Question

Hello Stack Overflow i hope you are well today;

I have a form that uses $_SESSION to store the data at the end of the form i require that it submits to a database.

Within my form there is an option to allow the user to add a new input based on their children.

For example if they user has a child they press a button and jQuery adds an input field, this input then outputs the data into the session as

$_SESSION[‘children’];

Here is the array data (with some samples thrown in);

Array ( [0] => Natural Chlid 1 [1] => Natural Chlid 2 [2] => Natural Chlid 3 ) 

My issue is that i am now submitting the data to the database, i can send all other instances of the form for example ‘first_name’ ‘last_name’ without any issue to the database in one SQL query:

$sql  = "INSERT INTO wills(";
$sql .= implode(", ",$in_fields);
$sql .= ") VALUES (";
$sql .= implode(", ",$in_values);
$sql .= ")";

Firstly the SQL insert query above does not add the chlidren to the database as it picks up the value “array”.

I plan to store the data into the children field as a serialized format for querying purposes.

I am having issues trying to insert the array into the children field but i have managed to get it working without any variables as a dummy test.

$sql  = "INSERT INTO wills(children) VALUES (bob john simon)";

Also the issue with the above is that it adds it to a new database row and not the same row.

Here is the full code:

// sql fields and values
$in_fields = array();
$in_values = array();
$in_children = serialize($_SESSION['children']);

foreach($_SESSION as $key => $value) {
    if(!empty($value)) {
        $value = sql_escape($value);
        $key = explode("#",$key);
            $in_fields[] = "`{$key[0]}`";
            $in_values[] = "'{$value}'";
    }
}


if(!empty($in_fields)) {




    $sql  = "INSERT INTO wills(";
    $sql .= implode(", ",$in_fields);
    $sql .= ") VALUES (";
    $sql .= implode(", ",$in_values);
    $sql .= ")";



    executeSql($sql);

}

print_r’s of my variables

$in_field

Array ( [0] => `selection` [1] => `first_name` [2] => `middle_name` [3] => `last_name` [4] => `spouse_name` [5] => `street` [6] => `city` [7] => `state` [8] => `zipcode` [9] => `email` [10] => `phone` [11] => `cell` [12] => `children_spouse` [13] => `deceased_children_option` [14] => `children_deceased` [15] => `children_under_18` [16] => `1st_guardian` [17] => `2nd_guardian` [18] => `age` [19] => `disabled_children` [20] => `children_disabled` [21] => `children` [22] => `trustee_1` [23] => `trustee_2` [24] => `trustee_children` [25] => `executor_1st` [26] => `executor_2nd` [27] => `spouse_executor_1st` [28] => `split_trust` [29] => `child_share` [30] => `grandchild_share` [31] => `child_share_split` [32] => `distribute_outside` [33] => `share_outside` [34] => `spouse_how_share` [35] => `child_spouse_share` [36] => `spouse_distribute_outside` [37] => `poa_name_1` [38] => `poa_relationship_1` [39] => `poa_telephone_1` [40] => `poa_name_2` [41] => `poa_relationship_2` [42] => `poa_telephone_2` [43] => `spouse_poa_name_1` [44] => `spouse_poa_relationship_1` [45] => `spouse_poa_telephone_1` [46] => `spouse_poa_name_2` [47] => `spouse_poa_relationship_2` [48] => `spouse_poa_telephone_2` [49] => `hc_poa_name_1` [50] => `hc_poa_relationship_1` [51] => `hc_poa_telephone_1` [52] => `hc_poa_name_2` [53] => `hc_poa_relationship_2` [54] => `hc_poa_telephone_2` [55] => `spouse_hc_poa_name_1` [56] => `spouse_hc_poa_relationship_1` [57] => `spouse_hc_poa_telephone_1` [58] => `spouse_hc_poa_name_2` [59] => `spouse_hc_poa_relationship_2` [60] => `spouse_hc_poa_telephone_2` [61] => `physician` [62] => `spouse_physician` [63] => `deeds` [64] => `deed` ) 

$in_values

Array ( [0] => '2nd_Marriage' [1] => 'First nAME' [2] => 'Middle Name' [3] => 'Last Name' [4] => 'Spouse Full Name' [5] => 'Street Address' [6] => 'City' [7] => '2' [8] => 'Zipcode' [9] => 'email Address' [10] => 'phone number' [11] => 'cell number' [12] => '' [13] => 'yes' [14] => '' [15] => 'yes' [16] => 'Guardian 1' [17] => 'Guardian 2' [18] => '20' [19] => 'yes' [20] => '' [21] => '' [22] => 'Sucessor Trustee 1' [23] => 'Sucessor Trustee 2' [24] => 'Children Sucessor Trustee' [25] => 'First Executor' [26] => 'Second Executor' [27] => 'Spouse\'s Executor' [28] => 'yes' [29] => 'yes' [30] => 'yes' [31] => 'yes' [32] => 'yes' [33] => 'Estate Distrubution' [34] => 'Spouse\'s Estate Distribution' [35] => 'no' [36] => 'no' [37] => 'POA 1' [38] => 'Relationship poa 1' [39] => 'telephone poa 1' [40] => 'POA 2' [41] => 'Relationship poa 2' [42] => 'telephone poa 2' [43] => 'spouse poa 1' [44] => 'spouse Relationship poa 1' [45] => 'spouse telephone poa 1' [46] => 'spouse poa 2' [47] => 'spouse Relationship poa 2' [48] => 'spouse telephone poa 2' [49] => 'poa health 1' [50] => 'poa health relationship 1' [51] => 'poa health telphone 1' [52] => 'poa health 2' [53] => 'poa health relationship 2' [54] => 'poa health telphone 2' [55] => 'spouse poa health 1' [56] => 'spouse poa health relationship 1' [57] => 'spouse poa health telphone 1' [58] => 'spouse poa health 2' [59] => 'spouse poa health relationship 2' [60] => 'spouse poa health telphone 2' [61] => 'yes' [62] => 'yes' [63] => 'yes' [64] => '5' ) 

$in_children

Array ( [0] => Natural Chlid 1 [1] => Natural Chlid 2 [2] => Natural Chlid 3 ) 

Answer 1

Not sure exactly what your issue is, but note that the string values being inserted must be enclosed in quotes:

INSERT INTO myTable (field1, field2) VALUES ('value1', 'value2')

It doesn’t matter if you use single or double quotes, though in your case you’d be better using single quotes since you use double quotes for your php strings.