Noone can figure this out

jumpenjuhosapha

I have a problem with getting CREATE TABLE to create a table. The script is at:
http://hotactress.buyyourgadgets.com/stuff.bbb

I send info to this script with a simple form, one item. It takes that info, and adds it to the table that already exists, like it's supposed to do, but then, It doesn't create a new table at:

$sql="(CREATE TABLE '.$newname.' (...etc...

I tried completely deleting the CREATE TABLE variable, and just entered the following:
mysql_query("CREATE TABLE whatever (this VARCHAR(10)");

I did that to see if I entered something that absolutely should create a table, and it didn't.

I have posted this problem on some of the biggest PHP boards, but everyone tells me it is the way I have my $newname, that it should have "" quotes but that just gives an error, where as, without the quotes, no error. Also, if it were the quotes, then I should be able to get a simple CREATE TABLE to work.

So, noone seems to know the answer, and it's been looked at by a couple hundred people, and they are all stumped. Maybe(hopefully), you can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks in advance.

thorpe

What is...

mysql_query(sql$, dbh$);

meant to be?

You might also try some simple debugging.

 mysql_query($sql, $dbh) or die(mysql_error());

jumpenjuhosapha

I don't understand...I thought(could I be wrong?), this is how you create a table.
I did the "or die" too, but no error is returned. So I echo'd the results of
$sql=(yadayadayada) to the screen, so I could get a look at what exactly was going into the mysql_query(CREATE TABLE construct.

thorpe

Look at your code. This line is wrong....

mysql_query(sql$, dbh$);

jumpenjuhosapha

Okay, I'm sorry, but I just started learning PHP 3 days ago, so maybe you could be a bit more specific. In fact, I just started learning any kind of web design a few weeks ago, and so far, this is my first problem. Please explain? How should it be?

thorpe

mysql_query($sql, $dbh) or die(mysql_error());

Notice the $ is before the name of the variable, not after.

jumpenjuhosapha

Oh, okay, fixed it.....the dbh$, used to money, $5.00 is five dollars, so I say in in my head....dbh dollars, then it translates to dbh$. Let me try that real quick.

That didn't do it. still no table....🙁

Houdini

The whole query was full of unnessary quotes this will work

$sql = "CREATE TABLE $newname (
          id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, 
          title VARCHAR(30), 
          metakeywords VARCHAR(50), 
          metadescription VARCHAR(50), 
          imgloc VARCHAR(256) NOT NULL, 
          description VARCHAR(1000) 
         )" ;
$result = mysql_query($sql)//this was wrong
  or die("The Query failed. MySQL said".mysql_error());

jumpenjuhosapha

Okay, so I should put the query in a variable? Let me give that a try, thanks about the quotes, I copied that from the MySqlAdmin PhP maker, I got that cleaned up already.

jumpenjuhosapha

Okay, I figured it out. I was entering 2 names.....ie Boo Bah, into the query, table names can only be one word....Boo_Bah, thanks everyone...That worked...now my next problem.......How do I get PHP to insert a _ or %20 where the space is? Or should I do that by hand? If by hand, how do I trap it when someone accidentally enters a "space"?

thorpe

Okay, I figured it out.

Brilliant, considering hundreds had failed before you. :-)

As for your other problem, you dont want to replace spaces with %20, that wont work either. Replace spaces with

$newname = str_replace(' ','_',$newname);

jumpenjuhosapha

Actually, it was me that failed, it wouldn't have been possible for someone to figure it out, because I never thought to mention that I was using 2 words in the table name. So, not brilliant, just persistant. Thankyou though. What I did to solve the other problem is to ask for the name in 2 fields, firstname, and last name. Then when the names were passed to PHP, i simply put them together like so
$wholename=$firstname."_".$lastname;

Weedpacket

Um, table names can contain spaces if they're quoted in queries:

 $sql = "CREATE TABLE `$newname` (
          id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
          title VARCHAR(30),
          metakeywords VARCHAR(50),
          metadescription VARCHAR(50),
          imgloc VARCHAR(256) NOT NULL,
          description VARCHAR(1000)
         )" ;

(Caveat: I don't actually use MySQL, so I'm relying on the referenced manual page for this information. I do know you can have spaces in table names in e.g., PostgreSQL and SQL Server, and I presume MySQL's parser is just as smart.)

jumpenjuhosapha

That may be true but

Table names cannot contain ‘/’, ‘\’, ‘.’, or characters that are not allowed in a filename.

. My server is a linux server, and linux doesn't allow spaces in file names. When windows comes across a space, it replaces the space with %20 for compatibility. Thanks for the link though, that had a load of good information.

Weedpacket

Um, no; Windows leaves it as a space (just look at "C:\Program Files\").

And over on my Linux machine:

[weed@localhost weed]$ touch "a file with spaces in the name"
[weed@localhost weed]$ ls
00004121.jpg*                     Desktop/      gshhs.tgz    ogg/
a file with spaces in the name    Documents/    fonts.txt
[weed@localhost weed]$

No probs.

jumpenjuhosapha

Im sorry, I meant windows adds %20 when on the internet. If a webname has a space, it is filled with %20.

Weedpacket

Okay. Lesson for today: http://www.w3.org/TR/chips/#uri

A common mistake, responsible for many HTTP implementations problems, is to think this is equivalent to a filename within a computer system. This is wrong. URIs have, conceptually, nothing to do with a file system. One should remember that at all times when dealing with the World Wide Web.