Update Problem

[olilish]

Hi Guys, Hope someone can help, I have a problem updating my database.The idea is that I can add new records and then edit them using UPDATE. However even though I do not get any errors from my host the record is not being updated. This is my code (this comes directly after my connection info):------------------------------------------------------------------------$id = $_GET['id'];$h1=$_POST['h1'];$body=$_POST['body'];$h2=$_POST['h2'];$a=$_POST['a']; $sql = ("UPDATE pages SET body='$body', h1='$h1', WHERE id=$id"); echo "Thank you! Information updated.";----------------------------------------------------------------------I have also tried this without any joy:mysql_query("UPDATE pages SET body = '" . $_POST['body'] . "' WHERE id = " . $ID);---------------------------------------------------------------------Any help would be great!Thanks.

[justsomeguy]

You're not running the first query, you're just building a SQL string. You need to use mysql_query to run it. You also have an extra comma in the query. You can use mysql_error to print out the error from MySQL if the query failed:http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-error.php

[olilish]

Thanks, I have made the changes you suggest:mysql_query("UPDATE pages SET body='$body', h1='$h1' WHERE id=$id");but still no update.anything i'm doing wrong?thanks

[justsomeguy]

Check for errors:mysql_query("UPDATE pages SET body='$body', h1='$h1' WHERE id=$id") or exit(mysql_error());

[olilish]

this is what i get:You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 1

[justsomeguy]

Print out the query so that you can see what values you're sending.

[olilish]

i'm sorry, i don't know what that means.

[justsomeguy]

echo "UPDATE pages SET body='$body', h1='$h1' WHERE id=$id";

[olilish]

It prints this:UPDATE pages SET body='aaaa', h1='' WHERE id=Thank you! Information updated.So does this mean that I am passing 'aaaa' (which is what i typed as my update. And I didn't type anything for h2, so there is nothing there. But WHERE id= ...and there is nothing there, that should show my id number? I have specified $id = $_GET['id'];?

[justsomeguy]

It sounds like $_GET['id'] isn't set.

[olilish]

Shouldn't i just have to go:$id = $_GET['id'];?Which is what I have in my code.

[justsomeguy]

Assuming that there is actually something in $_GET['id'], and that you don't overwrite $id later, then yeah. You can use this to see what's in $_GET:print_r($_GET);

[olilish]

I added that and i get this:UPDATE pages SET body='my update', h1='' WHERE id=Array ( ) Thank you! Information updated. What does this mean?

[justsomeguy]

If print_r($_GET) produces this:Array ( )Then $_GET is empty.

[olilish]

Which is odd, as in my other scripts when I add print_r($_GET); I am getting, for example:Array ( [id] => 33 )Any ideas why on others but not this?:<?php$con = mysql_connect('xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx','xxxxxxxxxxxx','xxxxxxxx');if (!$con) { die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error()); }mysql_select_db("a4411005_mycms");$ID = $_GET['id'];$h1=$_POST['h1'];$body=$_POST['body'];$h2=$_POST['h2'];$a=$_POST['a'];mysql_query("UPDATE pages SET body='$body', h1='$h1' WHERE id=" . $ID);echo "UPDATE pages SET body='$body', h1='$h1' WHERE id=$ID"; print_r($_GET); echo "Thank you! Information updated.";mysql_close($con);?>

[justsomeguy]

The only reason that $_GET would be empty is that you are actually not passing anything through the URL. In order for $_GET['id'] to be set, you must pass a variable called id in the URL, e.g.:page.php?id=xxxIf $_GET does not have anything in it, the single reason is that you are not passing anything on the URL. If you were passing URL variables, then they would be in $_GET.

[olilish]

Understood,Maybe my problem is something more fundamental.Do I need to have the php on the same page as my html form that updates the record? Can a variable only be passed when a link is clicked?

[justsomeguy]

You can add variables to any URL, e.g. the action of a form.

Do I need to have the php on the same page as my html form that updates the record?

No, but it's generally more useful to have the PHP in the same place as the form that it processes.

[olilish]

Up to this point i have only ever used a form action to run a script seperate from that html form.how do i run the php in the same html page as well as passing the variable in the action of the form?i tried this:<form method="post" action="edit.php?="id=$ID>but it only seemed to pass the edit.php into my $id.

[justsomeguy]

You still submit the form to a page, but you can just have that page be the same one and have some code which checks if the form was submitted before trying to process it. You can use isset to check that, if your form submits using post and you have a submit button with a name of "submit", then using this will tell you if the form was submitted, or if they're just loading the page for the first time:if (isset($_POST['submit']))For your action, you can do something like this:<form method="post" action="edit.php?id=<?php echo $id; ?>">If you want to be able to rename your files without changing the form action, you can have PHP fill in the filename:<form method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>?id=<?php echo $id; ?>">You can also put your id in a hidden form element and then get it from $_POST instead of $_GET:<input type="hidden" name="id" value="<?php echo $id; ?>">

[olilish]

So can I just have my form html and then start my php at the bottom of the same page?

[justsomeguy]

It's generally best to have all PHP code at the top, so that your PHP code is finished by the time you need to figure out what HTML code to display, or whether you need to redirect, etc.

[olilish]

So could I do this?----------------------------------<html><body><?php$con = mysql_connect('xxx','xxx_x','xxx');if (!$con) { die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error()); }mysql_select_db("xxx_mycms");$ID = $_GET['id'];;$h1=$_POST['h1'];$body=$_POST['body'];$h2=$_POST['h2'];$a=$_POST['a'];mysql_query("UPDATE pages SET body='$body', h1='$h1' WHERE id=" . $ID);echo "Thank you! Information updated.";mysql_close($con);?><form method="post" action="edit.php?id=<?php echo $id; ?>"><textarea name="body"> </textarea> <input name="update" type="submit" id="update" value="Update"></form></body></html>

[justsomeguy]

You can do something like that, but you still need to check if the form was submitted before you try to process it. If you start the HTML before you start the PHP you also won't be able to use PHP to redirect.

[olilish]

Im sorry, but what do you mean by 'you need to check if the form was submitted before you process it'?