Parse POST variables for mySQL query

[esilk]

I have an expandable jquery form with 3 fields that clone here:
http://electricsilk.com/edgewater/admin/news.php

Field names are headline1, article1, and pdf1
(pdf's are FILE uploads)
If another set is added, then headline2, article2, and pdf2
etc.

The problem I am having is in getting the variables out of the POST array and into the database.

This does not work:

$query_string = "";
if ($_POST) {
  foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
if ($key != "process" && $key != "submit") {
if(strstr($key,'headline')) {
     $headline = $value;}
if(strstr($key,'article')) {
     $article = $value;} 
echo $headline . " = " . $article . "<br />";
}
  }
$newname = uniqid("edge").".pdf";
$result = mysql_query("INSERT INTO news VALUES ('','$headline','$article','$newname')") or die("Error: " . mysql_error());
$success = 1;
}

$query_string = "";
if ($_FILES) {
  $kv2 = array();
  foreach ($_FILES as $key => $value) {
    $kv2[] = "$key=$value";
  }
  $query_string = join("&", $kv2);
if ($_FILES[$pdf]['error']==0){
$remote_file = "../pdf/". $newname;
move_uploaded_file($_FILES[$pdf]['tmp_name'], $remote_file);
chmod($remote_file,0777);}
}

Any ideas how to clean this up and get it working?

Thank you!!
Randy

[bradgrafelman]

When posting PHP code, please use the board's [noparse]

..

[/noparse] bbcode tags as they make your code much easier to read and analyze.

esilk wrote:

Any ideas how to clean this up and get it working?

Yep - ditch the numbered field names.

Instead, use field names such as "headline[]" (with the '[]' at the end being the replacement for a number). That way, $_POST['headline'] will be an array, so you could do something like:

for($i = 0; $i < count($_POST['headline']); $i++) {
    // process fields here, e.g.:
    echo "Headline is: " . $_POST['headline'][$i];
}

EDIT: Note this also has the added bonus of cleaning up your JS, since there's no need to get the previous number and increment it - just keep the name the same every time and PHP will handle the numerically-indexed array on its own.

[esilk]

OK, thanks...I have that somewhat working here now:
http://electricsilk.com/edgewater/admin/news2.php

Here is the code:

for($i = 0; $i < count($_POST['headline']); $i++) {
    echo "Headline is: " . $_POST['headline'][$i];
} 
for($i = 0; $i < count($_POST['article']); $i++) {
    echo "<br />Article is: " . $_POST['article'][$i];
} 
for($i = 0; $i < count($_FILES['pdf']); $i++) {
    echo "<br />PDF is: " . $_FILES['pdf'][$i];
} 

First problem is that the PDF part is listing 5 empty results when a single article is submitted, so there's definitely something wrong with my code there.

Second problem is how do I insert the results into the database and keep everything together - [headline1, article1, pdf1] [headline2, article2, pdf2] etc ?

Thanks for your help with this!
Randy

[bradgrafelman]

esilk wrote:

First problem is that the PDF part is listing 5 empty results when a single article is submitted, so there's definitely something wrong with my code there.

Try doing a [man]print_r/man on the $FILES array - you'll see that its structure isn't very intuitive (IMHO, anyway); the [$i] reference would go after the part of the $FILES structure you're after, e.g. $FILES['error'][$i]. Also note that you'd want to modify the count() to count one of those specific indexes as well, rather than the $FILES['pdf'] array itself (which will always contain the 5 array indexes noted on: [man]features.file-upload.post-method[/man]).

esilk wrote:

Second problem is how do I insert the results into the database and keep everything together - [headline1, article1, pdf1] [headline2, article2, pdf2] etc ?

Easy way to do that is to use only one for() loop. Count a specific field in the group that is repeated, and use the $i counter inside that loop for all of the accesses to external data... $POST['headline'][$i], $POST['article'][$i], etc.

[esilk]

Thanks again - and also for your patience with my lack of knowledge here...

So I'm getting closer with the PDF part, but I did a test with two articles and only the first file is listed when I use this code:

for($i = 0; $i < count($_FILES['pdf']['name']); $i++) {
    echo "<br />PDF is: " . $_FILES['pdf']['name'][$i] . "<br />";
} 

Once I get that working then I can move on to getting the data into the database...

Cheers!
Randy

[bradgrafelman]

Do this:

print_r($_FILES);

to get a look at the $_FILES array and post the output here for us to see.

[esilk]

Array ( [pdf] => Array ( [name] => Array ( [0] => Pics Canada Invoice W1222.pdf ) [type] => Array ( [0] => application/pdf ) [tmp_name] => Array ( [0] => /tmp/phpPzJ6Qv ) [error] => Array ( [0] => 0 ) [size] => Array ( [0] => 53192 ) ) ) 

[bradgrafelman]

Your Javascript code is still appending numbers after the field names, so you end up with fields that look like "headline[]2" and "pdf[]2". Get rid of the numbers and it should work just fine.

