How do I iterate through form-fields on a page and send them to a database?

Question

Here is the code for Checkout.php:

<?php

//Include SimpleSanitize.
include 'simplesanitize.php';

// First attempt at PHP Sessions. Wish me luck.

// Start the session.
session_start();

$product = $_REQUEST["product"];
$qty = $_REQUEST["qty"];
$price = $_REQUEST["price"];

//var_export($product);
//var_export($qty);

if( !isset($_SESSION['last_access']) || (time() - $_SESSION['last_access']) > 71200 )
 $_SESSION['last_access'] = time();

// If post is not null, then add selected data to corresponding sessionid in database.
if($_SESSION['last_access'] != null && $qty != null)
{
   // Sanitize information.
   $info = new SimpleSanitize('request', 'both');

   //$product = $info->get('product');
   //$quantity = $info->get('qty');
   //$price = $info->get('price');


 $connection =
        mysql_connect("..com","","");





 if($connection)
 {
  mysql_select_db("__dbase", $connection);
foreach($arr as $key => $value){    echo "$key: $value ";}
print_r($val);
$query = "UPDATE sessions SET qty='".$val."' WHERE sessionid='".session_id()."' AND product='".$item."'";
  mysql_query($query)
               or die(mysql_error());

  // Assume items added successfully.
  $ItemAddedMessage = "Item added to cart.";

  // Close connection to database.
  mysql_close($connection);
 }
 else
 $ItemAddedMessage = "Quantities updates";


}
// Open the DB connection and select the DB - creates the function getCreativePagerLyte()
include('configurations.php');

// Gets the data
$id=isset($_POST['id']) ? $_POST['id'] : '';
$search=isset($_POST['search']) ? $_POST['search'] : '';
$multiple_search=isset($_POST['multiple_search']) ? $_POST['multiple_search'] : array();
$items_per_page=isset($_POST['items_per_page']) ? $_POST['items_per_page'] : '';
$sort=isset($_POST['sort']) ? $_POST['sort'] : '';
$page=isset($_POST['page']) ? $_POST['page'] : 1;
$extra_cols=isset($_POST['extra_cols']) ? $_POST['extra_cols'] : array();

// Uses the creativeTable to build the table
include('creativeTable.php');

$ct=new CreativeTable();

// Data Gathering
$params['sql_query']           = 'SELECT product, qty, price FROM sessions WHERE sessionid="'.session_id().'"'; // IMPORTANT: you must specify the fields and not use *
$params['search']              = $search;
$params['multiple_search']     = $multiple_search;
$params['items_per_page']      = $items_per_page;
$params['sort']                = $sort;
$params['page']                = $page;

// Layout Configurations (Most used - the commented lines are the default values)
$params['header']                 = 'Product, Quantity, User Action, Price'; // If you need to use the comma use &#44; instead of ,
$params['width']                = ',,,';
//$params['search_init']           = true;
//$params['search_html']          = '<span id="#ID#_search_value">Search...</span><a id="#ID#_advanced_search" href="javascript: ctShowAdvancedSearch(\'#ID#\');" title="Advanced Search"><img src="images/advanced_search.png" /></a><div id="#ID#_loader"></div>';
//$params['multiple_search_init']  = 'hide';
$params['items_per_page_init']  = '10,20,50,100'; // default: '10*$i';
//$params['items_per_page_all']    = '#TOTAL_ITEMS#';
//$params['sort_init']              = true;
//$params['sort_order']              = 'adt';
//$params['ajax_url']              = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];

$ct->table($params);

foreach($ct->data as $key => $value){
  $ct->data[$key][0]='<input type="text" value="'.$ct->data[$key][0].'" name="product" />';
  $ct->data[$key][1]='<input type="text" value='.$ct->data[$key][1].' id="qty" name="qty" />';
  $ct->data[$key][2]='<input type="submit" value="Update Item">';
  $ct->data[$key][3]='<p name="price">'.$ct->data[$key][3].'</p>';
}

// If its an ajax call
if($_POST['ajax_option']!=''){

  if(strpos($_POST['ajax_option'],'items_per_page')!==false)
    $out_ajax['items_per_page']=utf8_encode($ct->draw_items_per_page());

  if(strpos($_POST['ajax_option'],'body')!==false)
    $out_ajax['body']=utf8_encode($ct->draw_body());

  if(strpos($_POST['ajax_option'],'pager')!==false)
    $out_ajax['pager']=utf8_encode(getCreativePagerLite($page,$ct->total_items,$ct->items_per_page));

  echo json_encode($out_ajax);
  exit;

}else{

  // Insert a Pager into the table (I used this CreativePager Lite version because its very easy to use, but you may use any pager system that you like)
  $ct->pager = getCreativePagerLite($page,$ct->total_items,$ct->items_per_page);



}

?>


<!DOCTYPE xhtml PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN">
<head>



  <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/style.css">
  <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/creative.css">

<title>Mild Steel Products</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
<link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery.js" ></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery.tools.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/cufon.js"></script>
<script src="js/Kozuka_Gothic.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<!-- Fix for Internet Explorer 9 Beta -->
<!--[if gte IE 9]>
<script type="text/javascript">
Cufon.set('engine', 'canvas');
</script>
<![endif]-->
<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">
// <![CDATA[
$(document).ready(function(){
Cufon.replace('h1,h2,h3',  {
});

