[RESOLVED] inserting into mysql with txt box and drop down

jjqualls

I am trying to insert into the mysql database using 4 text boxes and a drop down list, the text boxes work great, but the drop down list doesn't submit the item that is selected. I am sure this is probably an easy fix like the drop down list not being attached in any way to the submit button(not sure if it is or not), but I haven't found the answer yet, but here is the code that pertains to this

<form action="recipeinsert.php" method="post">
Category: <tr>
<td class="dr"><SELECT name=”category”>
<option value="main course">Main Course</option>
<option value="side dish">Side Dish</option>
<option value="desserts">Desserts</option>
<option value="drink">Drink</option>
</SELECT>
</td>
</tr>
Name of the food: <input type="text" name="name" />
Ingredients: <input type="text" name="ingredients" />
Directions: <input type="text" name="directions" />
Submitted by: <input type="text" name="submitted" />
<input type="submit" value = "Submit Recipe" />

</form>

and the processing form is this

$category = $_POST['category'];
$name = $_POST['name'];
$ingredients = $_POST['ingredients'];
$directions = $_POST['directions'];
$submitted = $_POST['submitted'];

include("../includes/recipedata.php");
$query = "INSERT INTO recipes (category, name, ingredients, directions, submitted, verify)VALUES ('".$category."', '".$name."', '".$ingredients."', '".$directions."', '".$submitted."', 'NULL')";

Thanks for any help!

dalecosp

Take a look at "Debugging 101" in my signature.

I'd stick a big [man]print_r/man in the handler, right up top, and see if "category" was in the $_POST array, for starters. I might also look at the name="category" attribute. I don't know, but my browser's not showing the right characters there. Might be the issue in and of itself....

anakadote

I notice that you're using smart quotes in your select input around "category". Try using straight quotes instead:

You should also be escaping the post data before inserting it into your database:

$category = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['category']);
$name = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['name']);
$ingredients = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['ingredients']);
$directions = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['directions']);
$submitted = mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['submitted']);

jjqualls

dalecosp;10967823 wrote:
Take a look at "Debugging 101" in my signature.

I might also look at the name="category" attribute. I don't know, but my browser's not showing the right characters there.

Thank you very much, that was it, not sure how the other characters got there or what they even were, but changing it fixed it. Figured it was something real small like that and I was just overlooking it from staring at it for several hours.