turning an array into a string then poping it into a db

gotornot

Hi im just wondering how you get a requested array into a single string then pop it into the db so far i got
print_r($_REQUEST['choice_name']);

whch echos

Array ( [0] => Colour=Blue [1] => Size=8 [2] => Neck Line=V )

I need it to look ready to enter into a db in a single field like this

Colour=Blue Size=8 Neck Line=V

Any ideas

Bjom

implode

It is a VERY bad idea to store multiple data into one field. And there is no good reason for doing so. It has absolutely no advantage whatsoever but can produce a plethora of issues.

Read up on database normalization and also on arrays. Both topics are so essential, that you simply have to know it and know it well too.

Bjom

gotornot

but i need to do it as the form that pases the data to the page has multiple values for one $_REQUEST

NogDog

[man]serialize/man is probably the best bet if you just need to store the array so that it can be reloaded into another PHP script as an array (via [man]unserialize/man). But as mentioned above, if this is meant as a way of storing data that needs to be more generally accessible (i.e.: it might need to be accessed in any way other than being reloaded into PHP as the same array), then it is very non-normalized.

Bjom

what exactly do you mean by "multiple values for one $_REQUEST"?

It doesn't really matter how complex the result is. There is always a way to sort it out and normalize the data before storing them in the database.

The only exception is the case that NogDog pointed out: when you want to store the array as such to restore it later in its entirety, but that is for rather special cases only.

Trust us. You want to normalize.

johanafm

Moreover, if you really are going to put everything provided by the user into one field, then $_REQUEST is most likely not what you want to use. I'd always claim it's a bad idea to use it, but in this case it's worse than usual. You will end up with cookies and most likely lots of other things as well that do not belong there.

Also, if you do nothing but an implode(), even used on just the appropriate $GET or $POST, you will still need to cleanup data anyway.

Ashley_Sheridan

This is crying out for relational tables!

What you'd want to do is for each choice in the $_REQUEST['choice_name'] insert a record into the choices table, with each choice having a common chooser_id field. The chooser_id field then maps to a single row in the users table.

This way, you can easily retrieve all the info for a single user, or all users who made the same choice just using a simple SQL join.