how to insert multiple rows to mysql

Question

i am trying for ages but can not get this working.

So far this is working perfect

<?
                if ($_POST['newhour_start']!=""&&$_POST['newhour_end']!="") 
                {
                    $inserthour = mysql_query("INSERT INTO hour 
                    (hour_start,hour_end,hour_day) VALUES 
                    ('".$_POST['newhour_start']."','".$_POST['newhour_end']."','".$_POST['newhour_day']."')");
                }

?>
    <td colspan="5">
        Start:<input name="newhour_start" type="text" id="newhour_start" > 
        End: <input name="newhour_end" type="text" id="newhour_end" >
        <input name="newhour_day" type="hidden" id="newhour_day" value="Monday" >
    </td>

My question is how can i add another 5 sets of start and end inputs to this code?

I know i can just add another input names, if statements and change their names but i want to learn the proper way.

Answer 1

You use an array.

So how to use an array? In HTML, you need this:

Start #1:<input name="newhour_start[]" type="text" /> 
End #1: <input name="newhour_end[]" type="text"  />

Start #2:<input name="newhour_start[]" type="text" /> 
End #2: <input name="newhour_end[]" type="text"  />

Start #3:<input name="newhour_start[]" type="text" /> 
End #3: <input name="newhour_end[]" type="text"  />

And in PHP you need this:

if(isset($_POST['newhour_start']) && isset($_POST['newhour_end']))
{
    foreach($_POST['newhour_start'] as $index => $start)
    {
        $hour_start = $start; // now this is the fun part - you CLEAN this string to avoid SQL injection
        $hour_end = $_POST['newhour_end'][$index]; // clean this one too

        $insert[] = "('$hour_start', '$hour_end')";
    }

    $query = "INSERT INTO table (first_column, secon_column) VALUES ". implode(',', $insert);

}

I didn't use your table structure in this example, but I think it's simple enough so that you can learn and modify it.

Answer 2

Don't ever insert values in your Database without escaping them!

The proper way of doing this would be:

1. Add your Fields or whatever to your HTML-Form.
2. Use the MySQLi-class in PHP to access your Database (it's Object Oriented).
3. Create a PreparedStatement for your Insert
4. Loop over your given Fields and bind the parameters to your PreparedStatement
5. Execute the Statement
6. Close the Database Connection.