RE: Undefined variables in update query

Premek,

Thanks for the reply.  I actually found that silly mistake after I sent out my message.  You're absolutely right that I need to hardcode the field name into the input name attribute.  Even a newbie like me should have realized that one; even though I'm new to PHP I've used other scripting languages for quite a while.

I appreciate the replies I've received already; thanks!  Sorry for not catching my simple errors before sending out that message.

Best to all,

Robert

--
Robert J. Vander Hart
University of Massachusetts Medical School
508-856-3290 | [email protected]


-----Original Message-----
From: Přemysl [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 26, 2013 11:46 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [PHP-DB] Undefined variables in update query

Hi,

it appears to me that you have some strange input[name] attribute.
instead of
....<input type=\"text\" name=\"$row[department]\"  
value=\"$row[department]\">...
try
....<input type=\"text\" name="department" value=\"$row[department]\">...

In php you are not initializing variables. That means $department is only set if $_POST['department'] exists.
You can try this:
add: $sql = '';

instead of
   if (isset($_POST['department']))
{
$department = mysqli_real_escape_string($link, $_POST['department']);
  }
try

   if (isset($_POST['department']))
{
     $sql .= $sql ? ", department='$_POST[department]'" : "  
department='$_POST[department]";
  }
......
database:
  $sql = "update intr_stats_eschol set $sql  where authorid='$authorid'";

If you want to update all the rows in you table you can use (for example):
... name="department[$row[authorId]" and in php:  
....$department=$_POST['department'][$authorId]...

Premek.

On Tue, 26 Mar 2013 16:19:24 +0100, VanderHart, Robert <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm pretty new to PHP and to this discussion list.
>
> I have a web form to update some fields in a data table.  I'm getting 
> "undefined variable" notices in my error logs when I submit the form 
> and the table row doesn't get updated.
>
> Here's the code for the form page:
>
> <?php
>
> include '../db.inc.php';
>
> $ID = mysqli_real_escape_string($link, $_GET['ID']); $result = 
> mysqli_query($link, "select * from intr_stats_eschol where 
> authorid='$ID'"); if (!$result) {
>         $error = 'Error fetching eScholarship author details: ' .  
> mysqli_error($link);
>         include 'error.html.php';
>         exit();
> }
>
> $num=mysqli_num_rows($result);
>
>                 echo "<h1>Editing Record</h1> <form method=\"post\"
> action=\"eschol-edit-process.php\"> <table>";
>
> for ($i=0; $i<$num; $i++) {
>                 $row = mysqli_fetch_assoc ($result);
>
>                 echo
> "<tr><td>Last Name:</td><td><input type=\"text\" name=\"$row[lname]\"  
> value=\"$row[lname]\"></td></tr>
> <tr><td>First Name:</td><td><input type=\"text\" name=\"$row[fname]\"  
> value=\"$row[fname]\"></td></tr>
> <tr><td>Middle Name:</td><td><input type=\"text\" name=\"$row[mname]\"  
> value=\"$row[mname]\"></td></tr>
> <tr><td>Suffix:</td><td><input type=\"text\" name=\"$row[suffix]\"  
> value=\"$row[suffix]\"></td></tr>
> <tr><td>Email:</td><td><input type=\"text\" name=\"$row[email]\"  
> value=\"$row[email]\"></td></tr>
> <tr><td>Institution:</td><td><input type=\"text\"  
> name=\"$row[institution]\" value=\"$row[institution]\"></td></tr>
> <tr><td>Department:</td><td><input type=\"text\"  
> name=\"$row[department]\" value=\"$row[department]\"></td></tr>
> <tr><td>Comments:</td><td><input type=\"text\" name=\"$row[comments]\"  
> value=\"$row[comments]\"></td></tr>
> <tr><td>Send Email?</td><td>$row[sent_email]</td></tr>
> <tr><td><input type=\"hidden\" name=\"authorid\"  
> value=\"$row[authorid]\"><input type=\"submit\" value=\"Update 
> Author\"></td><td> </td></tr>";
>
>                                                 } echo "</table> 
> </form>";
>
> ?>
>
> The data are inserted correctly into the form input fields, but when I 
> click the "Update Author" button, an "undefined variable" notice gets
> logged for each of the variables and the table row doesn't get updated.   
> The only variable that seems to be OK is the authorid field; it 
> outputs the correct ID from the var_dump() I have inserted.
>
> Here's the code that processes the form:
>
> <?php
>
> include '../db.inc.php';
>
> if (isset($_POST['authorid']))
> {
> $authorid = mysqli_real_escape_string($link, $_POST['authorid']); 
> var_dump($authorid); } if (isset($_POST['lname'])) { $lname = 
> mysqli_real_escape_string($link, $_POST['lname']); } if
> (isset($_POST['fname'])) { $fname = mysqli_real_escape_string($link, 
> $_POST['fname']); } if (isset($_POST['mname'])) { $mname = 
> mysqli_real_escape_string($link, $_POST['mname']); } if
> (isset($_POST['email'])) { $email = mysqli_real_escape_string($link, 
> $_POST['email']); } if (isset($_POST['institution'])) { $institution = 
> mysqli_real_escape_string($link, $_POST['institution']); } if
> (isset($_POST['department'])) { $department = 
> mysqli_real_escape_string($link, $_POST['department']); } if
> (isset($_POST['comments'])) { $comments = 
> mysqli_real_escape_string($link, $_POST['comments']); } if
> (isset($_POST['sent_email'])) { $sent_email = 
> mysqli_real_escape_string($link, $_POST['sent_email']); } if
> (isset($_POST['suffix'])) { $suffix = mysqli_real_escape_string($link, 
> $_POST['suffix']); }
>
> $sql = "update intr_stats_eschol
> set
> lname='$lname',fname='$fname',mname='$mname',email='$email',institution='$institution',department='$department',comments='$comments',sent_email='$sent_email',suffix='$suffix'
> where authorid='$authorid'";
>
> if (!$sql)
> {
>         $error = 'Error fetching eScholarship author details: ' .  
> mysqli_error($link);
>         include 'error.html.php';
>         exit();
> }
> ?>
>
> Can anyone tell where I'm going wrong?  I thought it might be some 
> obvious thing like the use of single quotes instead of double quotes in
> the update query, or vice-versa, but I've tried several different ways.   
> I've looked at numerous stackoverflow.com postings but nothing seems 
> to remedy the issue I'm having.  I'm also wondering if the problem is 
> related to my using echo() to output the form fields in the first 
> template.
>
> FWIW, here's the design of my table:
>
> +-------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
> | Field           | Type                   | Null  | Key | Default       
> | Extra          |
> +-------------+------------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
> | email          | varchar(255)   | YES  |         | NULL        
> |                   |
> | institution | varchar(200)  | YES  |         | NULL        
> |                   |
> | lname        | varchar(100)  | YES  |         | NULL         
> |                   |
> | fname       | varchar(80)    | YES  |         | NULL         
> |                    |
> | mname       | varchar(20)  | YES  |         | NULL        
> |                     |
> | department  | varchar(200) | YES  |     | NULL       
> |                     |
> | comments    | varchar(255) | YES  |     | NULL        
> |                     |
> | authorid    | int(5)             | NO   | PRI  | NULL        |  
> auto_increment |
> | sent_email  | varchar(20)  | YES  |      | NULL         
> |                      |
> | suffix         | varchar(50)    | YES  |        | NULL          
> |                     |
> +-------------+--------------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
>
> Thanks for any help you can give me!
>
> --
> Robert J. Vander Hart
> University of Massachusetts Medical School
> 508-856-3290 | [email protected]


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