Cannot INSERT data into mysql using php - php

Question

I have been trying for two days now to figure this one out. I copied verbatim from a tutorial and I still cant insert data into a table. here is my code with form
<font face="Verdana" size="2">
<form method="post" action="Manage_cust.php" >
Customer Name
<font face="Verdana">
<input type="text" name="Company" size="50"></font>
<br>
Customer Type
<font face="Verdana">
<select name="custType" size="1">
<option>Non-Contract</option>
<option>Contract</option>
</select></font>
<br>
Contract Hours
<font face="Verdana">
<input type="text" name="contractHours" value="0"></font>
<br>
<font face="Verdana">
<input type="submit" name="dothis" value="Add Customer"></font>
</form>
</font>
<font face="Verdana" size="2">
<?php
if (isset($_POST['dothis'])) {
$con = mysql_connect ("localhost","root","password");
if (!$con){
die ("Cannot Connect: " . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("averyit_net",$con);
$sql = "INSERT INTO cust_profile (Customer_Name, Customer_Type, Contract_Hours) VALUES
('$_POST[Company]','$_POST[custType]','$_POST[contractHours]')";
mysql_query($sql, $con);
print_r($sql);
mysql_close($con);
}
?>
This is my PHPmyadmin server info:
Server: 127.0.0.1 via TCP/IP
Software: MySQL
Software version: 5.5.27 - MySQL Community Server (GPL)
Protocol version: 10
User: root#localhost
Server charset: UTF-8 Unicode (utf8)
PLEASE tell me why this wont work. when I run the site it puts the info in and it disappears when I push the submit button, but it does not go into the table. There are no error messages that show up. HELP

Answer 1

I have improved a little bit in your SQL statement, stored it in an array and this is to make sure your post data are really set, else it will throw a null value. Please always sanitize your input.
in your Manage_cust.php:
<?php
if (isset($_POST['dothis']))
{
$con = mysql_connect ("localhost","root","password");
if (!$con)
{
die ("Cannot Connect: " . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("averyit_net",$con);
$company = isset($_POST['Company'])?$_POST['Company']:NULL;
$custype = isset($_POST['custType'])?$_POST['custType']:NULL;
$hours = isset($_POST['contractHours'])?$_POST['contractHours']:NULL;
$sql = "INSERT INTO cust_profile(Customer_Name,
Customer_Type,
Contract_Hours)
VALUES('$company',
'$custype',
'$hours')
";
mysql_query($sql, $con);
mysql_close($con);
}
?>

Answer 2

First of all, don't use font tags...ever
Secondly, because of this line:
if (isset($_POST['dothis'])) {
It looks like your HTML and PHP are combined into one script? In which case, you'll need to change the action on the form to something like this:
<form method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>" >
Plus, you can kill a bad connection in one line:
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","root","password") or die("I died, sorry." . mysql_error() );
Check your posts with isset() and then assign values to variables.
var $company;
if(isset($_POST['Company']) {
$company = $_POST['Company'];
} else {
$company = null;
}
//so on and so forth for the other fields
Or use ternary operators
Also, using the original mysql PHP API is usually a bad choice. It's even mentioned in the PHP manual for the API
Always better to go with mysqli or PDO so let's convert that:
//your connection
$conn = mysqli_connect("localhost","username","password","averyit_net");
if (mysqli_connect_errno()) {
printf("Connect failed: %s\n", mysqli_connect_error());
exit();
}
$sql = "INSERT INTO cust_profile (Customer_Name, Customer_Type, Contract_Hours)
VALUES ($company,$custType,$contractHours)";
// ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
// Assuming you set these
$stmt = mysqli_prepare($conn, $sql);
$stmt->execute();
$stmt->close();
Someone tell me if this is wrong, so I can correct it. I haven't used mysqli in a while.

Answer 3

Change the $sql to this:
$sql = "INSERT INTO cust_profile (Customer_Name, Customer_Type, Contract_Hours) VALUES ('".$_POST[Company]."','".$_POST[custType]."','".$_POST[contractHours]."')