[esilk]

OK...that seems to be working now, thanks:

Array ( [pdf] => Array ( [name] => Array ( [0] => Pics Canada Invoice W1222.pdf [1] => Pics Canada Packing Slip W1228.pdf ) [type] => Array ( [0] => application/pdf [1] => application/pdf ) [tmp_name] => Array ( [0] => /tmp/phpTkTmFO [1] => /tmp/phpkGPXFO ) [error] => Array ( [0] => 0 [1] => 0 ) [size] => Array ( [0] => 53192 [1] => 48119 ) ) ) 
Headline is: Headline 1
Headline is: Headline 2
Article is: jljljlj lkjlkjlk
Article is: adf fasdfsdff
PDF is: Pics Canada Invoice W1222.pdf
PDF is: Pics Canada Packing Slip W1228.pdf

So now the database/file-save part...

Easy way to do that is to use only one for() loop. Count a specific field in the group that is repeated, and use the $i counter inside that loop for all of the accesses to external data... $POST['headline'][$i], $POST['article'][$i], etc.

Can you give me an example of how that loop should be structured?

Randy

[bradgrafelman]

esilk wrote:

Can you give me an example of how that loop should be structured?

Sure - just pick any one of the four for() loops you're already using.

[esilk]

YES! So far so good - data is going to DB as it should.
Only thing not working now is the files uploading. Here is my code:

for($i = 0; $i < count($_POST['headline']); $i++) {
    echo "<br />Headline is: " . $_POST['headline'][$i];
    echo "<br />Article is: " . $_POST['article'][$i];
    echo "<br />PDF is: " . $_FILES['pdf']['name'][$i] . "<br />";
    $headline = $_POST['headline'][$i];
    $article = $_POST['article'][$i];
    $newname = uniqid("edge").".pdf";

if ($_FILES[$pdf]['error'][$i]==0){
$remote_file = "../pdf/". $newname;
move_uploaded_file($_FILES[$pdf]['tmp_name'][$i], $remote_file);
chmod($remote_file,0777);}

$result = mysql_query("INSERT INTO news VALUES ('','$headline','$article','$newname')") or die("Error: " . mysql_error());

What have I done wrong in the upload part?
Randy

[esilk]

One other question I have is actually about the expanding form and may be more of a javascript issue than php, so sorry if this is the wrong place for this....

When you complete the fields for the first article and then click "add another..." the next set of input fields are pre-filled with the same info entered into article1.

Is there a way to clear/reset the new form fields as they are cloned?

Here is the js I'm using:

<script type="text/javascript">
        function trimNums(stringToTrim)
        {
            return stringToTrim.replace(/\d+$/,"");
        }

    function dupForm(divId, divClass, btnAdd, btnRm)
    {
    //alert(divId+'   '+divClass);
        var num     = $(divClass).length;
        var newNum  = new Number(num + 1);
        var i;

        var newElem = $('#' + divId + num).clone().attr('id', divId + newNum);

        for (i=0; i < newElem.children().length; i++)
        {
            var attrId = trimNums(newElem.children(':eq('+i+')').attr('id'));
            var attrName = trimNums(newElem.children(':eq('+i+')').attr('name'));

            newElem.children(':eq('+i+')').attr('id', attrId + newNum).attr('name', attrName);
        }
        $('#' + divId + num).after(newElem);
        $('#' + btnRm).attr('disabled','');

        if (newNum == 15)
            $('#' + btnAdd).attr('disabled','disabled');
    }

    function rmForm(divId, divClass, btnAdd, btnRm)
    {
        var num = $(divClass).length;

        $('#' + divId + num).remove();
        $('#' + btnAdd).attr('disabled','');

        if (num-1 == 1)
            $('#' + btnRm).attr('disabled','disabled');
    }
</script>

[bradgrafelman]

esilk;10985432 wrote:

What have I done wrong in the upload part?

One problem I see is here:

move_uploaded_file($_FILES[$pdf]['tmp_name'][$i], $remote_file);

You're using a variable $pdf but haven't defined it. Perhaps that should've been the string 'pdf' instead?

esilk;10985433 wrote:

Is there a way to clear/reset the new form fields as they are cloned?

One way would be add a call to reset() onto the end of the chain here:

var newElem = $('#' + divId + num).clone().attr('id', divId + newNum);

That would reset the new element's value back to its default.

[esilk]

When adding reset() to the end of the chain the form no longer expands:

newElem.children(':eq('+i+')').attr('id', attrId + newNum).attr('name', attrName).reset();

[esilk]

You're using a variable $pdf but haven't defined it. Perhaps that should've been the string 'pdf' instead?

My bad - removed the $ and the upload is now working - thanks again!

Only thing now is the pesky pre-filled fields...

[esilk]

I noticed I put the reset on the wrong line, but it does not work here either:

var newElem = $('#' + divId + num).clone().attr('id', divId + newNum).reset();