How to enable a log just before the php query - php

Question

I am trying the approach of 'adding a log just before the php query'; in effort to achieve the ability to print a 'time stamp' when my mySQL database has been updated.
my queries look like this.
require_once('include/connect.php');
$q = $_GET['q'];
//echo $q;
//$plan=substr($q,0,4);
//$spec=substr($q,4);
list($plan, $ptype, $spec) = explode('_', $q);
//echo $plan . ", " . $spec;
//$query="SELECT vphp.tbl_provider_types.`TYPE` from coolDB.tbl_provider_types where vphp.tbl_provider_types.".$q." = 'Y';";
$query= "SELECT tbl_sourcespecheader.specID, coolDB.tbl_sourcespecheader.Specialty_Header from vphp.tbl_provider_types left join coolDB.tbl_sourcespecheader on coolDB.tbl_provider_types.ID = coolDB.tbl_sourcespecheader.TypeID where coolDB.tbl_provider_types.ID = " . $spec . " and coolDB.tbl_sourcespecheader." . $plan . " = 'Y';";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);
//Populate result in HTML which will be returned via AJAX
echo "<h4>Please select from these " . $ptype . " specialties:</h4>";
echo "<select id='type' multiple='' name='specialty'><option selected="selected" value="nospec"></option>";
while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))
{
echo "<option value='" . $row['specID'] . "'><a href='#' id='" . $row['specID'] . "' onclick='getSelected(this.id);return false' style='text-decoration: none'>" . $row['Specialty_Header'] . "</a></option>";
}
echo "</select>";
//Close database connection
mysqli_close($connection);

Answer 1

Better use triggers. You need to create log table to be able to insert all data you needed. Below is the example.
DELIMITER $$
CREATE TRIGGER before_employee_update
BEFORE UPDATE ON employees
FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
INSERT INTO employees_audit
SET action = 'update',
employeeNumber = OLD.employeeNumber,
lastname = OLD.lastname,
changedat = NOW();
END$$
DELIMITER ;
If you are using phpMyadmin. Go to that and find the trigger menu. There you can create triggers.