> 
<td><font face="Tahoma" size="1">$row[email]</font></td> 
</tr> 
</table> 
</center> "; 
_HTML_;

[bradgrafelman]

Just a quick tidbit... when accessing indeces in arrays ($array['this_is_an_index'], etc.), unless you have a constant defined (as in, using [man]define[/man]), what you want is to use a string to identify the index, meaning you need quotes ($array['good'] is OK, NOT $array[bad]). Just a little code tidying up...

If you get tired of escaping quotes, worrying about which quotes you're using, you can always use the heredoc syntax, which an explanation can be found on the man page for [man]types.string[/man]. Here's an example:

OPTION 3

echo <<<aKeywordYouCanMakeUp
<p>Blah blah... just some "HTML" stuff that has bunches of quotes. Isn't this fun?</p>
<p>No escaping!</p>
<p><font size="99999999999999">You can also use variables, Mr. {$row['lastname']}!</font></p>
aKeywordYouCanMakeUp;

Heredoc syntax is picky about the identifer that comes after the '<<<' though, so if you plan to use it, take a quick peak at the man page I listed before doing so.

[sliquid]

ok, i used option 1, and the parse error is gone. but my sql request doesn not work. my page is just refreshing on submit. i think the problem lies in my odbc_exec line, the fact its in there twice.

one of them should be different i htink, but i dont know which one, or what to replace it with.

[bradgrafelman]

Indeed.

while ($row = odbc_exec($result)) { 

What are you doing here? You're trying to pull the result from the query here, right? [man]odbc_result/man should work for you.

Don't be afraid to crack open PHP.net's manual, it's an awesome resource! 😉