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Question

Variables are "lost" somewhere, then reappear... all with no error thrown.

Answer 1

+4 A:

I recommend you to use something like:

$fields = array('pool', 'darts', 'karaoke', 'trivia', ...);
foreach ( $fields as $field ) {
    $$field = isset($_POST[$field]) ? 1 : 0;
}

instead of 20 lines of ifs.

Your columns are ENUM or int type ? If int - drop apostrophes.

hsz 2010-04-13 19:51:04

whats the double $ do ?

mcgrailm 2010-04-13 19:56:25

@mcgrailm: the double $ is what is called a variable variable. It addresses or creates a variable with the name contained in $field. See: http://php.net/manual/en/language.variables.variable.php

fireeyedboy 2010-04-13 20:13:36

It creates new variable from string. For example: `$a = 'b'; $$a = 5;` it assigns `5` to `$b`.

hsz 2010-04-13 20:14:40

pretty cool thanks for that

mcgrailm 2010-04-13 20:17:50

Answer 2

+3 A:

Your code could really use some error checking. Make sure you have activated the displaying of errors in your script.

In your testing environment add this at the top of your main script for instance (if you haven't done something equivalent already):

error_reporting( E_ALL | E_STRICT );
ini_set( 'display_errors', 1 );

Then (although not dependant on the above) make sure you probe the result of the query with something like:

if( false === mysql_query( 'UPDATE ...etc' ) )
{
   echo 'query failed with error:' . mysql_error();
}

My guess is it will fail with the error that your column name karaoke is mispelled. But there may be more errors.

Also, hsz' suggestions are spot on (though probably not the root of your problem). Makes for easier to maintain code, and significantly reduces code.

fireeyedboy 2010-04-13 19:58:25

OMG... thanks for the new set of eyes. I didn't realize that i misspelled it in the colum reference. Well, that solved it. I appreciate EVERYONE's HELP and ADVICE on this. I get better at this from every question I ask on this site. THANK YOU X 100000

rob - not a robber 2010-04-13 20:03:07

Glad i could be of help rob. But please consider the activation of error reporting and displaying (the latter only in test environment, not in production) and error checking (!) as your new set of eyes. ;-) Happy coding!

fireeyedboy 2010-04-13 20:06:40

Should I delete this question since it boiled down to me having bad proofreading skills and isn't really a tactical type matter?

rob - not a robber 2010-04-13 20:06:46

Hmmm, I think it would result in me losing my reputation points. So, I'ld rather you wouldn't. :) Also, for future reference, the advice to start using error detection is valuable for other people experiencing these kinds of problems.

fireeyedboy 2010-04-13 20:09:27

OK, not prob. I use notepad++ for all my editing and I like the syntactital highlighting but I wish it were more powerful... Like if I could highlight all variables or whatever in a certain color, that would make typos very easy to discover. Do you know anything that does that? THANKS

rob - not a robber 2010-04-13 20:12:46

I use notepad++ my self too actually. You can alter the coloring scheme in notepad++. There are IDE's with much more advanced capabilities out there also (Eclipse, Zend Studio, to name a few). But, I'm not sure how advanced such IDE's are with highlighting inline SQL syntax for instance. Also, I usually consider them a bit bloated. But really, if you take my advice about error reporting and error checking at heart (really a must), you usually get warned about these things very early.

fireeyedboy 2010-04-13 20:23:30

cool... lesson learned. thank you

rob - not a robber 2010-04-13 20:25:39

Answer 3

+1 A:

Firstly, construct the sql query string in a variable and then pass it to mysql_query(), comment out the header() line and print out the query for debugging. For example:

...
$sql="UPDATE thedatabase SET pool_table='$pool', darts='$darts', karoke='$karaoke', trivia='$trivia', wii='$wii', megatouch='$megatouch', guitar_hero='$guitarhero', arcade_games='$arcade', dancefloor='$dancefloor' WHERE establishment_id='22'";
print("$sql");
mysql_query($sql);
//header("location:theadminfilething.php");
exit();
...

Secondly, even tho you are exiting the script, its good practice to always match your braces. You are missing the end brace for the if statement at the end of your code.

The value of the $sql variable output you can see if it works by executing it 'manually' thru phpmyadmin or the command line. What happens?

zaf 2010-04-13 19:58:57

thanks Zaf, I need to get into the habit of providing better examples. I do in fact have both curlies in my script.

rob - not a robber 2010-04-13 20:04:44

No worries. Let us know what mysql says when you 'manually' send the query.

zaf 2010-04-13 20:06:43

Stopped with #1054 - Unknown column 'karoke' in 'field list' Due to my TYPO ;)

rob - not a robber 2010-04-13 20:14:49

Meh. I only get 10 peanuts.

zaf 2010-04-13 20:24:44

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Variables are "lost" somewhere, then reappear... all with no error thrown.

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