Insert Into MySqL from html form.

Anon

I am using PHP 4 with MySqL on win 98 with PWS. I am trying to test out an html form that gathers usual stuff like lastname, firstname, status etc. Sample mark up below;
<form action="submit.php" method="post">
Last Name<input type="text" name="lastname" size="25">
First Name<input type="text" name="firstname" size="25" >
Middle Initial<input type="text" name="middleI" size="2"> <br><br>

Then I want to insert this into the MySQL database via php code. See below;
<?php
mysql_connect('localhost');
mysql_select_db('employee');
$hiredate=$hiredate3 . "-" . $hiredate1 . "-" . $hiredate2;
mysql_query("INSERT INTO profile(lastname,firstname, agency, status, middleI,hiredate,position,hs,col,coldegree,colmajor, licenses,work_yeas, ddwork_years, prevmodules,email,snaimail)VALUES($lastname,'$firstname','$agency','$status','$middleI','$hiredate','$position','$hs','$col','$coldegree','$colmajor','$licenses','$work_years','$ddwork_years','$prevmodules','$email','$snailmail')");

The error returns undefined variable and it lists all the fields from the form that I have assumed PHP would turn into variables and insert into the database. Please note I did not include all of the html form or this message would be pages long. What am I missing?

Anon

Forgot to mention that I do have global variables to "on" also.

Anon

im no expert but try it without the first bracket. I dont think you need it

ie:

mysql_query("INSERT INTO profile ($lastname,'$firstname','$agency','$status','$middleI','$hiredate','$position','$hs','$col','$coldegree','$colmajor','$licenses','$work_years','$ddwork_years','$prevmodules','$email','$snailmail')";

Anon

That gives me a parse error. Do you know of any good resources that would give some good instruction on using MySQL with PHP. I have read so many different ways of coding this kind of thing that my head is spinning. It seems that the syntax is not consistent. Thanks for your help.

Anon

One more comment or question. When I declare the values in the php script (the php page that says to insert the values into the MySQL table)like this $firstname=firstname. Then everything works but my question is - isn't php supposed to be so wonderful to take the text or form data entered from the user and automatically declare it a variable? So why do I have to declare it again on the php page?