Insert statement with automatically generated columns - php

Question

I want to create an INSERT statement using the columns of my table and NULL or blank values for the content except for the id, created_by .etc. I am trying to avoid duplicates. Right now I get:
INSERT INTO testimonials (id, created, created_by, id, quote, name, position, company, published, created, created_by, last_modified_by, last_modified) VALUES ('257927816', NOW(), '1', '')
and I would like to have blank values iterate in the VALUES section for everything but the first 3, which I define.
function insertBlankWithID($table, $postFxn) {
global $randomID;
$id = $randomID;
$resultInsert = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM " . $table);
if (!$resultInsert) {
echo '<div class="ec-messages messages-error">'.QUERY_ERROR.'</div>';
include($cmsdir . FOOTER_EXIT);
exit();
}
$columns = array();
while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($resultInsert)) {
if (empty($columns)) {
$columns = array_keys($row);
}
}
//$sql = 'INSERT INTO `testimonials` (`id`, `quote`, `name`, `position`, `company`, `published`, `created`, `created_by`, `last_modified_by`, `last_modified`) VALUES ('.$id.', NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL);';
$sql = sprintf("INSERT INTO %s (id, created, created_by, %s) VALUES ('".$id."', NOW(), '".$_SESSION['user_id']."', '%s')", $table, implode(', ', $columns), implode("', '", ''));
mysql_query($sql);
/*
if (!$sql) {
echo '<div class="ec-messages messages-error">'.QUERY_ERROR.'</div>';
exit();
}
*/
echo $sql;
}
// redirect(basename($_SERVER['PHP_SELF'], ".php").'?s=output&id='.$id
insertBlankWithID('testimonials', $postFxn);

Answer 1

Looking at your code, you should limit the select to 1, (ie $resultInsert = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM " . $table. " limit 1"); as you don't need the information, just the keys. That removes the need for the while loop.
Now, to get all the keys except the first three, for your $columns variable, use array_slice such as $columns = array_slice($columns, 3); Or, if it isn't the first three when you select *, you can do $columns = array_diff($columns, array('id', 'created', 'created_by') );
Now, to insert null after the first three, you are imploding a string - which won't work, instead you can make an array of null values matching the count of the new $columns such as:
$blanks = array_fill(0, count($columns), 'null');
and when creating your statement, do implode(", ", $blanks), which would make your $sql look like:
$sql = sprintf("INSERT INTO %s (id, created, created_by, %s) VALUES ('".$id."', NOW(), '".$_SESSION['user_id']."', '%s')", $table, implode(', ', $columns), implode(", ", $blanks));
And that should fix the issue you've described.
Also, while I'm here, it should be noted that you should not use mysql_ functions anymore and move to mysqli_ for the same type of procedure-oriented MySQL access.