Question

I have a curious problem that I hope is something stupid I overlooked.

I am getting an error that usually occurs when there is a missing column in a mysql table, or a misspelled php variable: “Unknown column ‘Bob’ in ‘field list'”…

Except ‘Bob’ is not the name of a column, its the VALUE I am trying to assign to the row. Why would php be confusing the two??

Here is my php function that I believe is the location of the error:

function recordGuest($id,$fname,$lname,$dinner){
    $conn = connect("wedding");
    $guest_query = "INSERT INTO guest (fname,lname,person_id)
                    VALUES (".$fname.",".$lname.",".$id.");";
    mysql_query($guest_query,$conn) or die(mysql_error());

    $guest_id_query = "SELECT id FROM guest WHERE person_id = ".$id.";";
    $guest_id_result = mysql_query($guest_id_query,$conn) or die(mysql_error());
    $guest_id = "";
    while($row = mysql_fetch_array($guest_id_result)){
        $guest_id = $row["id"];
    }

    $guest_dinner_query = " INSERT INTO guest_dinner (dinner_id,guest_id)
                            VALUES (".$dinner.",".$guest_id.");";
    mysql_query($guest_dinner_query,$conn) or die(mysql_error());
}

Here is the php code that processes the form and executes the above function:

<?php
include("functions.php");

$code = $_POST["code"];
$type = $_POST["type"];
$people = getPeople($code);
$ids = $people["ids"];
$email= "";

for($i = 0; $i < count($ids); $i++){
    $response = $_POST["response_".$i];
    $dinner = $_POST["dinner_".$i];
    recordResponse($ids[$i],$response);
    if($dinner != "null"){
        recordDinner($ids[$i],$dinner);
    }
    if($type == 3){
        $guest_responses = $_POST["guest_response_".$i];
        $guest_fname = $_POST["guest_fname_".$i];
        $guest_lname = $_POST["guest_lname_".$i];
        $guest_dinner_response = $_POST["guest_dinner_response_".$i];
        if($guest_dinner_response != "null"){
            recordGuest($ids[$i],$guest_fname,$guest_lname,$guest_dinner_response);
        }
    }
}
?>

Heres what my “guest” mysql table looks like:

guest
    id int auto inc (primary key)
    fname varchar
    lname varchar
    person_id int

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Enclose the string in single quotes i.e. ‘Bob’ before trying to insert the string values