Calling custom PHP inside Drupal - php

Question

Drupal version 6.12
I have a page whose input format is PHP.
I simply want to update a database table. The SQL code appears to be too complex for db_query. I can not make db_query work nor does including php nor does dropping custom php code into the “Body” seem to work either. Any advise on how I can make the following code work inside Drupal?
Here is the code we put in the body. I tried creating a PHP file and just including the PHP file with an INCLUDE statement too.
I know the PHP is error free. it was taken from a site that does not use Drupal!
<?php
if( isset( $_GET['file'] ) )
{
$fileno = $_GET['file'];
$client = $_POST["Client"];
$DBLink = pg_connect("host=XXXX dbname=XXXX user=XXX password=XXXX" );
$sql = "update
webform_submitted_data sd set data = 'A'
where
sd.nid = '27' and
sd.cid = (select wc.cid from webform_component wc where wc.nid = sd.nid and wc.form_key = 'status') and
sd.sid = (select wd.sid from webform_submitted_data wd, webform_component wc
where wc.nid = sd.nid and wc.form_key = 'your_file_' and wd.nid = wc.nid and
wd.data = '$fileno');"
if( ! pg_query($DBLink, $sql) )
{
print( "Database Connection Failure: " . pg_last_error($DBLink));
exit;
}
else
{
print "File: $fileno is now Assigned to $client";
}
pg_close($DBLink);
}
?>
I also tried calling the Drupal APIs for sending an update to the database with no luck either, see code that follows. I actually tried this method first before giving up and trying the code above.
I also tried two versions of the db_query. The one you see below and one where I replaced %s with $fileno in the $sql string and called db_query($sql).
<?php
if( isset( $_GET['file'] ) )
{
$fileno = $_GET['file'];
$client = $_POST["Client"];
$sql = "update
webform_submitted_data sd set data = 'A'
where
sd.nid = '27' and
sd.cid = (select wc.cid from webform_component wc where wc.nid = sd.nid and wc.form_key = 'status') and
sd.sid = (select wd.sid from webform_submitted_data wd, webform_component wc
where wc.nid = sd.nid and wc.form_key = 'your_file_' and wd.nid = wc.nid and
wd.data = '%s');"
db_query($sql, $fileno);
print "File: $fileno is now Assigned to $client";
}
?>
I also put my database in full logging mode, logging connections and all statements and neither query hits the database. In the first case, if I INCLUDE the PHP I get just a white/blank screen -- it's like the PHP code is running but drupal is parsing the code before running it. I just want the code to run AS-IS.
Also, I'm really not interested in creating drupal modules. If it's possible to make this work without a lot of Drupal customizattion, that's what I'm after. This is a short-term tactical fix while we work on a more strategic goal...
Thanks all!

Answer 1

A couple of questions and thoughts:
Are there any database errors that appear on the screen? They usually appear in red 'warning' message boxes at the top of the content after an error has occurred.
Instead of webform_component you should be using {webform_component}. All table names should be in brackets.
The proper way to use data from a form input is to use $form_values[] for a form or $node for a node (if the data is part of a node). Additionally, if you are using the webform module, you can add steps to the submission of a webform. There are some tutorials here.
Last, does php actually reach the if if( isset( $_GET['file'] ) )? Drupal will complain heavily about database errors. So if you don't receive an error message, it means that the query was not executed (never got to that step) or it executed cleanly (but perhaps not with the intended effect).
In my experience, there haven't been queries that have been too complex for drupal because you are entering SQL (sanitized and parametrized) directly.