MYSQL Insert using Dropdowns and Session Variables

Question

I've been trying to solve this problem for a few hours and can't seem to make headway. I am creating a booking form and it involves 2 dropdown menus and the use of some session variables.

HTML

<form accept-charset="UTF-8" action="<?php echo htmlspecialchars($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"])?>" method="POST">
    <input type="date" data-role="date" name = "Date"data-inline="true" id ="Date" placeholder="Click here to select a date">

   <br>
    <select id="Time" name="Time">
        <option value="Null">Select a Time</option>
        <option value="9am">09:00</option>
        <option value="9.20am">09:20</option>
        <option value="9.40am">09:40</option>
        <option value="10am">10:00</option>
        <option value="10.20am">10:20</option>
        <option value="10:40am">10:40</option>
        <option value="11am">11:00</option>
        <option value="11:20am">11:20</option>
        <option value="11:40am">11:40</option>
        <option value="12am">12:00</option>
    </select>
  <br>
    <select id="Person" name="Person">
        <option value="Person1">Who Would you Like to See?</option>
        <option value="Person2">A Doctor</option>
        <option value="Person3">A Nurse</option>  
    </select>
    <br>
    <input type="submit" data-role="button" id="submit" value="Book" data-icon="action" data-iconpos="right">

I'm not been giving an error message, nor am I getting the success message that I've coded in if the query is successful. Any help would be appreciated

PHP

//This adds the connection file which has the details to connect to the database and what database to connect to
include_once('connection.php');
//Checks if the submit button is not set
if(!isset($_POST['submit']))
{
exit;
}
    //Declared Variables
    $Date = $_GET['Date'];
            $Time = $_GET['Time'];
            $Person = $_GET['Person'];
    $userID= $_SESSION['user'];
    $GPID= $_SESSION['GPID'];


    //Database Connection, this connects to the database using the connection.php
    $conn=ConnectionFactory::connect();

    //Insert Query
    $query="INSERT INTO `Appointments`(`AppID`, `Date`, `Time`, `Booked_With`, `UserID`, `GPID`) VALUES (NULL, :Date,:Time,:Person,:userID,:GPID)";

    $stmt=$conn->prepare($query);

    //Binding values
    //$stmt->bindValue(':post', $Post);
    $stmt->bindValue(':Date', $Date);
    $stmt->bindValue(':Time', $Time);
    $stmt->bindValue(':Person', $Person);
    $stmt->bindValue(':userID', $userID);
    $stmt->bindValue(':GPID', $GPID);

    $affected_rows = $stmt->execute();

    //Message if insert is Successful
    if($affected_rows==1){
        print "<script type=\"text/javascript\">"; 
        print "alert('Post Successful')"; 
        print "</script>";
        exit;
        }

    //Terminates the connection
            $conn=NULL;
?>
     </form>  

Answer 1

There are a few issues with your code and I'll start from the top.

This conditional statement:

if(!isset($_POST['submit']))
{
exit;
}

You don't have an element bearing the submit name attribute, therefore your script will exit as soon as the page is loaded.

You're probably relying on the "id" for your submit button being:

<input type="submit" data-role="button" id="submit" ...

and should be named.

Ie:

<input type="submit" name="submit" data-role="button" id="submit" ...

• Having used error reporting , would have signaled an "Undefined index submit..." right away.

Then you're using a POST method in your form, but using GET arrays, where they should be POSTs.

$Date = $_GET['Date'];

to

$Date = $_POST['Date'];

• Then, change those to $_POST for the rest of your GET arrays.

Add error reporting to the top of your file(s) which will help find errors.

<?php 
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', 1);

// rest of your code

Sidenote: Error reporting should only be done in staging, and never production.

Plus, make sure you are indeed connecting with PDO and not another MySQL API that doesn't intermix with your PDO query.

Another thing; make sure you've started the session since you are using a session array.

session_start(); must reside inside all pages using sessions.

Add $conn->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION); right after the connection is opened.

• You may also want to use bindParam instead of bindValue if that still doesn't make it kick in.