Whats Wrong

Anon

I need to be able to update a database from a form. Here is what I have. Why wont it work

<?
include("config.php");
$connection = @mysql_connect ($host, $username, $pass) or die ("Could not connect to database please contact administrator.");
$db = @mysql_select_db($db_name, $connection) or die("Could not select database please contact administrator.");
$sql = "SELECT * FROM home";
$result = @($sql, $connection) or die("Could not execute query please contact administrator.");
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
$content =$row['content'];
$display_block = "$content";
}
if ($action==update) {
$connection = @mysql_connect ($host, $username, $pass) or die ("Could not connect to database please contact administrator.");
$db = @mysql_select_db($db_name, $connection) or die("Could not select database please contact administrator.");
$sqlq="INSERT INTO $table_name (content) VALUES (\'$text\')";
$result = @($sqlq, $connection) or die("Could not execute query please contact administrator.");
}
?>

Anon

how about eliminating all those @ signs and then it will tell you why it doesn't work.

tomhath

Just reading it these things look wrong. I don't know if any of these are the problem because you never said what happens when you run it.

You are going to execute the SELECT every time, that might be okay.

You are only keeping $content from the last row returned, all the others are ignored. That might be okay but there are more efficient ways to do it.

You connect a second time inside the $action==update. Probably won't hurt, but you should quote "update".

I don't see where $table_name or $text are set, maybe from the form, can't tell.

You don't need to escape the single quotes in VALUES (\'$text\') That might be where its really failing, although Craig is right, remove the @ so php can report the problem and put them back in when everything works.

I wouldn't really call this an update, you SELECT and INSERT, but UPDATE is something different.

Anon

How do I do an update?

crislewis

UPDATE tablename SET field1 = 'value1', field2 = 'value2' ... WHERE keyfield = 'keyvalue'.

However, going back to your original question you really need to get a grip on error reporting. If you are messing about with a DB in PHP and are inexperienced (as we all are in reality) then as you develop new code put in error reporting until you have it working.

For mysql the most value lines of code are:

echo "$sql_query_string<BR>";
echo mysql_error();

You should put these after EVERY query until it is working. This will show you the actual query string passed to mysql and any error returned.

As a further precaution once a particular query is working just comment the above out as it could go goofy again. You can remove them when you have the whole lot rock solid.

I can't count the number of times this as saved my (coding) life!

Cheers,

Cris

thefury

you also seem to be over working yourself.

$content =$row['content'];
$display_block = "$content";
should be
$display_block = $row['content'];

and you are already connected to the db, so the 2nd connect and db select isnt needed

the line
$sqlq="INSERT INTO $table_name (content) VALUES (\'$text\')";
should be
$sqlq="INSERT INTO $table_name (content) VALUES ('$text')";

duno if it was this forum adding the slashs