create from from database table

[v3nt]

hello there. Just wondering how it would be possible to automatically create a form by reading what fields are in a table? I've had a look around but can't find anything - maybe there's some terminology i don't know?

i thought if you had a table with several fields you could somehow tell what type it was and then echo the right input, ie a field 'info' set to TEXT would create a multiline text input with the name 'info'.

Is this at all possible? Any advice appreciated!

D.

[jkurrle]

It seems feasible. You would need a form element table, which will identify what type of form element each item is, what it's id/name is, what value to set the default to, what lead-in text to use to identify the element. You will also need a form table that describes what form elements to use and in what order, and also where to post the data to. This is a rough layout and would need some polishing, but it is possible.

Doing something like this would be valuable if you were going to do some sort of on-the-fly designer for a form, but the script you are sending the data to will still need to be custom written.

[v3nt]

i thought sending it would be the easiest part!

the tricky bit would be getting form fields with a clear label and even some description text to clarify what goes into the form. Do you know anything about the COMMENTs you can add to an SQL field in phpMyAdmin?

i've got another post here explaining...
http://www.phpbuilder.com/board/showthread.php?p=10854623#post10854623

many thanks for your input

[v3nt]

got this kinda working! Hopefully will come in really handy for clint admins with lots of fields and different tables...

<?
include_once('../include/dbConn.php');

dbConnect($host,$user,$pass,$db);

$query = "describe $table"; 
$result = mysql_query($query); 

$formFields;


/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

$editQuery ="UPDATE $table SET";

$queryU2 = "describe $table"; 
$resultU2 = mysql_query($queryU2); 

while (list($a,$b,$c,$d,$e,$f) = mysql_fetch_row($resultU2)) { 


	if(!strstr(strtolower($b), 'int(11)') && !strstr(strtolower($b), 'timestamp')){
		$editQuery .=" $a ='".${$a.'_field'}."' ";
	}	 

	$editQuery=str_replace("  ",", ",$editQuery);		

} 

$editQuery .=" WHERE $idRef='$id'";

if($submit){
	$queryS = "$editQuery"; 
	$resultS = mysql_query($queryS) or die ("Error in query: $query. " . mysql_error());

echo"updated.<BR><BR> ";
} 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


$selectQuery ="SELECT * FROM  $table WHERE $idRef='$id'";

$selectData = "$selectQuery";
$selectResult = mysql_query($selectData) or die ("Error in query: $query. " . mysql_error());

if (mysql_num_rows($selectResult) > 0){
	$rowField = mysql_fetch_object($selectResult);

	while (list($a,$b,$c,$d,$e,$f) = mysql_fetch_row($result)) { 
		//print "$a,$b,$c,$d,$e,$f<br><br>"; 

		if(strstr(strtolower($b), 'varchar') || strstr(strtolower($b), 'int(4)')){
			$formFields .="<label>$a</label><input name='".$a."_field' type='text' value=\"".$rowField->$a."\" />";

		}else if(strstr(strtolower($b), 'text')){
			$formFields .="<label>$a</label><textarea name='".$a."_field' cols='' rows='6'>".$rowField->$a."</textarea>";

		} 

	} 

}	


?>

<link href="../css/formStyles.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />

<form class="form" action="<?= $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']?>" method="post" >
<legend><?= $formFields ?> 

<label></label><input name="submit" type="submit" id="formButton" />


</legend>
</form>

<?= $editQuery ?><br />
<?= $selectQuery ?>