Displaying data from database in bootstrap modal form(PHP&MySQL) - php

Question

I am new to both bootstrap and php. I have created a registration modal form to register users for my site and it registers perfectly. However, I would like to retrieve a users details from my database based on their User ID and display their details in a registration form for them to edit and update.
What I don't know how to do is display the records in the form fields...
Please help by providing a simple syntax for this.
I am using PHP and MySql
This is my modal form
<div class="modal fade" id="updatelecModal" tabindex="-1" role="dialog" aria-labelledby="updatelecModalLabel" aria-hidden="true">
<div class="modal-dialog">
<div class="modal-content">
<div class="modal-header">
<button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-label="Close"><span aria-hidden="true">×</span></button>
</div>
<div class="modal-body">
<!--End of modal-->
<!-- Start of form-->
<form id="updatelecForm" class="form-horizontal" role="form" method="post" action="#" nonvalidate>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="student_id" class="col-sm-3 control-label">Lecturer ID</label>
<div class="col-lg-9">
<input type="text" class="form-control" name="lec_id" required placeholder="Enter User ID">
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label class="col-lg-3 control-label">Full name</label>
<div class="col-lg-4">
<input type="text" class="form-control" name="firstName" required placeholder="First name" />
</div>
<div class="col-lg-4">
<input type="text" class="form-control" name="lastName" required placeholder="Last name" />
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="email" class="col-sm-3 control-label">Email</label>
<div class="col-lg-9">
<input type="email" class="form-control" name="lec_email" required placeholder="#######.com">
</div>
</div>
<label class="col-xs-3 control-label" name="lec_gender">Gender:</label>
<label class="radio-inline control-label">
<input type="radio" name="optionsRadio" id="gender" value="Male">Male
</label>
<label class="radio-inline control-label">
<input type="radio" name="optionsRadio" id="gender" value="Female">Female
</label>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="password" class="col-sm-3 control-label">Password</label>
<div class="col-sm-7">
<input type="password" id="password" class="form-control" name="password" required placeholder ="Enter your Password">
</div>
</div>
<div class="form-group">
<label for="password" class="col-sm-3 control-label">Confirm Password</label>
<div class="col-sm-7">
<input type="password" id="password2" class="form-control" name="cpassword" data-validate-linked="password" required placeholder ="Re-enter your Password">
</div>
</div>
<div class="modal-footer">
<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary">Register</button>
<button type="button" class="btn btn-default" data-dismiss="modal">Cancel</button>
<button type="reset" class="btn btn-default">Reset</button>
</div>
</form>
<!--End of registration form-->
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
I dont know how to include the php in this form as it disappears
Also if you could include links for further reading on php I would really appreciate.

Answer 1

Without seeing any code it's difficult to give more specific help. However, what I would do is store the user's id in a session. When they view the form brab the id from the session and do a SQL call to your db, something like:
SELECT firstName,lastName,email, FROM table_name WHERE id=$id
Obviously what you select, the table_name, and the where clause depends on your own tables and variables.
Run your SQL command and store the columns into variables. Then place the variable into the value of the input:
<input type="text" value="<?php echo $name != '' ? $name : ''; ?>" />
Basically, what I did above is a shorthand if statement that says if $name isn't blank they print it, otherwise print nothing.