How to insert multiple arrays into a database? - php

Question

I get some data from a form as arrays. Each $_POST value is an array itself:
//Example snippet from my code; I have some more data/arrays
$department_name = ($_POST[department_name]);
$participant_name = ($_POST[participant_name]);
$activity = ($_POST[activity]);
$location = ($_POST[location]);
Now I know that I could use a foreach loop to loop over each of these arrays and insert the values one by one into my database:
foreach($department_name as $department) {
$query = "INSERT INTO location_info (`department`) VALUES ('{$department}')";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);
}
This seems like a lot of code for all my 35 POST variables as well as a lot of work for the server. More importantly how would I go about to "align" each piece of data? Because of the loop it would create a new row inside the database each iteration and leave blank fields for all other columns.
So I searched how I could loop through multiple arrays at once and found this solution:
<?php
$ZZ = array('a', 'b', 'c', 'd');
$KK = array('1', '2', '3', '4');
foreach($ZZ as $index => $value) {
echo $ZZ[$index] . $KK[$index];
echo "<br/>";
}
?>
But I don't really understand how this works and how I can apply this to my code?
Basically as an example I have multiple arrays like:
$department_name = array("A", "B", "C");
$participant_name = array(1, 2, 3);
And I need to insert them into my database like this:
INSERT INTO location_info (`department`, `participant`) VALUES ('A', 1);
INSERT INTO location_info (`department`, `participant`) VALUES ('B', 2);
INSERT INTO location_info (`department`, `participant`) VALUES ('C', 3);
So I think I have to use a foreach loop and loop over all arrays at once to insert the data row by row, but I fail to see how I can apply the code I found above to my code?
After some helpful comments I switched to PDO and made some progress.
My current code looks like the following.
Connection:
<?php
try {
$dsn = 'mysql:host=localhost;dbname=assessment';
$db = new PDO($dsn, 'xxx', 'xxx');
} catch (Exception $e) {
$error = $e->getMessage();
}
?>
Further down I have:
try {
$sql = "INSERT INTO location_info (`department`, `participant`, `activity`, `location`, `rec_injuries`, `rec_injuries_timeframe`, `non_rec_injuries`, `non_rec_injuries_timeframe`, `competitor`, `cost_per_pair`, `usage_rate`, `leakage`, `cost_of_productivity`, `non_rec_impact`, `non_rec_sprain`, `non_rec_puncture`, `non_rec_dermatitis`, `non_rec_infection`, `non_rec_burns`, `non_rec_cuts`, `rec_impact`, `rec_sprain`, `rec_puncture`, `rec_dermatitis`, `rec_infection`, `rec_burns`, `rec_cuts`, `condition`, `general_id`)
VALUES (:department, :participant, :activity, :location, :rec_injuries, :rec_injuries_timeframe, :non_rec_injuries_timeframe, :competitor, :cost_per_pair, :usage_rate, :leakage, :cost_of_productivity,:non_rec_impact, :non_rec_sprain, :non_rec_puncture, :non_rec_dermatitis, :non_rec_infection, :non_rec_burns, :non_rec_cuts, :rec_impact, :rec_sprain, :rec_puncture, :rec_dermatitis, :rec_infection, :rec_burns, :rec_cuts, :condition, :general_id)";
$stmt = $db->prepare($sql);
for($i = 0, $l = count($_POST["department_name"]); $i < $l; $i++) {
$loc_info = array(':department' => $_POST["department_name"][$i],
':participant' => $_POST["participant_name"][$i],
':activity' => $_POST["activity"][$i],
':location' => $_POST["location"][$i],
':rec_injuries' => $_POST["injuries"][$i],
':rec_injuries_timeframe' => $_POST["injury_time_frame"][$i],
':non_rec_injuries' => $_POST["non_rec_injuries"][$i],
':non_rec_injuries_timeframe' => $_POST["non_rec_injury_timeframe"][$i],
':competitor' => $_POST["competitor"][$i],
':cost_per_pair' => $_POST["cost_per_pair"][$i],
':usage_rate' => $_POST["usage_rate"][$i],
':leakage' => $_POST["leakage"][$i],
':cost_of_productivity' => $_POST["cost_of_productivity"][$i],
':non_rec_impact' => $_POST["non_rec_impact"][$i],
':non_rec_sprain' => $_POST["non_rec_sprain"][$i],
':non_rec_puncture' => $_POST["non_rec_puncture"][$i],
':non_rec_dermatitis' => $_POST["non_rec_dermatitis"][$i],
':non_rec_infection' => $_POST["non_rec_infection"][$i],
':non_rec_burns' => $_POST["non_rec_burns"][$i],
':non_rec_cuts' => $_POST["non_rec_cuts"][$i],
':rec_impact' => $_POST["impact"][$i],
':rec_sprain' => $_POST["sprain"][$i],
':rec_puncture' => $_POST["puncture"][$i],
':rec_dermatitis' => $_POST["dermatitis"][$i],
':rec_infection' => $_POST["infection"][$i],
':rec_burns' => $_POST["burns"][$i],
':rec_cuts' => $_POST["cuts"][$i],
':condition' => $_POST["condition"][$i],
':general_id' => $_POST["id"][$i]
);
$stmt->execute($loc_info);
}
} catch (Exception $e) {
$error = $e->getMessage();
}
But this is still not working.
Thoughts? Can I not put an array inside an array?

