Syntax Error Blues

cybereclipse

I'm working on creating a form that submits to a database using php. Dreamweaver CS5 is telling me that I have a syntax error at line 75. Here is the code but to point out the exact locations of the issue, look for the following comments.

//Dreamweaver is pointing that is something wrong with the syntax



<?php


$fields = array(
	'email',
	'gender',
	'state',
	'district'
);

foreach($fields as $fieldName) {
	if(isset($_POST[$fieldName]) and trim($_POST[$fieldName]) !==''){
		$fieldName = trim($_POST[$fieldName]);
	}else {
		$errors[] = "Please enter your". $fieldName ."";
	}
}

require_once('./Connections/encourage.php');

$sql = sprintf( 
    "INSERT INTO some_table(email, gender, state, district) VALUES ('%email', '%gender', '%state', '%district', '%suvery')", //change  from % to $ if anything goes wrong
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['email']), 
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['gender']), 
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['state']), 
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['district']), 
	mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['survey'])


); 

if ($result){

echo '<h1 id="mainhead">Thanks for submitting</hl>
<p>You are now registered</p>';
exit();

}else{

echo '<h1 id="mainhead">System Error</hl>
<p>Your registration could not be completed due to a system error We apologize for any incovience</p>';
echo 'p' . mysql_error(). '<br /><br />Query: ' . $query . '</p>';
exit();

}
mysql_close();

} else { //Dreamweaver is pointing that is something wrong with the syntax

	echo '<h1 id="mainhead">Error!</h1>
	<p class="error">The following error(s) occurred:<br />';
	foreach($errors as $msg) {
		echo " - $msg<br/>\n";
	}
	echo '</p><p>Please try again.</p><p><br/></p>';
}
} //Dreamweaver is pointing that is something wrong with the syntax

?>

Your assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

NogDog

The else on that line does not immediately follow a preceding if/esleif block. (It cannot follow another else block, and there can be no commands between it and the preceding else or elseif block -- only white-space and/or comments are allowed between them.)

PS: (In reference to your earilier thread) If you are going to use $POST[$var] values in your query, then trim() them earlier on:

foreach($fields as $fieldName) {
    if(isset($_POST[$fieldName]) and trim($_POST[$fieldName]) !==''){
        $_POST[$fieldName] = trim($_POST[$fieldName]);
    }else {
        $errors[] = "Please enter your". $fieldName ."";
    }
}

(By the way, if you were going to use the original syntax there, then you needed to use $$fieldName (note the double dollar-sign) to make use of "variable variables">)

cybereclipse

Yes, I see what you mean. I've forgot to add this line of code. I'll take note on the "$$"

if(isset($errors)){

I also added this line of code under the " mysql_real_escape_string"

$result = mysql_query ($query);

It's giving me problems, what's going on?

bradgrafelman

Can you show us what your (full) code looks like now? Also, what "problems" is it "giving" you (e.g. any error messages)?

cybereclipse

Sure...=)

<?php


$fields = array(
	'email',
	'gender',
	'state',
	'district'
);

foreach($fields as $fieldName) {
	if(isset($_POST[$fieldName]) and trim($_POST[$fieldName]) !==''){
		$fieldName = trim($_POST[$fieldName]);
	}else {

			$errors[] = "Please enter your". $$fieldName .""; //double variables $$
}
}
if(isset($errors)){

require_once('./Connections/encourage.php');

$sql = sprintf( 
    "INSERT INTO some_table(email, gender, state, district) VALUES ('%email', '%gender', '%state', '%district', '%suvery')", //change  from % to $ if anything goes wrong
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['email']), 
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['gender']), 
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['state']), 
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['district']), 
	mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['survey'])
	$result = mysql_query($query); //need help on this part

); 

if ($result){

echo '<h1 id="mainhead">Thanks for submitting</hl>
<p>You are now registered</p>';
exit();

}else{

echo '<h1 id="mainhead">System Error</hl>
<p>Your registration could not be completed due to a system error We apologize for any incovience</p>';
echo 'p' . mysql_error(). '<br /><br />Query: ' . $query . '</p>';
exit();

}
mysql_close();

