HTML form opens PHP script instead of running it - php

Question

I am using WAMP with MySQL and PHP to run a local server. The WAMP server is online and I use a simple HTML script to run PHP file that connects to a database and inserts data in a table that I have created on WAMP server.
The problem is that instead of running (executing) my script, the browser opens it in text mode. As in I can see the script.
Now there have been similar questions on this forum and others and people have solved the problem. However what makes my problem unique is that I am able to run a test.php. I am able to display text with it as well as open info.php so PHP is running on my server, however when I use the HTML form it refuses to run and only opens the script.
I am using Chrome browser and I have also checked it in Firefox with the same result.
I have one HTML file that is a form linked to my PHP files which handles connection and insertion of values in the table on the WAMP server. The name of the database is test.
form.html
<form action= "create_product.php" method= "get">
<center>
<table>
<td><label><b><font size="5"> Name</label></td>
<td><font size="5"><input type="text" name="name" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><label><b><font size="5"> Description</label></td>
<td><font size="5"><input type="text" Description="description" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<center><td></td></center>
<center><td><input type="submit" value="Submit"/> <input type="reset" value="reset"/>
</tr>
</table>
</center>
insert_product.php
<?php
$con= mysql_connect("localhost", "admin","");
$db = mysql_select_db("test");
$name = $_GET["name"];
$description = $_GET["description"];
$query = "Insert into products('name','description')values('".$name."','".$description."')";
$result = mysql_query($query);
?>

Answer 1

I had the same problem and was surfing all known technical forums. I finally figured out what was the problem - nothing to do with PHP or Apache setup. Nothing wrong with the code (at least on mine). Here's what was NOT working:
I double-clicked to open the file from Finder (or explorer if you are a Windows user), and the URL in browser is
"/file/xxxxx/foo.html"
. This would open
/file/xxxx/bar.php"
, which doesn't work!
However, if I typed into the URL in browser
"localhost/~xxx/foo.html"
, it runs nicely when
"bar.php"
is called.
Perhaps this is what you can try.
"file:///XXXX/foo.php"
doesn't work, but
"localhost/XXX/foo.php"
does.

Answer 2

Make sure that you open it localhost/yourfile.php not like C:\wamp\yourfile.php
Start all services
or try xampp download
tried wamp and xampp , in my opinion xampp is better

Answer 3

This is edit- If u have tested that PHP is working on your local server,then the most probable cause for text display could be missing php end tag(?>)
Also please note that if u have saved your file as anything other than .php,it will not be parsed. Files containing PHP code but saved as HTML or doc file renders the php codes within it useless.
<<--EDIT ENDS-->>
u gave action= "create_product.php" in form although u specified the php file as insert_product.php
Also as a good practice,always provide database connection variable in mysql_select_db
use $db = mysql_select_db("test",$con);
instead of $db = mysql_select_db("test");