Insert X number of entries into a database

[alwaysconfused]

Hi,

I'm trying to insert times for competitors in a race using one form which is built dynamically depending on how many competitors there are the code for the form is below...

form action="inputtimesstep3.php" method="post" name="racetimes">
    <table align="center" border="1">
  <tr align="center" valign="middle"><strong>
    <td rowspan="2">Race Number</td>
    <td rowspan="2">Start Time</td>
    <td rowspan="2">Boat</td>
    <td rowspan="2">Sail Number</td>
    <td rowspan="2">Helm</td>
    <td rowspan="2">Crew</td>
    <td colspan="3">Time</td>
    <td rowspan="2">Laps</td></strong>
  </tr>
  <tr align="center" valign="middle">
    <td>Hours</td><td >Mins</td><td>Secs</td>
  </tr>
    <?php do {  ?><tr align="center">
    <td>
      <input name="rnum" type="hidden" value="<?php echo $row_competitors['race_id']; ?>" size="5"/><?php echo $row_competitors['race_no']; ?></td>
                  <td>
            <?php echo $row_competitors['starting_at']; ?>
            </td>
                  <td>
      <?php echo $row_competitors['whichboat']; ?>
      </td>
                  <td>
            <?php echo $row_competitors['sail_no']; ?>
            </td>
                  <td>
      <input name="helmysteers[]" type="hidden" value="<?php echo $row_competitors['racecrewpeeps']; ?>" /><?php echo $row_competitors['personhelm']; ?>
      </td>
                  <td>
    <?php echo $row_competitors['personcrew']; ?>
    </td>
                  <td>
            <input name="timetheytookhrs[]" type="text" value="" size="5"/></td>
            <td><input name="timetheytookmins[]" type="text" value="" size="5"/></td>
            <td><input name="timetheytooksecs[]" type="text" value="" size="5"/></td>
                  <td>
            <input name="lapstheydid[]" type="text" value="" size="5"/></td></tr>
         <?php } while ($row_competitors = mysql_fetch_assoc($competitors)); ?></table>
      <p align="center">  <input type="submit" value="Enter Times"/></p>
    </form>

The problem I've got is getting this information to submit into the table. I've tried using a foreach() loop but only get one column filled, I fiddled around with this some more but ended up with multiple entries (fake race with 4 entrants gave me 1000+ records, oops!!). I've also tried using

<?
$racywacy = $_POST['rnum']; 
$hrstaken = $_POST['timetheytookhrs'];
$minstaken = $_POST['timetheytookmins'];
$secstaken = $_POST['timetheytooksecs'];
$lapping = $_POST['lapstheydid'];
$crew = $_POST['helmysteers'];

 do { $i=$i+1; 

$rwy = $racywacy;
$htkn[$i] = $hrstaken;
$mtkn[$i] = $minstaken;
$stkn[$i] = $secstaken;
$lpping[$i] = $lapping;
$crw[$i] = $crew;


$query = "INSERT INTO tblresults (race_id, boatcrewid, hours, mins, secs, laps) VALUES ('$rwy', '$crw', '$htkn', '$mtkn', '$stkn', '$lpping')"; 

  mysql_select_db($database_sailingdb, $sailingdb);
 $result = mysql_query($query, $sailingdb) or die(mysql_error());


} while ($row_competitors = mysql_fetch_assoc($competitors));

and a for() loop

<?php for ($i=0; $i<=$numb; $i++) { //insert query goes here, $numb is the total rows in the select query which builds the original form.
} ?>

All I seem to get into the db at the mo is one race number and a variable number of rows of 0's - not matching the number of competitors in the race though...

Anyone have any suggestions of how to get this to go????

Cheers
Dave

[dalecosp]

First rule of debugging form handlers: use [man]print_r/man at the top to see WTH is going on with your data.

<?php

//myformhandler.php --- handles the data from "formfoo.html"

// DEBUGGING
print_r($_POST);exit; // or a particular $_POST variable you're having trouble with.

// rest of code goes here.

?>

Doing this helps a ton with my handlers. Comment it out, of course, for a normal run. Move it to anyplace you need to debug variables ... especially arrays.

HTH,

[alwaysconfused]

Thanks dalecosp, put the print_r() in, looked at my code again and realised I was starting $i at 1 in the for loop rather than 0 so the array keys were out of sync. Amazing how something so small can frustrate you for so long!!

Thanks again. Solved (sure something else will pop up soon!).