'Edit' form doesn't update the database.

[jwagener]

Hi,

I am building a content menager/news manager and am having trouble with my edit page.

I have never embarked on a project like this before and am a bit of noob to php and mysql development.


Here are the symtoms: There are no errors but when i click the EDIT button nothing happens and the original text is still there.

Here is the code:

[PHP]
<?php

$connection = mysql_connect("localhost", "root", "");
$db = mysql_select_db("boxkitecmsbeta", $connection);

// Display the data in the form.
$query = "SELECT * FROM news";
$result = mysql_query($query);

$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);

?>
[/PHP]
[HTML]
<form action="<?php echo $self ?>" method="post">
<input type="hidden" name="<?php echo $update ?>">
News ID: <font color="red"><?php echo $row['id'] ?><br /></font>
Date / Time: <font color="red"><?php echo $row['date_updated'] ?><br /><br /></font>
Title: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&n bsp;&nbsp; <input type="text" name="$title" value="<?php echo $row['title'] ?>" size="35"><br />
Short Story: <textarea name="$short_story" cols="45" rows="10"><?php echo $row['short_story'] ?></textarea><br />
Long Story: <textarea name="$long_story" cols="45" rows="10"><?php echo $row['long_story'] ?></textarea><br />
<input type="submit" value="edit">
</form>
[/HTML]

please could someone go through my, very very simple, code and see where my problems lie??

Thanks

J

[ronnil]

Have you checked the result source to see if any errors pop up there? i see that you're using <?php ?> tags inside the html-tags. If any warning/non-fatal error messages where to show, your browser simply ignores it.

In you can see the source by clicking View > Page Source (or ctrl+U in firefox)

[jwagener]

Hi, thanks 4 ur response. Could you see anything wrong in the code because i can see no errors.

But im going to do some serious debugging and create 'or die()' functions.

[kovik]

You have a lot of variables that come out of nowhere, such as $self, $update, and $title. Also, the $title isn't in any PHP tags, so it's a literal string.

And where do you handle the form posting? If "nothing's happening," your posting code would be the culprit, not the form.

[jwagener]

I do dont i. hahaha


I notice that i have not given you all my code. lol

anyway, i think i look like a fool.


[PHP]
<?php

$id = $_POST['id'];
$date_updated = $_POST['date_updated'];
$short_story = $_POST['short_story'];
$long_story = $_POST['long_story'];

$connection = mysql_connect("localhost", "root", "");
$db = mysql_select_db("boxkitecmsbeta", $connection);

function updateNews($updateNews) {
// Insert the updated content.
$sql = "UPDATE news SET title='$title', short_story='$short_story', long_story='$long_story', date_updated='NOW()'";
$tin = mysql_query($sql)
or die("Query UPDATE news failed: " . mysql_error());
}

// Display the data in the form.
$query = "SELECT * FROM news";
$result = mysql_query($query)
or die("Query SELECT * FROM news failed: " . mysql_error());

$row = mysql_fetch_array($result);

?>

<form action="editnews.php" method="post">
News ID: <font color="red"><?php echo $row['id'] ?><br /></font>
Date / Time: <font color="red"><?php echo $row['date_updated'] ?><br /><br /></font>
Title: <input type="text" name="<?php echo $title ?>" value="<?php echo $row['title'] ?>" size="35"><br />
Short Story: <textarea name="<?php echo $short_story ?>" cols="45" rows="10"><?php echo $row['short_story'] ?></textarea><br />
Long Story: <textarea name="<?php echo $long_story ?>" cols="45" rows="10"><?php echo $row['long_story'] ?></textarea><br />
<input type="submit" value="edit">
</form>
[/PHP]

anyway, heres the revised code. Please have a look at it.

[kovik]

Firstly, you haven't checked if any of those post variables exist before attempting to use them. Secondly, you never use your updating function. It just sits there.

[pbmods]

Heya, jwagener.

Just wanted to say that your CMS project is very ambitious, and I think it's great that you're 'getting your feet wet', as it where by building such a comprehensive application.

Keep at it. By the time you're done, you'll know a heck of a lot more about PHP, MySQL and application design than you did when you started.

I think you'll like the end result.