Multiple Text inputs into MySQL Database - php

Question

In my HTML file I have the following to take input in the following format.
Stuff1,Stuff2,Stuff3,Stuff4
<form action="process_form.php" method="post">
<form>
Part 1: <input type="text" name="p1" /><br />
Part 2: <input type="text" name="p2" /><br />
Part 3: <input type="text" name="p3" /><br />
Part 4: <input type="text" name="p4" /><br />
Part 5: <input type="text" name="p5" /><br />
Part 6: <input type="text" name="p6" /><br />
Part 7: <input type="text" name="p7" /><br />
Part 8: <input type="text" name="p8" /><br />
Part 9: <input type="text" name="p9" /><br />
Part 10: <input type="text" name="10" /><br />
</form>
<input type="submit" name="formSubmit" value="Submit" />
</form>
From there, I am using explode in my php file to separate at the comma and create an array from my string.
$create_table1 = "create table parts(qty int(5) NOT NULL,
partID int(5) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
partname varchar(25) NOT NULL,
price int(5) NOT NULL
)";
$p1_boom = explode(",",$p1);
$p2_boom = explode(",",$p2);
$p3_boom = explode(",",$p3);
$p4_boom = explode(",",$p4);
$p5_boom = explode(",",$p5);
$p6_boom = explode(",",$p6);
$p7_boom = explode(",",$p7);
$p8_boom = explode(",",$p8);
$p9_boom = explode(",",$p9);
$p10_boom = explode(",",$p10);
Now what I am trying to do is enter each set of data on its own line within the table. Such as all the parts of P1 go on the first line in the table, all the parts of P2 go on the next line in the table, etc. Thanks ahead of time for your help and let me know if you need more information!

Answer 1

Do you want the table create code? I am going to assume each part is a TEXT because you haven't specified.... otherwise change the types. Then there is some code to build queries too.
<?php
//find maximum length of $p_booms and the booms
$p_booms = array();
$pb_lengths = array();
for($i = 1; $i <= 10; $i++) {
$p_booms[] = explode(",", $_POST["p$i"]); //not sanitized! (yet)
$pb_lengths[] = count($pb_booms[$i]);
}
$pmax = max($pb_lengths);
//create the table with the maximum width
$create_table = "
CREATE TABLE parts (
partID INT(5) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY";
for($i = 0; $i < $pmax; $i++) {
$create_table .= ", p$i TEXT DEFAULT NULL";
}
$create_table .= ");";
$mysqli->query($create_table);
//then insert the values by building a query
//I am assuming partID is the p1, p2, p3 becomes 1, 2, 3 respectively
foreach($p_booms as $id => $boom) {
$query = "INSERT INTO parts SET partID=$id";
foreach($boom as $i => $part) {
$part = $mysqli->real_escape_string($part); //yay sanitized!
$query .= ", p$i = '$part'";
}
$mysqli->query($query);
}
Cheers

Answer 2

Your not going to be able to insert an array into a field. You will have to either leave it as a string OR serialize/json_encode the array before inserting. Inserting the rows is no different then inserting any pieces of data.
$db = new PDO(/*connection info*/);
$stmt = $db-prepare('insert into tableName(myColumn) values(?)');
// Just loop throw the data with...
$stmt->execute(array($stringToInsert));

Answer 3

Use the serialize() function.
$p10_boom = explode(",",$p10);
$p10_boom_serial = serialize( $p10_boom );
That produces something like:
a:4:{i:0;s:6:"Stuff1";i:1;s:6:"Stuff2";i:2;s:6:"Stuff3";i:3;s:6:"Stuff4";}
Just escape that string when you save it to your DB.
Now whichever field you are going to use for your data should probably be a text field, or a long VARCHAR field.
If you have to retrieve the value and need to turn it back into an array, use unserialize(). You can convert it back into a string using join() or implode()