Form to DB Help

[focus310]

Hello:

I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I want to create a form with PHP so I can then insert the data into a table.

The page of the form is a checklist of behaviors for current and prior.

The form consists of all checkboxes.
The first checkbox identifies the behavior. For example: Abuse
Next to the behavior checkbox, you the current type of behavior. For example: physical, sexual, emotional, etc.
Next to the current type is a set of identical checkboxes which represent the prior behavior.

The form looks something like this. I placed checkmarks so you can see what the form should look like when completed.
Behavior | Current | Prior
[X ] Abuse | [ X] Emotional | [ ] Emotional
| [ ] Physical | [ X] Emotional

[ X] Eating Dis | [ ] Anorexia | [ ] Anorexia
| [ X] Bulimia | [ X] Bulimia

Now I need to collect the results into a database.

Right now, I need help with the design of the form so I can link the current behavior to the type of behavior and link the prior behavior to the type of behavior.

Can someone help me? Thank you in advance.

[Scriptmaker]

Personally, I wouldn't make 2 levels of checkboxes, meaning I would set it up like this:

Abuse:
Current: []Physical []Emotional
Prior: []Physical []Emotional

Eating Disorder:
Current:[]Anorexia []Bulimia
Prior: []Anorexia []Bulimia

I think it gets a little confusing for an end user when you have too many checkboxes.

Another option is using a mixture of Javascript and PHP. Google "linked dropdown menus" or "linked menus javascript" and you should find some premade scripts that just require editing the options. These are neat because they will allow you to choose an option, then more options will be shown, kind of like when you look up a car and it has you select your year, then make, then model.

Whichever option you choose, you will eventually handle the form data server side with PHP. The form data will be stored in an array variable called $_POST[]. You can do some if(){} statements to sort through the data, and then use and Mysql_Query(INSERT INTO table) statement in the end to put it into your datbase.

There are a ton of tutorials on PHP Forms and Mysql to help you out with this. Good luck!

[focus310]

Thanks for the reply.

The reason why I had the first level of checkboxes (Abuse, Eating Disorder) is so that they can run queries like: how many girls were physically abused.

I need to have the name of the behavior in a table so I can then join to the current and prior choices.

Right now, I have the form designed exactly how you have it in the post. On second glance of the form, I started to realize if the behavior isn't selected, how would I know which choice goes to which behavior.

[Scriptmaker]

focus310 wrote:

how would I know which choice goes to which behavior.

You can name each checkbox something like

<input type=checkbox name=ED_Cur_Anorexia>
<input type=checkbox name=ED_Prior_Anorexia>
<input type=checkbox name=ED_Cur_Bulemia>
<input type=checkbox name=ED_Prior_Bulemia>

and then run some if(){} statements with PHP with the $_POST[] data to check if the selected option(s) are eating disorders, then also set the Eating Disorder column in your table to true.

You don't have to do it that way, you can just use your seperate checkbox method to do the same thing. It would certainly be less coding, and thinking about it, it wouldn't be THAT much more of a burden to your users to check the extra box.

One other thing you could do if you use the extra checkbox, is use just a little bit of javascript to disable (grey out) or enable the associated checkboxes depending on whether or not the main checkbox is checked. That would make it a little more obvious for a user.

[focus310]

I actually do have my textboxes names in the same fashion as you suggested. I just don't know how to get the info from the form into the table properly.

[Scriptmaker]

Ok, here's a quick script that should point you in at least one direction.

Here's the progression:
User submits form
Checks if form was submitted
Checks if any of the eating disorder boxes are checked
if yes, starts building the string needed in the mysql query later.
then finds which boxes were checked, and continues to build the SET string and VALUES string.
Removes the comma from the beginning of the strings (there are other ways around this)
Queries the database and inserts the SET and VALUES into the database.

You'll have to:
Set up a database table and replace "testtable" with your table's name
Your table should have all of the same names as the form components. If not, you should be able to see what you need to change to accomodate.
Look up how to connect to databases on your own.

Note: I did not add any protection against MYSQL injection, so before using this on a public server, make sure you read up on this subject.

<?php
//Turn on error reporting
error_reporting(E_ALL);


if(isset($_POST['Submit']))

{

//define variables
$set = "";
$values = "";

if (isset($_POST['ed_curr_anorexia']) OR
isset($_POST['ed_curr_bulimia']) OR
isset($_POST['ed_prior_anorexia']) OR
isset($_POST['ed_prior_bulimia']) )
{
	$set .= ",ed";
	$values .= ",'Yes'";
	if (isset($_POST['ed_curr_anorexia']))
	{
		$set .= ",ed_curr_anorexia";
		$values .= ",'Yes'";
	}
	if (isset($_POST['ed_curr_bulimia']))
	{
		$set .= ",ed_curr_bulimia";
		$values .= ",'Yes'";
	}
	if (isset($_POST['ed_prior_anorexia']))
	{
		$set .= ",ed_prior_anorexia";
		$values .= ",'Yes'";
	}
	if (isset($_POST['ed_prior_bulimia']))
	{
		$set .= ",ed_prior_bulimia";
		$values .= ",'Yes'";
	}
}

if ($set != "" && $values != "")
{
	//remove comma from beginning of strings
	$finalset = substr($set, 1, strlen($set));
	$finalvalues = substr($values, 1, strlen($values));
	// Connect to Database, look this up seperately to 
           // see how to do it.
	include("connect.php");
	// Insert Data into table, replace testtable
            // with your table's name
	@mysql_query("INSERT INTO testtable ($finalset) 
VALUES ($finalvalues)")or die(mysql_error()); 
		echo "Data was successfully entered";
	}

}

else{

?>
<form method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];?>">
Current:<br />
<input type=checkbox name=ed_curr_anorexia>Anorexia<br />
<input type=checkbox name=ed_curr_bulimia>Bulimia<br />
Prior: <br />
<input type=checkbox name=ed_prior_anorexia>Anorexia<br />
<input type=checkbox name=ed_prior_bulimia>Bulimia<br />
<input type=submit name=Submit>
</form>



<?php
}
?>

Note: I did not add any protection against MYSQL injection, so before using this on a public server, make sure you read up on this subject.