User entered date on form gets stored to DB

[big-dog]

I know this has been beat to death, but I just cant seem to understand Please help. I have a form the user enters a racedate in a text box

<input type="text" name="RaceDate" size='10' maxlength="10"

then the form uses the following to store the information into DB but everyone seems to enter the date differently in the form so then the DB either doesn’t store the information or it stores it how ever they entered it creating problems when I go to retrieve the information. I need it to be MM/DD or MM/DD/YY would settle for YYYY/MM/DD but in any case I need the user to have to use the right format.
Please help with excample I’ve looked at documentation and still is way over my head

<?php
include("global.inc.php");
$errors=0;
$error="The following errors occured while processing your form input. \n<ul>";
pt_register('POST','FirstName');
pt_register('POST','LastName');
pt_register('POST','Address');
pt_register('POST','City');
pt_register('POST','State');
pt_register('POST','ZipCode');
pt_register('POST','HomePhone');
pt_register('POST','CellPhone');
pt_register('POST','EMail');
pt_register('POST','MembershipNo');
pt_register('POST','RoarNo');
pt_register('POST','FirstClass');
pt_register('POST','TransmitterFrequency');
pt_register('POST','TransponderNo');
pt_register('POST','TrackTransponder');
pt_register('POST','SecondClass');
pt_register('POST','TransmitterFrequency2');
pt_register('POST','TransponderNo2');
pt_register('POST','TrackTransponder2');
pt_register('POST','AbilitySkillLevel');
pt_register('POST','RaceDate');
pt_register('POST','Track');
pt_register('POST','IPAddress');
pt_register('POST','DatePosted');

if($FirstName=="" || $LastName=="" || $Address=="" || $City=="" || $State=="" || $ZipCode=="" || $EMail=="" || $FirstClass=="" || $TransmitterFrequency=="" || $AbilitySkillLevel=="" || $RaceDate=="" || $Track=="" )
{
	$errors = 1;
	$error.="\n<li>You did not enter one or more of the required fields. Please go back and try again.</li>";
}
if(!eregi("^[a-z0-9]+([_\\.-][a-z0-9]+)*" ."@"."([a-z0-9]+([\.-][a-z0-9]+)*)+"."\\.[a-z]{2,}"."$",$EMail))
{
	$error.="\n<li>Invalid email address entered</li>";
	$errors=1;
}

$IPAddress = $HTTP_SERVER_VARS["REMOTE_ADDR"];
$DatePosted = date("Y-m-d h:i");

if($errors==1) {echo $error;}
else {
	$where_form_is="http".($HTTP_SERVER_VARS["HTTPS"]=="on"?"s":"")."://".$SERVER_NAME.strrev(strstr(strrev($PHP_SELF),"/"));
$message = "Name: ".$FirstName." ".$LastName."
Address: ".$Address."
	    ".$City." ".$State." ".$ZipCode."
Home Phone: ".$HomePhone."
Cell Phone: ".$CellPhone."
E Mail: ".$EMail."

Membership No: ".$MembershipNo."
Roar No: ".$RoarNo."

First Class: ".$FirstClass."
Transmitter Frequency: ".$TransmitterFrequency."
Transponder No: ".$TransponderNo."
Track Transponder: ".$TrackTransponder."

Second Class: ".$SecondClass."
Transmitter Frequency: ".$TransmitterFrequency2."
Transponder No: ".$TransponderNo2."
Track Transponder: ".$TrackTransponder2."

Ability Skill Level: ".$AbilitySkillLevel."
Race Date: ".$RaceDate."
Track: ".$Track."

Date Posted: ".$DatePosted."
";
$link = mysql_connect
mysql_select_db("",$link);
$query="INSERT INTO Registration (First_Name, Last_Name, Address, City, State, Zip_Code, Home_Phone, Cell_Phone, E_Mail, Membership_No, Roar_No, First_Class, Transmitter_Frequency, Transponder_No, Track_Transponder, Second_Class, Transmitter_Frequency2, Transponder_No2, Track_Transponder2, Ability_Skill_Level, Race_Date, Track, IP_Address, Date_Posted) VALUES ('".$FirstName."','".$LastName."','".$Address."','".$City."','".$State."','".$ZipCode."','".$HomePhone."','".$CellPhone."','".$EMail."','".$MembershipNo."','".$RoarNo."','".$FirstClass."','".$TransmitterFrequency."','".$TransponderNo."','".$TrackTransponder."','".$SecondClass."','".$TransmitterFrequency2."','".$TransponderNo2."','".$TrackTransponder2."','".$AbilitySkillLevel."','".$RaceDate."','".$Track."','".$IPAddress."','".$DatePosted."')";
if( mysql_query($query) )
{

 $Local = $_POST['Track']; 
    $checkArray = array( 
  'Wichita' => , 
	  'Hutchison' => ,
	  'A Main' => ,
	  'Pea Body' => ,
	  'Newton' => ,
	  'Action RC' => ,
	  'Enid' => ,
    ); 
    $to = $checkArray[$Local];

  $message = stripslashes($message);
  if( mail("$to","".$FirstName." ".$LastName." ".$RaceDate." Race Registration", $message,"From: $EMail") )
 {
     echo "<p>Email confirmation sent</p>";
 }
 else 
{
      echo "<p>An error occured sending confirmation</p>";
}
}
else 
{
       echo "<p>Could not register. Please try again later</p>";
}

?> 

[NogDog]

The best way is to use 3 select elements in the form for year, month, and day. Then you can combine them in whatever format you need to insert into the database.

<label>Year:
<select name="year">
<?php
$thisYear = date('Y');
for($yr = $thisYear; $yr <= $thisYear + 10; $yr++)
{
   echo "<option>$yr</option>\n";
}
?>
</select>
</label>
<label>Month:
<select name="month">
<?php
foreach(range(1,12) as $mo)
{
   printf("<option>%02d</option>\n", $mo);
}
?>
</select>
</label>
<label>Day:
<select name="day">
<?php
foreach(range(1,31) as $day)
{
   printf("<option>%02d</option>\n", $day);
}
?>
</select>
</label>

Your form processor can then run the values through [man]checkdate/man to make sure a valid date was input.