PHP/MySQL - Unable to INSERT INTO database - php

Question

I posted a couple days ago and I could not insert an additional record into a MySQL database I setup. I corrected the syntax, but the database will not update again. Basically, I have a couple forms in HTML that carry sessions over to the next pages until the PHP is processes on the final page to INSERT into the database. It worked twice (I have 2 records in the database now), but it won't insert any additional records. It worked fine a couple days ago. The only changes I made to anything was that I added a search feature that accesses the same database with the same user, but the connection is closed at the end of that script as well. Here is the code I am using to INSERT into the database (I know it isn't the best coding job, I'm still learning).
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","my_username","mypassword");
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("dgibbo1_imaging", $con);
// Here too, please mysql_real_escape_string() all parameters
mysql_query("INSERT INTO imaging (os,MAC,Model,AntiVirus,Browser,Email,Connectivity,Sound,Ports) VALUES ('".$_SESSION['imaging2']."','".$_SESSION['imaging3']."','".$_SESSION['imaging4']."','".$_SESSION['antivirus']."','".$_SESSION['browser']."','".$_SESSION['email']."','".$_SESSION['connectivity']."','".$_SESSION['sound']."','".$_SESSION['ports']."')");
OR die("Could not update: ".mysql_error());
mysql_close($con);
?>
The name of the database is imaging. The columns are setup as:
id (This is the primary key field)
os
MAC
Model
AntiVirus
Browser
Email
Connectivity
Sound
Ports
I just find it odd that it inserted records without any problems until I tried it again today. Is it possible that it has something to do with my code for the search?
The search is a simple form on another page and processes this form:
<?php
$con = mysql_connect("localhost","my_user","mypassword");
if (!$con)
{
die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}
mysql_select_db("dgibbo1_imaging", $con);
// Always escape parameters injected into SQL queries
$result = mysql_query( "SELECT * FROM imaging WHERE MAC LIKE '%"
. mysql_real_escape_string ( $search, $con )
. "%'"
);
echo "<table border='1'>
<tr>
<th>MAC</th>
<th>Model</th>
<th>AntiVirus</th>
<th>Email</th>
<th>Browser</th>
<th>Connectivity</th>
<th>Sound</th>
<th>Ports</th>
</tr>";
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
echo "<tr>";
echo "<td>" . $row['MAC'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row['Model'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row['AntiVirus'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row['Email'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row['Browser'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row['Connectivity'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row['Sound'] . "</td>";
echo "<td>" . $row['Ports'] . "</td>";
echo "</tr>";
}
echo "</table>";
mysql_close($con);
?>
Meanwhile, the search will pull up the 2 existing records successfully every time, but I can't add new records and I'm wondering if it has something to do with this.
Thanks for any suggestions. I know my syntax probably isn't the best, so any suggestions from this site are always appreciated.

Answer 1

Try creating a separate php file and hard coding the values into it. Run that and see what happens. your search form shouldnt interfere with another form.
edit any errors when using the form? any errors when inserting to another table?

Answer 2

I saw your post, and it all looks "right". What I'd suggest is to add some logging instead of DIE and look at what MySQL is saying about those insert statements:
$sql = "INSERT INTO imaging ....";
mysql_query($sql);
if(mysql_errno()) {
$message = mysql_error() . "\n" . $sql . "\n";
$fp = fopen('c:\mylogifle.txt', 'a');
fwrite($fp, $message);
fclose($fp);
}
AND...as everyone has mentioned, encode those strings - assuming that the SQL is actually being executed, and you "know" it works, there's a very high possibility that some punctuation in one of the values is interfering with the SQL, like an unexpected comma somewhere that confuses MySQL