[RESOLVED] Help with Updating Database via HTML Form

nickminute

I am very new to PHP and am having some difficulting updating my record in a database via an HTML form. Here are the three steps of what I'm trying to accomplish.
Step 1: Pull a record from a database (which is done)
Step 2: Give the user the ability to edit the record information via text and textarea boxes (html forms, done.)
Step 3: When the form is submitted, the database should be updated with the user's changes via a SQL update statement. I am not receiving an error, but the record is not being updated. Please let me know your thoughts. The column/field names are all correct.

HTML FORM with PHP values being pulled in

 <?php include("connect.php"); // connection to database

mysql_select_db("mmpprojects", $con);


$taskNo = "$_POST[task]";
$assignTo = "$_POST[assignTo]";
$open = "Open";
$closed = "Closed";

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Tasks
WHERE taskNo = '$taskNo' AND assignTo = '$assignTo'");

echo "<form action='editTask.php' method='post'>";

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result))
  {
  $taskNumber = $row['taskNo'];
  $project = $row['project']; 
  $manHours = $row['manHours'];   

  $dueDate = $row['dueDate']; 
  $createDate = $row['creationDate'];
  $taskMessage = $row['taskMessage'];
  $assignee = $row['assignTo'];   

  $status = $row['Status'];   

  }
echo "<strong>Project Name:</strong>  <input name='project' type='text' value='" . $project . "' />";
echo "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;";
echo "<strong>Task No#</strong>  <input name='taskNo' style='background-color:#006633' type='text' disabled size='2' value='" . $taskNumber . "' />";
echo "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;";
echo "<strong>Est* Man Hours:</strong> <input name='manHours' style='background-color:#006633' type='text' disabled size='2' value='" . $manHours . "' />";
echo "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;";
echo "<strong>Creation Date:</strong> <input name='createDate' style='background-color:#006633' type='text' disabled value='" . $createDate . "' />";
echo "<br />";
echo "<strong>Assigned To:</strong> <input name='assignTo' type='text' value='" . $assignee . "' />";
echo "<br />";
echo "<strong>Due Date:</strong> <input name='dueDate' type='text' value='" . $dueDate . "' />";
echo "<br />";
echo "<strong>Status:</strong> <input name='notNeeded' type='text' style='background-color:#006633' disabled value='" . $status . "' />";
echo "&nbsp;";
echo "<strong>Change Task Status To: &nbsp; </strong><select name='status'>
<option value='Open'>Open</option>
<option value='Closed'>Closed</option>
</select>";
echo "<br />";
echo "<br />";
echo "<strong>Message:</strong>" ;
echo "<br />";
echo "<textarea name='message' cols='40' rows='10'>" . $taskMessage . " </textarea>";
echo "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;";

echo "<input name='save' type='submit' value='Save Changes' />
<input name='reset' type='reset' value='Reset' />";

echo "</form>";

?>

EDIT TASK.PHP




<?php
 <?php include("connect.php"); // connection to database

mysql_select_db("mmpprojects", $con);
$taskNo = "$_POST[taskNo]";
$dueDate = "$_POST[dueDate]";
$assignTo = "$_POST[assignTo]";
$project = "$_POST[project]";
$message = "$_POST[message]";
$status = "$_POST[status]";
$manHours = "$_POST[manHours]";
$createDate = "$_POST[createDate]";
$open ="Open";
$closed = "Closed";


mysql_query("UPDATE Tasks SET taskNo = '$taskNo',dueDate = '$dueDate',assignTo = '$assignTo',project = '$project',taskMessage = '$message',Status = '$status',manHours = '$manHours',creationDate = '$createDate' WHERE taskNo = '$taskNo'");


?>

paulnaj

Hi,

In EDIT_TASK.php you have two 'opening' php tags.

Also, you should do some validation on the POST data - look up mysql_real_escape_string() in the manual.

nickminute

I just added that include statement because I figured I shouldn't give everyone the names of my server and passwords. My actual code does not contain them both. Do you see anything else?

paulnaj

Hi,

Okay, I've just pasted your code into a text editor and a few issues arose immediately ...

You are choosing to embed variables into strings and although it works most of the time, it causes confusion and it's wrong in this case ...

Change ...
```
$taskNo = "$_POST[taskNo]";
```
... to...
```
$taskNo = $_POST["taskNo"];
```
... and use the same pattern to change all the other assignments.
Before you make this live, you reallyneed to validate the post data, to ensure that correctly formatted data is being sent. Also read up on php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-real-escape-string.php
Do some general error checking by reporting all errors to the browser - once you go live, you should take this line out.

Here's how I would layout the code (this doesn't include the validation code).

<?php
ini_set('error_reporting', E_ALL);

// Connection code ...

mysql_select_db("mmpprojects", $con);
$taskNo = $_POST["taskNo"];
$dueDate = $_POST["dueDate"];
$assignTo = $_POST["assignTo"];
$project = $_POST["project"];
$message = $_POST["message"];
$status = $_POST["status"];
$manHours = $_POST["manHours"];
$createDate = $_POST["createDate"];
$open = "Open";
$closed = "Closed";

mysql_query('
UPDATE Tasks 
SET 
	taskNo = "'.$taskNo.'"
,	dueDate = "'.$dueDatev.'"
,	assignTo = "'.$assignTov.'"
,	project = "'.$project.'"
,	taskMessage = "'.$messagev.'"
,	Status = "'.$status.'"
,	manHours = "'.$manHours.'"
,	creationDate = "'.$createDate.'" 
WHERE taskNo = "'.$taskNo.'"
');
?>

Hope that helps.

nickminute

Thank you very much for your help Paul. I was able to get it working correctly. The problem seemed to be, and correct me if I'm wrong, that I was using a disabled text field to pass a value, and I'm guessing this is not possible? Once I set the textfield to read-only, it worked.

On a side note, I LOVE the <?php ini_set('error_reporting', E_ALL); code. I had no idea this existing and I wouldn't have been able to fix the error without it. I really appreciate your help and being new to programming, would really appreciate any advice you can offer as far as learning PHP.

Thanks again,
Nick

paulnaj

Hi Nick,

Some hosts have error_reporting turned on by default, some will send the error messages to log file and some have it turned off altogether. So this line just 'equalises' them all! Remember to turn off error_reporting after you've finished debugging.

Also, using 'E_ALL' means that you get errors, warnings and notices - have a flick through the manual to see what the difference between these things are.

One other standard trick is to dump the $_POST variable to the browser before using it (only while you're building, of course), so that you can see whether it contains expected values. I use ...

echo '<pre>'; var_dump($ANY_PHP_VARIABLE); echo '</pre>';

... which you can use with any php variable (strings, arrays, objects).

Roger_Ramjet

Use PDO so you don't have to worry about real escape string and all that stuff.