Inserting HTML into database - php

I am inserting data into a table which contains some basic html tags, double quotes and single quotes.
I am using the following line to handle the data:
htmlentities(($_POST[content]), ENT_QUOTES);
The problem with this is that when I select this data to bring it back onto the screen, displays the actual html tags instead of rendering the html, i.e. if I use the <b>bold</b> tag, is displays it as text instead of making the text within that tag bold. If I don't use the above line, i.e.
htmlentities(($_POST[content]), ENT_QUOTES);
Then I can't insert the data into the database because the data can contain single quotes and double quotes.
How do I deal with this issue?
So basically, I should be able to insert the data into the database where single or double quotes should not cause a problem. When when rendering the data back onto the screen, it should render html tabs as they should get rendered into the browser and the quotes should be displayed as quotes in the text being rended back onto the screen.

You are inserting data into a database, not into an HTML document. Don't use htmlentities. Use whatever methods your database provides for escaping content. This should be something that uses bound parameters. Bobby-tables explains a number of different methods

$html = mysql_real_escape_string($html);
http://php.net/manual/en/function.mysql-real-escape-string.php
Make sure you have made a proper mysql connection mysql_connect before using this function.

you have to use strip_tags($str);
if you want remove only html tags.. single quote or double quote will remain...
but the problem in your case is ...you are putting lots of white space with your strings so you can perfectly use use strip_tags($str);

Putting so much HTML codes into the mysql table seems an ugly method to me, it is needed if you are adding a post but if you are saving a page which you may repopulate you may consider another way.
this is my method doing this:
Clear any html code
Put useful data into array (serialize array)
Save array into database
Repopulate array when the page is called (unserialize array)
This saved me to put <1kb data instead of 125kb
This is a good way if you are using templating like systems.

Related

Prevent Unwanted Inserting Behaviour (Table Columns)

I would like to know how its possible to stop the following HTML code from
Inserting into the column of the table
Not show up as an image
The column is VARCHAR inserted via text-box
'<img src="SOMEIMAGELOCATION.jpg" alt="STACKOVERFLOWRULES" style="width:69px;height:69px;">'
As expected I'm currently testing my points of entry where data is taken in , I guess somewhere in my query I need to prevent this?
If you don't want to store HTML, you have to convert the input-data from a string containing HTML to one that doesn't. You have a few options.
If you just want everything to come out exactly as typed, without turning into html, use the htmlentities function:
http://php.net/manual/en/function.htmlentities.php
If you just want to get rid of the HTML entirely and leave only plain text, use the striptags function:
http://php.net/manual/en/function.strip-tags.php

Preserve and display text exactly how it is typed and submitted

I'm having lots of trouble preserving the exact look of how a user types out a short paragraph.
My problem is that random slashes and html show up. When people would hit enter while typing the message, "\r\n\" would show up when it's echoed later. I tried fixing that but now when the user types an apostrophe while composing a message, it gets inserted into the database with 3 back slashes, and thus echoed later with 3 back slashes with the apostrophe. Frustrating! I want to just start over!
Here's what I do.
User types a message in an input field and hits submit.
That message gets inserted into the database with type varchar(280) via php.
That message gets echoed via php.
I've tried many different things like nlbr and strip_tags and stripslashes and mysql_real_escape_string and others. I might be using these all in a certain combination that messes it up.
So my question is what is the best way to preserve exactly how someone composes a text paragraph to be later echoed via php to look just like how they typed it?
Make sure Magic Quotes are off or, if you can't disable them, cleanse your strings from them. Read the manual for details: http://www.php.net/manual/en/security.magicquotes.php
When inserting your text into the database, escape it properly for SQL syntax once or, better, use prepared statements. See How can I prevent SQL injection in PHP? and The Great Escapism (Or: What You Need To Know To Work With Text Within Text).
When outputting to HTML, use htmlspecialchars to avoid HTML injection or plain syntax problems and afterwards use nl2br to format line breaks specifically for HTML.
That's basically it.
On the second step you need to escape it with mysql function.
But for correct outputing it you need to do following
<pre><?= htmlentities($mysqlRow['data']); ?></pre>
This will get from database result needed information and will outputs it like it is. With all spaces and tabs and html tags in it. (If user enters <html> this will output <html> like text)

Inserting textarea data into mySQL as text and output results

All,
I'm inserting some text from a textarea in a mySQL database. I'm using mysql_real_escape_string() to do this. I'm using stripslashes() to remove the "\" that gets inserted in front of this to display it. However when I output this it gives me the following result for something like wasn't I get wasn\\'t and if someone hits enter in my text area I get \r\n\r\n and that is also displayed.
In my database it stores correctly with a single slash and the return but it doesn't output that the same way when it's outputed. Any idea why it would be doing this?
Thanks
As long as you are double checking how your outputting data. I used.. serialize(), and unserialize(). Takes care of any special characters it seems. Have you tried that?

User insert commas into text field deletes data from mysql

I'm having problems inserting commas (,) in my text fields in html. When I submit it to mysql, it deletes the data. How do I work with this?
I've tried mysql_real_escape_string() but that still doesn't work. I have lots of data, and I don't want to use str_replace either. Is there another alternative?
escape your message before you send it to the server, so it's stored escaped, then unescape it when you print it in your html page.
so... msgTosend = escape(whateverText);
and then when you're printing
msgToPrint = getFromDatabase(unescape(myText))
however, as the comment points out, you're obviously doing something dreadfully wrong altogether.
If you're storing strings (as it sounds) you need to be wrapping them in quotes before you store them. Once you do that no amount of commas can ruin anything. If you're not storing strings, but some other data type, then you should be breaking those out into individual variables on the server before storing anything. The potential for malice or just plain breakage is basically 100% with what it sounds like you're doing.

Insert HTML to DB via form using php

Greetings,
I'd like to insert html via a form into my database using php. Can anyone please tell me what function I can use to ensure something such as
<p>This is a test</p>
<h1>Turns up correctly</h1>
Turns up in the database correctly. Right now when I do an insert the special characters are replaced with the HTML special character code.
Also whats the best way to handle inputs such as this? My code is going to be very fragile against something such as special characters and quotes.
Thanks
You only need mysql_real_escape_string():
mysql_query("INSERT INTO
table
SET
html = '".mysql_real_escape_string($myHTML)."'");
DB doesn't care of special characters. The important thing is to escape quotes, which mysql_real_escape_string() will handle.
So no need for htmlentities($myHTML) or anything like that, and when you fetch the HTML back from the database, it is already in the right format for outputting.

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