Jquery Serialization not working - php

Question

Have a simple form (only extract fields here) but for some reason the JQserilization is not working; looks fine in alert() but only the first form field gets posts. Suggestions please - thanks in advance
Form:
<form id="neweventform" method="post" action="">
<div class="grid_4 alpha">Setup date *</div>
<div class="grid_7 omega">
<select name="setup_day" id="setup_day"><?php days_list(); ?></select>
<select name="setup_month" id="setup_month"><?php month_list(); ?></select>
<select name="setup_year" id="setup_year"><?php year_list(); ?></select>
<div class="grid_11">
<input type="submit" name="createevent" value="Create" id="createevent" />
</div>
</form>
Jquery
$j(document).ready(function(){
$j('#neweventform').live('submit',function () {
var data= $j('#neweventform').serialize();
alert(data);
$j.ajax({type: "POST", url: "scripts/process.php",data: "newevent=newevent&event_options=" + data, cache: false, complete: function(data){
$j('#neweventform').fadeOut(2000),loading.fadeOut('slow'),$j('#content').fadeIn(2000), $j('#content').load('scripts/events.php #eventslist');
}
});
return false;
});
});
And the PHP processing
if(isset($_POST['newevent'])) :
$insert = mysql_query("INSERT INTO events (event_options) VALUES ('".$_POST['event_options']."')");
endif;
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Have a look how serialize() works. It creates a string that, in your case, should look like this:
"setup_day=foo&setup_month=bar&setup_year=baz"
Then you concat this string with another (as data), which results in an invalid parameter string:
data: "newevent=newevent&event_options=" + data
// gets
"newevent=newevent&event_options=setup_day=foo&setup_month=bar&setup_year=baz"
Depending what type event_options is in your database (from the data in your form I assume it is a field containing a date), you might want to do this:
Javascript:
data: "newevent=newevent&" + data
PHP (sanitize the user input!):
if(isset($_POST['newevent'])) :
$date = $_POST['setup_year']. '-' . $_POST['setup_month'] . '-' . $_POST['setup_day'];
$insert = mysql_query("INSERT INTO events (event_options) VALUES ('". $date . "')");
endif;

Answer 2

first. Try doing a simple
<?php
print_r($_POST);
?>
to see what are you getting on the post var.
Second. Rename your parameter
var data
to something more "exclusive"
I don't recall at the moment if you can have a conflict with the "data" symbol used to make the call but at least you can start debugging from here.

Answer 3

Your data will be serialized into something like this:
setup_day=1&setup_month=2&setup_year=2010
You then construct your data like this:
newevent=newevent&event_options=setup_day=1&setup_month=2&setup_year=2010
This query string is wrong (two '=' without an '&') and probably this the root of your problem.

Answer 4

Try this:
$j.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "scripts/process.php",
data: { newevent: newevent, event_options: $j('#neweventform').serialize() },
cache: false,
complete: function(data) {
...
}
});

Answer 5

OK, tried a mix of, but eventually got this to work:
$j(document).ready(function(){
$j('#neweventform').live('submit',function () {
var optdata= $j('#neweventform').serialize();
$j.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "scripts/process.php",
data: "newevent=" + $j('#neweventform').serialize(),
cache: false,
complete: function(data) {
$j('#neweventform').fadeOut(2000),
loading.fadeOut('slow'),
$j('#content').fadeIn(2000),
$j('#content').load('scripts/events.php #eventslist');
}
});
return false;
});
});
then in the PHP
if(isset($_POST['newevent'])) :
$tryit = serialize($_POST);
$insert = mysql_query("INSERT INTO events (event_options) VALUES ('".$tryit."')");
endif;