Question

So I am a beginner and I was reading a tutorial here: http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/phpmysql/4 on how to add values into my database.

This is my database:

This is the query string provided by the tutorial:

"INSERT INTO contacts VALUES ('$first','$last','$phone','$mobile','$fax','$email','$web')";

Notice that the tutorial does not provide the ID on the query because it should auto-increase everytime you add a record. In my case, if I do not enter a number it does not auto-increase and in fact it does not add the record

If I manually set the number as such below, it works.

('2','$first','$last','$phone','$mobile','$fax','$email','$web')";

What I’m I doing wrong? Is it because the database is local?

Answer 1

I noticed the tutorial put ” as the first column, whereas you are leaving it out. I would assume you are getting an error from the MySQL engine which you are not checking.

Personally, I always use an explicit list (this protects you in case of table re-arrangement or re-factoring):

"INSERT INTO contacts (first, last, phone, mobile, fax, email, web)
VALUES ('$first','$last','$phone','$mobile','$fax','$email','$web')";