taking a symbol from edittext and save it in database - php

Question

I'm trying to take a symbol from an EditText in my Android application and save it in the database (it's retrieved from the database and I'm editing it). For example, I have this symbol: μ. It will be retrived fine, but when I edit it and save the changes the symbol will be saved as a ?, and I don't know why.
I've added this to my PHP file:
mysql_query("SET NAMES 'utf8'");
header("Content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8");
and this is the Java code
class SaveglossaryDetails extends AsyncTask<String, String, String> {
/**
* Saving glossary
* */
protected String doInBackground(String... args) {
// getting updated data from EditTexts
String Name = name.getText().toString();
String Description = description.getText().toString();
String Symbol = symbol.getText().toString();
// Building Parameters
List<NameValuePair> params = new ArrayList<NameValuePair>();
params.add(new BasicNameValuePair(TAG_GID, gid));
params.add(new BasicNameValuePair(TAG_NAME, Name));
params.add(new BasicNameValuePair(TAG_DESCRIPTION, Description));
params.add(new BasicNameValuePair(TAG_SYMBOL, Symbol));
// sending modified data through http request
// Notice that update glossary url accepts POST method
JSONObject json = jsonParser.makeHttpRequest(url_update_glossary,"POST", params);
// check json success tag
try {
int success = json.getInt(TAG_SUCCESS);
if (success == 1) {
// successfully updated
Intent i = new Intent(getApplicationContext(), AdminGlossary.class);
i.putExtra("admin", admin);
startActivity(i);
} else {
// failed to update glossary
}
} catch (JSONException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
return null;
}
my php code
<?php
// array for JSON response
$response = array();
// check for required fields
if (isset($_POST['ID_glossary']) && isset($_POST['symbol']) && isset($_POST['name']) && isset($_POST['description'])) {
$ID_glossary = $_POST['ID_glossary'];
$name = $_POST['name'];
$symbol = $_POST['symbol'];
$description = $_POST['description'];
// include db connect class
require_once __DIR__ . '/db_connect.php';
// connecting to db
$db = new DB_CONNECT();
mysql_query("SET NAMES 'utf8'");
// mysql update row with matched pid
$result = mysql_query("UPDATE glossary SET Symbol='$symbol', Name = '$name', Description = '$description' WHERE ID_Glossary = $ID_glossary");
header("Content-type: application/json; charset=utf-8");
// check if row inserted or not
if ($result) {
// successfully updated
$response["success"] = 1;
$response["message"] = "glossary successfully updated.";
// echoing JSON response
echo json_encode($response);
} else {
}
} else {
// required field is missing
$response["success"] = 0;
$response["message"] = "Required field(s) is missing";
// echoing JSON response
echo json_encode($response);
}
?>
the db_connect
<?php
/**
* A class file to connect to database
*/
class DB_CONNECT {
// constructor
function __construct() {
// connecting to database
$this->connect();
}
// destructor
function __destruct() {
// closing db connection
$this->close();
}
/**
* Function to connect with database
*/
function connect() {
// import database connection variables
require_once __DIR__ . '/db_config.php';
// Connecting to mysql database
$con = mysql_connect(DB_SERVER, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD) or die(mysql_error());
// Selecing database
$db = mysql_select_db(DB_DATABASE) or die(mysql_error()) or die(mysql_error());
mysqli_query($link, "SET SESSION CHARACTER_SET_RESULTS =utf8;");
mysqli_query($link, "SET SESSION CHARACTER_SET_CLIENT =utf8;");
// returing connection cursor
return $con;
}
/**
* Function to close db connection
*/
function close() {
// closing db connection
mysql_close();
}
}
?>
How can I solve this, and where is the problem?

Answer 1

Alright, I think I've got your problem.
Before every insert query on the server side, try adding
mysql_set_charset('utf8',$link);
This is because mysql_query("SET NAMES 'utf8'"); tells the database what charset to expect, but the mysql is not sending it with that charset. Let me know if this works.
This may not be the problem, but if you execute mysql_client_encoding($link); on the php script and it does not return utf8 then this is most likely the issue.
Also, you should know that mysql_* functions are deprecated. You should use mysqli_ or PDO.
Source

Answer 2

Ok now that I've seen more code, I see you're doing alot of things wrong.
Here's a pastie you can use to see the changes I've made.