Won't accept variable

[Anon]

I am having a problem with access to a MYSQL database using PHP4. My form actually has four dropdown boxes -- I can access all the fields in my table with the dropdowns except the field named "whis". I have tried it with a different field in the same location in my code and it works perfectly. I have tried not using $whis and using one of the actual names - East Matagorda Bay - and that works. But when I use $whis my result page is blank. The field "whis" in my "fishing" table is varchar and is 50 characters long.

SEARCH.HTML has the following piece of code:

<FORM action=http://www.test.com/results.php method=post>

The form has the following dropdown box in it - it also has three other dropdown boxes:

	<td width="37%">
     <center>
     <select name=whis>
     <option value=Carancahua Bay>Carancahua Bay
     <option value=East Matagorda Bay selected>East Matagorda Bay
     <option value=Gulf of Mexico>Gulf of Mexico
     <option value=Keller Bay>Keller Bay
     <option value=Lavaca Bay>Lavaca Bay
     <option value=Pass Cavallo>Pass Cavallo
     <option value=Tres Palacios Bay>Tres Palacios Bay
     <option value=West Matagorda Bay>West Matagorda Bay
     <option value=Miscellaneous>Miscellaneous
     </option>
     </select>

RESULTS.PHP - if I take out the "and whis='$whis' the page brings back results from the database -- which that left in, I get a blank page. It has the following code in it:

 $result = mysql_select_db("fishing",$db);
 $result = mysql_query( "select * from fishing where fish='$fish' and wind='$wind' and month='$month' and whis='$whis'");
 while ($line = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC))
{
echo "<strong>Location: </strong>";
echo htmlspecialchars (stripslashes ($line["location"]));
echo "<br>";
echo "<strong>Rating: </strong>";
echo htmlspecialchars (stripslashes ($line["rated"]));
echo "<br>";
echo "<strong>Where: </strong>";
echo htmlspecialchars (stripslashes ($line["whis"]));
echo "<br>";
echo "<hr width=50% color=#003366>";
echo "<br>";
}
print "</table>\n";
#printf("Closing db\n");
mysql_close($db);
?>

This is driving me nuts - I'm a beginner but everything looks correct and the code works when I substitute another field. It's like PHP doesn't like the $whis variable or something. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks,
Lucy Schelle
[e-mail]

[edwardsbc]

SEARCH.HTML
There are a couple of problems here. First, your HTML/XHML is faulty. Every attribute must be enclosed in double quotes (value="East Matagorda Bay", name="whis"), and all attributes must have a value (selected="SELECTED"). You also need end tags for every option value (</option>).

RESULTS.PHP
As for the value of $whis, do you have 'Register Globals' enabled in the PHP.INI file? By default PHP4 does not register globals. You should retrieve your value with $whis=$POST['whis']; or $whis=$REQUEST['whis'];

[sarahk]

First question: Can you have spaces in a select value? You should use quotes. Check out http://www.w3schools.com/html/attr_select.asp

Secondly:

Not an answer but try changing your query to:

$sqlstring = "select * from fishing where fish='$fish' and wind='$wind' and month='$month' and whis='$whis'";
echo $sqlstring;
//$result = mysql_query( $sqlstring);

have a good look at $sqlstring on your screen, cut and paste it into mysql. Often the code looks right but when you see what the actual query looks like you kick yourself. We all do it from time to time.

[lschelle]

I really feel stupid now. I'm so new at PHP. I copied the faulty code out of a PHP book and never even thought about it -- I was just thinking it was that way because it was PHP. Dumb, huh? Fixing the HTML code did the trick, of course. I knew that -- just freaked out about PHP, I guess. Thanks so much for helping.

[lschelle]

The HTML code was the problem -- using no quotes with spaces -- you were right. I changed the other, too. Thanks for the help!