PHP
By Web Monkey
Page 4 — Throw in Some Forms
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We've managed to get data from a database without much difficulty.
But what about sending data the other way? It's not a problem
with PHP.
First let's create a page with a simple form.
<html>
<body>
<form
method="post" action="<?php echo $PHP_SELF?>">
First
name:<input type="Text" name="first"><br>
Last
name:<input type="Text" name="last"><br>
Address:<input
type="Text" name="address"><br>
Position:<input
type="Text" name="position"><br>
<input
type="Submit" name="submit" value="Enter
information">
</form>
</body>
</html>
Note the use of $PHP_SELF again. Like I said in Lesson 1,
you can use PHP anywhere inside your HTML code. You'll also
notice that each form element matches the field name in the
database. This is not compulsory; it's just a good idea so
you can get your head around your code later on.
Also notice that I've given the Submit button a name attribute.
I've done this so I can test for the existence of a $submit
variable. That way, when the page is called again, I'll know
whether someone used this form.
I should mention that you don't have to have a page that
loops back on itself. You can span two, three, or more pages,
if you like. This way everything stays compact.
OK, let's add some code that will check for the form input.
Just to prove that the form input does make it through, I'll
dump all the variables to the screen with $HTTP_POST_VARS.
This is a useful debugging feature. If you ever need to see
all the variables on a page, use $GLOBALS.
<html>
<body>
<?php
if
($submit) {
//
process form
while
(list($name, $value) = each($HTTP_POST_VARS)) {
echo
"$name = $value<br>\n";
}
} else{
//
display form
?>
<form
method="post" action="<?php echo $PHP_SELF?>">
First
name:<input type="Text" name="first"><br>
Last
name:<input type="Text" name="last"><br>
Address:<input
type="Text" name="address"><br>
Position:<input
type="Text" name="position"><br>
<input
type="Submit" name="submit" value="Enter
information">
</form>
<?php
} //
end if
?>
</body>
</html>
Now that this is looking good, let's take the form information
and post it to the database.
<html>
<body>
<?php
if
($submit) {
//
process form
$db
= mysql_connect("localhost", "root");
mysql_select_db("mydb",$db);
$sql
= "INSERT INTO employees (first,last,address,position)
VALUES ('$first','$last','$address','$position')";
$result
= mysql_query($sql);
echo
"Thank you! Information entered.\n";
} else{
//
display form
?>
<form
method="post" action="<?php echo $PHP_SELF?>">
First
name:<input type="Text" name="first"><br>
Last
name:<input type="Text" name="last"><br>
Address:<input
type="Text" name="address"><br>
Position:<input
type="Text" name="position"><br>
<input
type="Submit" name="submit" value="Enter
information">
</form>
<?php
} //
end if
?>
</body>
</html>
You've now inserted data into the database. It's still far
from perfect. What if someone leaves a field blank or enters
text when we want a numeric entry? What if there's an error
somewhere?
Don't worry. We'll get to that.
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