PHP: Delete || Confirm delete - php

Question

I am having a problem.
I am creating a script that allows a person to select a record by it's primary ID and then delete the row by clicking a confirmation button.
This is the code with the form:
"confirmdelete.php"
<?php
include("dbinfo.php");
$sel_record = $_POST[sel_record];
//SQL statement to select info where the ID is the same as what was just passed in
$sql = "SELECT * FROM contacts WHERE id = '$sel_record'";
//execute SELECT statement to get the result
$result = mysql_query($sql, $db) or die (mysql_error());//search dat db
if (!$result){// if a problem
echo 'something has gone wrong!';
}
else{
//loop through and get dem records
while($record = mysql_fetch_array($result)){
//assign values of fields to var names
$id = $record['ID'];
$email = $record['email'];
$first = $record['first'];
$last = $record['last'];
$status = $record['status'];
$image = $record['image'];
$filename = "images/$image";
}
$pageTitle = "Delete a Monkey";
include('header.php');
echo <<<HERE
Are you sure you want to delete this record?<br/>
It will be permanently removed:</br>
<img src="$filename" />
<ul>
<li>ID: $id</li>
<li>Name: $first $last</li>
<li>E-mail: $email</li>
<li>Status: $status</li>
</ul>
<p><br/>
<form method="post" action="reallydelete.php">
<input type="hidden" name="id" value="$id">
<input type="submit" name="reallydelete" value="really truly delete"/>
<input type="button" name="cancel" value="cancel" onClick="location.href='index.php'" /></a>
</p></form>
HERE;
}//close else
//when button is clicked takes user back to index
?>
and here is the reallydelete.php code it calls upon
<?php
include ("dbinfo.php");
$id = $_POST[id];//get value from confirmdelete.php and assign to ID
$sql = "SELECT * FROM contacts WHERE id = '$id'";//where primary key is equal to $id (or what was passed in)
$result=mysql_query($sql) or die (mysql_error());
//get values from DB and display from db before deleting it
while ($row=mysql_fetch_array($result)){
$id = $row["id"];
$email = $row["email"];
$first= $row["first"];
$last = $row["last"];
$status = $row["status"];
include ("header.php");
//displays here
echo "<p>$id, $first, $last, $email, $status has been deleted permanently</p>";
}
$sql="DELETE FROM contacts WHERE id = '$id'";
//actually deletes
$result = mysql_query($sql) or die (mysql_error());
?>
The problem is that it never actually ends up going into the "while" loop
The connection is absolutely fine.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

1: It should not be $_POST[id]; it should be $_POST['id'];
Try after changing this.
if it does not still work try a var_dump() to your results to see if it is returning any rows.
if it is empty or no rows than it is absolutely normal that it is not working.
and make sure id is reaching to your php page properly.

Answer 2

Ok as you are just starting, take care of these syntax, and later try switching to PDO or mysqli_* instead of mysql..
Two major syntax error in your code:
Parameters must be written in ''
E.g:
$_POST['id'] and not $_POST[id]
Secondly you must use the connecting dots for echoing variables:
E.g:
echo "Nane:".$nane; or echo $name; but not echo "Name: $name";
Similarly in mysql_query
E.g:
$sql = "SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE id="'.$id.'";
I hope you get it..take care of these stuff..