Answer 1

Ok after a few trial and errors and some help from #Rizier123, here is the answer:
html on the form page
For clarity sake, I was trying to figure out how add several arrays of data to my db. So on dynamic form page, I have inputs similar to:
<p>Location: <input type='text' name='location[]' > </p>
Processing the Form and Inputting the Data to the DB
First, I switched from mysqli to PDO, then I ran with the following code:
try {
$sql = "INSERT INTO location_info (`department`, `participant`, `activity`, `location`, `rec_injuries`, `rec_injuries_timeframe`, `non_rec_injuries`, `non_rec_injuries_timeframe`, `competitor`, `cost_per_pair`, `usage_rate`, `leakage`, `cost_of_productivity`, `non_rec_impact`, `non_rec_sprain`, `non_rec_puncture`, `non_rec_dermatitis`, `non_rec_infection`, `non_rec_burns`, `non_rec_cuts`, `rec_impact`, `rec_sprain`, `rec_puncture`, `rec_dermatitis`, `rec_infection`, `rec_burns`, `rec_cuts`, `condition`, `general_id`)
VALUES (:department, :participant, :activity, :location, :rec_injuries, :rec_injuries_timeframe, :non_rec_injuries, :non_rec_injuries_timeframe, :competitor, :cost_per_pair, :usage_rate, :leakage, :cost_of_productivity,:non_rec_impact, :non_rec_sprain, :non_rec_puncture, :non_rec_dermatitis, :non_rec_infection, :non_rec_burns, :non_rec_cuts, :rec_impact, :rec_sprain, :rec_puncture, :rec_dermatitis, :rec_infection, :rec_burns, :rec_cuts, :condition, '{$id}')";
$stmt = $db->prepare($sql);
for($i = 0, $l = count($_POST["department_name"]); $i < $l; $i++) {
$loc_info = array(':department' => $_POST["department_name"][$i],
':participant' => $_POST["participant_name"][$i],
':activity' => $_POST["activity"][$i],
':location' => $_POST["location"][$i],
':rec_injuries' => $_POST["injuries"][$i],
':rec_injuries_timeframe' => $_POST["injury_time_frame"][$i],
':non_rec_injuries' => $_POST["non_rec_injuries"][$i],
':non_rec_injuries_timeframe' => $_POST["non_rec_injury_timeframe"][$i],
':competitor' => $_POST["competitor"][$i],
':cost_per_pair' => $_POST["cost_per_pair"][$i],
':usage_rate' => $_POST["usage_rate"][$i],
':leakage' => $_POST["leakage"][$i],
':cost_of_productivity' => $_POST["cost_of_productivity"][$i],
':non_rec_impact' => $_POST["non_rec_impact"][$i],
':non_rec_sprain' => $_POST["non_rec_sprain"][$i],
':non_rec_puncture' => $_POST["non_rec_puncture"][$i],
':non_rec_dermatitis' => $_POST["non_rec_dermatitis"][$i],
':non_rec_infection' => $_POST["non_rec_infection"][$i],
':non_rec_burns' => $_POST["non_rec_burns"][$i],
':non_rec_cuts' => $_POST["non_rec_cuts"][$i],
':rec_impact' => $_POST["impact"][$i],
':rec_sprain' => $_POST["sprain"][$i],
':rec_puncture' => $_POST["puncture"][$i],
':rec_dermatitis' => $_POST["dermatitis"][$i],
':rec_infection' => $_POST["infection"][$i],
':rec_burns' => $_POST["burns"][$i],
':rec_cuts' => $_POST["cuts"][$i],
':condition' => $_POST["condition"][$i] );
$stmt->execute($loc_info);
}