Inserting into MySQL database, query not running - php

Question

I'm making a simple sign up/in form for a school assignment.
for some reason I can't get it to create a new column in my current table.
All of the information for the $_Get is coming up properly. I imagine its a syntax error i'm not seeing. Any help would be great. Thank you.
if ( $_GET['action'] == "create" )
{
print('test');
// -----------------------
// PERFORM DATABASE UPDATE
$fn = $_GET['fn'];
$ln = $_GET['ln'];
$id = $_GET['id'];
$user = $_GET['user'];
$tel = $_GET['tel_num'];
$email = $_GET['email'];
$bday = $_GET['birthday'];
$password = $_GET['password'];
$address = $_GET['address'];
print('test1');
mysql_select_db("advweb2");
$sql="INSERT INTO `account` (`user`, `password` , `email` , `first_name` , `last_name` , `address` , `tel_num` , `birthday`)
VALUES ('$user', '$password', '$email', '$fn', '$ln', '$address', '$tel', '$bday')";
print_r($sql);
print("<div style='color:green'>update successful</div>");
// -----------------------
$action = "signin";
}

Answer 1

You need to execute the query.
You should be using MySQLi or PDO as detailed here as mysql_query is deprecated.
Example with mysqli:
<?php
$mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "my_user", "my_password", "world");
$stmt = $mysqli->prepare(
"INSERT INTO `account` (`user`, `password` , `email` , `first_name` , `last_name` , `address` , `tel_num` , `birthday`)
VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)"
);
$stmt->bind_param('ssssssss', $user, $password, $email, $fn, $ln, $address, $tel, $bday);
$stmt->execute();
/* ... */
$stmt->close()
?>
You need to make sure you clean your $_GET variables before inserting into the database to prevent SQL injection. A good read: how to prevent SQL injection.

Answer 2

Please don't use mysql_query, switch to mysqli or PDO instead.
$dbh = new PDO("mysql:host=$host;dbname=$dbname", $user, $pass);
$stmt = $dbh->prepare("INSERT INTO REGISTRY (name, value) VALUES (:name, :value)");
$stmt->bindParam(':name', $name);
$stmt->bindParam(':value', $value);
$name = 'one';
$value = 1;
$stmt->execute();
$dbh = null;

Answer 3

Use Mysqli or PDO as explained by others but if you insist execute your query like this:
$sql=mysql_query("INSERT INTO `account` (`user`, `password` , `email` , `first_name` , `last_name` , `address` , `tel_num` , `birthday`)
VALUES ('$user', '$password', '$email', '$fn', '$ln', '$address', '$tel', '$bday')");
Because You prepared query and assigned it to the variable but for missed to execute it.