PHP search/results help

mom2justice

I'm trying to put together a database search for a friend's book review site. I have the MySQL database working properly and a search form setup, as well as a results code, however, when I search for a specific keyword (like author name), the results return all the contents in my database, not just the ones relevant to my search term.

I think I'm probably missing something fairly obvious, but I'm having trouble figuring it out, and would be grateful if someone could point me in the right direction.

Here is my search form html:

<form action="results.php" method="post" name="form1" id="form1">
<br />
<h3 align="center"><font color="#5E5C4A" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Search Our Site<br>
</font><i><font color="#5E5C4A" size="2">Please enter one or
more fields to search</font></i></h3>
<p align="center"> </p>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Title
<input name="title" type="text" id="title" />
</font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Author
<input name="author" type="text" id="author" />
</font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Genre
<input name="genre" type="text" id="genre" />
</font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Reviewer:</font>
<input name="reviewer" type="text" id="reviewer" />
</font?</p>
<p><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Publication Date
<input name="pubdate" type="text" id="pubdate" />
</font></p>

<p><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Review Date
<input name="reviewdate" type="text" id="reviewdate" />
</font></p>
<p>
<input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Begin Search" />
</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</form>

And then, here is what I have for results.php:

<?php
$username="username";
$password="password";
$database="database";

$dbh=mysql_connect("localhost","$username","$password") or die ('I cannot connect to the database because: ' . mysql_error());

mysql_select_db ("$database"); 

$sql = "SELECT * FROM reviews";
$query = mysql_query($sql) or die ("No records found");

while ($results = mysql_fetch_array($query))
{
     echo "<a href=${results['link']}>${results['title']}</a>";
     echo "Author: ${results['author']}";
     echo "Genre: ${results['genre']}";
     echo "Publication Date: ${results['pubdate']}";
     echo "Reviewer: ${results['reviewer']}";
     echo "Review Date: ${results['reviewdate']}";
}
?>

Thanks! 🙂

AIS4U

mom2justice:

I think your problem is that you have not set up any search criteria in your results.php file.

You have told it to Select * (select everything)

And then you Echo everything.

So the result is going to be that everything in your database will echo out to the screen.

Here is some sample code that I took from a PHP book I have. I tested it and it works with the sample database. You of course will need to make adjustments for your database and database fields.

<html>
<head>
<title>Book-O-Rama Search Results</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Book-O-Rama Search Results</h1>
<?
if (!$searchtype || !$searchterm)
{
echo "You have not entered search details. Please go back and try again.";
exit;
}

$searchtype = addslashes($searchtype);
$searchterm = addslashes($searchterm);
@ $db = mysql_pconnect("localhost", "root", "password");
if (!$db)
{
echo "Error: Could not connect to database. Please try again later.";
exit;
}
mysql_select_db("books");
$query = "select * from books where ".$searchtype." like '%".$searchterm."%'";
$result = mysql_query($query);
$num_results = mysql_num_rows($result);
echo "<p>Number of books found: ".$num_results."</p>";
for ($i=0; $i <$num_results; $i++)
{
$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
echo "<p><strong>".($i+1).". Title: ";
echo stripslashes($row["title"]);
echo "</strong><br>Author: ";
echo stripslashes($row["author"]);
echo "<br>ISBN: ";
echo stripslashes($row["isbn"]);
echo "<br>Price: ";
echo stripslashes($row["price"]);
echo "</p>";
}
?>
</body>

</html>

With some minor adjustments this should get you started.

You may want to check the PHP manual and read up on searchterm and searchtype or MYSQL manual about "searching".

Good Luck

mom2justice

AIS4U: Thank you! That worked fabulously! Now, I just need to "pretty up" the layout a bit. 🙂

I sincerely appreciate the help!

AIS4U

mom2justice:

Hey, glad it worked for you.

Can I ask you to do me a favor and go to the top of the posting screen and click on "Thread Tool" and then click "Mark Thread Resolved"

Thanks

Good Luck with your application.