} else { //Dreamweaver is pointing that is something wrong with the syntax

	echo '<h1 id="mainhead">Error!</h1>
	<p class="error">The following error(s) occurred:<br />';
	foreach($errors as $msg) {
		echo " - $msg<br/>\n";
	}
	echo '</p><p>Please try again.</p><p><br/></p>';
}
//Dreamweaver is pointing that is something wrong with the syntax

?>
  <form id="form1" name="form1" method="post" action"registration.php">
  <fieldset class="first">
  <label class="lableone" for="email">Email:* </label>
  <input name="email" />

  <label for="state"/>State:* </label>
  <input name="state" />

  <label for="schooldistrict"/>School District:* </label>
  <input name="schooldistrict" />

  <label for="gender">Gender:* </label>
 <select name="gender">
   <option>Choose Your Gender</option>
   <option value="male">Male</option>
   <option value="female">Female</option>
 </select>

<label for="age"/>Your Age:* </label>
  <input name="age" type="text" class="age" maxlength="2"  />

  <label for="profession"/>Profession:* </label>
  <input name="profession" />

  <label for="surveys"/>Willingness to participate in future surveys: </label>
  <input name="surveys" type="checkbox" id="surveys" />

  </fieldset>
<fieldset>
  <input class="btn" name="submit" type="submit" value="Submit" />
<input class="btn" name="reset" type="reset" value="Clear Form" />
</fieldset>

  </form

bradgrafelman

Several issues I see:

You need to find a consistent whitespace/indentation scheme and stick with it. Otherwise, it makes your code harder to read.
One problem with code like this:
```
    if(isset($_POST[$fieldName]) and trim($_POST[$fieldName]) !==''){ 
        $fieldName = trim($_POST[$fieldName]); 
    }else { 

            $errors[] = "Please enter your". $$fieldName .""; //double variables $$ 
} 
```
is that you're going to be duplicating that if(isset()) all over again because you later need to check if, for example, $email is set since it won't be if $_POST['email'] wasn't set. In other words, you've done nothing but rename $_POST['email'] to $email without removing any of the extra work you need to do to first verify whether or not it exists in the first place.

Instead, I personally would create some array to contain the data, such as $data, and always initialize every expected entry in that array. In other words, the length of the $data array will be the same as the $fields array since it will always have an entry for each element in the latter array. The only difference is that the value could be NULL, an empty string, etc. (basically whatever 'default value' is chosen) if, for example, the corresponding $_POST array entry didn't exist.
Second problem with that code is here:
```
$errors[] = "Please enter your". $$fieldName .""; //double variables $$
```
You shouldn't have the double dollar sign there, since you'll be telling PHP to use a variable that doesn't exist (which is the whole point of that statement in the first place).

But again, I personally would avoid variable variables entirely in the first place. 😉
Next, this if() statement doesn't make much sense:
```
if(isset($errors)){ 
```
So you only want to process the POST'ed data if there are errors, ignoring submissions that don't have errors? That seems a bit backwards to me. (Not to mention the fact that you try to use $errors in the 'else' branch, despite the fact that the 'else' branch corresponds to the situation where $errors doesn't even exist.)
Several problems with this part of the code:
```
$sql = sprintf( 
    "INSERT INTO some_table(email, gender, state, district) VALUES ('%email', '%gender', '%state', '%district', '%suvery')", //change  from % to $ if anything goes wrong 
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['email']), 
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['gender']), 
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['state']), 
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['district']), 
    mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['survey']) 
```
1. That first parameter is not how you correctly use [man]sprintf/man. See the manual page for the function to learn more about what those % place holders actually do. For example, all of those should most likely be '%s'.
2. What was the point of the foreach() loop that uses variable variables if you're never even going to bother using those variables?
3. Note that you've got a parse error as well; you're missing a closing ')' to match the '(' on the sprintf() call itself, as well as a terminating semicolon to end the statement.
This:
```
$result = mysql_query($query);
```
uses an undefined variable called $query. Perhaps you meant $sql instead?
Same problem as above in regards to $query being an undefined variable here:
```
echo 'p' . mysql_error(). '<br /><br />Query: ' . $query . '</p>'; 
```
This isn't a source of any of your current errors, but note that the entire [man]mysql[/b] extension is outdated and deprecated in favor of newer extensions such as [man]MySQLi[/man] and [man]PDO[/man]. New projects should not be using the 'mysql' extension; see the manual page [man]mysqlinfo.api.choosing[/man] for more information.