Can you use $_POST in a WHERE clause - php

Question

There are not really and direct answers on this, so I thought i'd give it a go.
$myid = $_POST['id'];
//Select the post from the database according to the id.
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM repairs WHERE id = " .$myid . " AND name = '' AND email = '' AND address1 = '' AND postcode = '';") or die(header('Location: 404.php'));
The above code is supposed to set the variable $myid as the posted content of id, the variable is then used in an SQL WHERE clause to fetch data from a database according to the submitted id. Forgetting the potential SQL injects (I will fix them later) why exactly does this not work?
Okay here is the full code from my test of it:
<?php
//This includes the variables, adjusted within the 'config.php file' and the functions from the 'functions.php' - the config variables are adjusted prior to anything else.
require('configs/config.php');
require('configs/functions.php');
//Check to see if the form has been submited, if it has we continue with the script.
if(isset($_POST['confirmation']) and $_POST['confirmation']=='true')
{
//Slashes are removed, depending on configuration.
if(get_magic_quotes_gpc())
{
$_POST['model'] = stripslashes($_POST['model']);
$_POST['problem'] = stripslashes($_POST['problem']);
$_POST['info'] = stripslashes($_POST['info']);
}
//Create the future ID of the post - obviously this will create and give the id of the post, it is generated in numerical order.
$maxid = mysql_fetch_array(mysql_query('select max(id) as id from repairs'));
$id = intval($maxid['id'])+1;
//Here the variables are protected using PHP and the input fields are also limited, where applicable.
$model = mysql_escape_string(substr($_POST['model'],0,9));
$problem = mysql_escape_string(substr($_POST['problem'],0,255));
$info = mysql_escape_string(substr($_POST['info'],0,6000));
//The post information is submitted into the database, the admin is then forwarded to the page for the new post. Else a warning is displayed and the admin is forwarded back to the new post page.
if(mysql_query("insert into repairs (id, model, problem, info) values ('$_POST[id]', '$_POST[model]', '$_POST[version]', '$_POST[info]')"))
{
?>
<?php
$myid = $_POST['id'];
//Select the post from the database according to the id.
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM repairs WHERE id=" .$myid . " AND name = '' AND email = '' AND address1 = '' AND postcode = '';") or die(header('Location: 404.php'));
//This re-directs to an error page the user preventing them from viewing the page if there are no rows with data equal to the query.
if( mysql_num_rows($query) < 1 )
{
header('Location: 404.php');
exit;
}
//Assign variable names to each column in the database.
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($query))
{
$model = $row['model'];
$problem = $row['problem'];
}
//Select the post from the database according to the id.
$query2 = mysql_query('SELECT * FROM devices WHERE version = "'.$model.'" AND issue = "'.$problem.'";') or die(header('Location: 404.php'));
//This re-directs to an error page the user preventing them from viewing the page if there are no rows with data equal to the query.
if( mysql_num_rows($query2) < 1 )
{
header('Location: 404.php');
exit;
}
//Assign variable names to each column in the database.
while($row2 = mysql_fetch_array($query2))
{
$price = $row2['price'];
$device = $row2['device'];
$image = $row2['image'];
}
?>
<?php echo $id; ?>
<?php echo $model; ?>
<?php echo $problem; ?>
<?php echo $price; ?>
<?php echo $device; ?>
<?php echo $image; ?>
<?
}
else
{
echo '<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="2; URL=iphone.php"><div id="confirms" style="text-align:center;">Oops! An error occurred while submitting the post! Try again…</div></br>';
}
}
?>

Answer 1

What data type is id in your table? You maybe need to surround it in single quotes.
$query = msql_query("SELECT * FROM repairs WHERE id = '$myid' AND...")
Edit: Also you do not need to use concatenation with a double-quoted string.

Answer 2

Check the value of $myid and the entire dynamically created SQL string to make sure it contains what you think it contains.
It's likely that your problem arises from the use of empty-string comparisons for columns that probably contain NULL values. Try name IS NULL and so on for all the empty strings.

Answer 3

The only reason $myid would be empty, is if it's not being sent by the browser. Make sure your form action is set to POST. You can verify there are values in $_POST with the following:
print_r($_POST);
And, echo out your query to make sure it's what you expect it to be. Try running it manually via PHPMyAdmin or MySQL Workbench.

Answer 4

Using $something = mysql_real_escape_string($POST['something']);
Does not only prevent SQL-injection, it also prevents syntax errors due to people entering data like:
name = O'Reilly <<-- query will bomb with an error
memo = Chairman said: "welcome"
etc.
So in order to have a valid and working application it really is indispensible.
The argument of "I'll fix it later" has a few logical flaws:
It is slower to fix stuff later, you will spend more time overall because you need to revisit old code.
You will get unneeded bug reports in testing due to the functional errors mentioned above.
I'll do it later thingies tend to never happen.
Security is not optional, it is essential.
What happens if you get fulled off the project and someone else has to take over, (s)he will not know about your outstanding issues.
If you do something, finish it, don't leave al sorts of issues outstanding.
If I were your boss and did a code review on that code, you would be fired on the spot.