        $(function() {
                     $("h3.message").delay(3000).fadeOut();
        });

});
// ]]>
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/jquery-1.4.2.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/creative_table.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="js/creative_table_ajax.min.js"></script>

</head>
<body>
<div class="main">
 <div class="header">
     <div class="logo"><a href="index.php"><img src="images/logo.png" border="0" alt="logo" /></a></div>
      <div class="menu">
        <ul>
<li><a href="index.php">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="products.php">Order Online</a></li>
<li><a href="products.php" class="active">Products</a></li>
<li><a href="about.php">About us</a></li>
<li><a href="contact.php">Contact us</a></li>
</ul>
      </div>
      <div class="clr"></div>
    </div>
    <div class="header_text2">
      <h2> Checkout</h2>
      <p>Adjust your quantities, then click purchase. </p>
      <div class="clr"></div>
    </div>
  <div class="clr"></div>
    <div class="top_sup_resize">
    <div class="menu2">
        <ul>
          <!--<li><a href="mildsteel_allthread.php" style="font-size:x-small; color:white;">Allthread</a></li>
          <li><a href="mildsteel_hexnuts.php" style="font-size:x-small; color:white;">Hex Nuts</a></li>
          <li><a href="mildsteel_washers.php" style="font-size:x-small; color:white;">Washers</a></li>
          <li><a href="mildsteel_hnbkss.php" style="font-size:x-small; color:white;">Hex Bolt &amp; Nut Kits, Setscrews</a></li>
          <li><a href="mildsteel_screws.php" style="font-size:x-small; color:white;">Screws</a></li>
          <li><a href="mildsteel_last.php" style="font-size:x-small; color:white;">Cup Head Bolts &amp; Nuts</a></li>-->
        </ul>
      </div>
      <div class="clr"></div>
    </div>
    <div class="clr"></div>
  <div class="body">
   <div class="body_left">
   <h2><?php echo $ItemAddedMessage; ?></h2>
   <h3 class="message"></h3>
      <div id="container">
     <?php echo $out=$ct->display(); ?>
   </div>

</div>

   <p>&nbsp;</p></div>
     <div class="clr"></div>
  </div>
</div>
<div class="footer">
  <div class="footer_resize">
    <ul>
      <li><a href="index.php">home</a></li>
      <li><a href="products.php">order online</a></li>
      <li><a href="products.php">products</a></li>
      <li><a href="about.php">about</a></li>
      <li><a href="contact.php">contact</a></li>
    </ul>
            <div class="clr"></div>
  </div>
</div>
</body>
</html>

I am trying to submit a form on my page. It's proving to be a very difficult and frustrating task.

The problem is that there is no way of telling how many 'fields' will need to be submitted. The user might add 50 products to the cart, and make 30 changes to the quantities, or they might add 600 products to the cart and make 599 changes to the quantities (you never know), and with this website, the client is expecting high volume of sales so I need to be prepared for cases such as that.

I have a Table (a script that I bought) which has its own form tag for the data inside the table, however it uses GET not POST. And I am using:

foreach($_GET['items'] as $p=>$q)
{
   // Update in database. This sql query has been tested, so I know it works, which means that the problem lies within the foreach loop, since it only stopped working when I added the foreach loop to update all form fields.
}

I have searched all ovver php.net, google and am out of ideas, and would greatly appreciate anyone's advice or help.

How can I update ALL form fields to the database?

Thanks

Edit:

The result of print_r($_GET); is:

Array ( [ct_items_per_page] => 10 [ct_sort] => t_t_t_t [ct_page] => 1 [ct_search] => [ct_items_per_page_change] => all [ct_multiple_search] => Array ( [0] => [1] => [2] => [3] => ) [product] => M5 x 1 MTR Allthread (Grade 304 Unit Price) [items] => Array ( [1] => 45 ) ) 

Edit:

What else would work in my situation? Does anyone have any links/tutorials/articles? I cannot find anything anywhere. Are there other ways to submit all fields to a database?

Answer 1

Lucifer,

You say you bought a script, why not initially contact who you bought it from for troubleshooting your issue?

What concerns me is that you list very little code, and so we are unable to help you because you simply say "it doesn't work! Please help me solve it!", well help us help you. Show us the FORM code, and the processing code.

Are you sure it is $_GET that the form is submitting as? Are you sure the variables are called $items[] in the form?

---

If I was solving this, or at least asking for help, I would list all the above code, and add plenty of debugging adding things like:

1. adding /* comment */ tags to comment out SQL inser sections (as you don't want to clean all that up each time you test).
2. adding var_dump tags to ouput as many variables as possible.
3. using Firefox Firebug for debugging if there is any javascript handlers that process the initial form.

---

UPDATE 11/23/2010 /checkout.php

I've done a quick review of your setup, you are using an AJAX table to manage searching / displaying your products. There are a couple methods you could try.

1. use jQuery serialize() to serialize (need to research this if you want to use this route) your data and submit it as a POST request to your backend (whatever that is? same checkout.php?).
2. You need to modify the checkout.php page to have an actual submit button, currently it is all handled via AJAX (javascript submit) which is setup for GET, not POST. You would have to update your FORM to be action="POST" as well. Add an actual submit button to your checkout form, you only have Update buttons which update the quantity.

---

Short of doing some consulting for you, there is not way to 'quickly' tell you what to change and where, this would take some time to modify, however I have outlined 2 options above you can tackle if you wish.