Derive checkbox state from non-boolean MySQL with PHP

Question

Currently I have a form that makes use of fields and check boxes. The fields and checkboxes both update the database perfectly:

<?php
 function renderForm($articletitle, $articleorganization, $articledate, $articleurl, $articletags )
 {
 ?>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
  <head>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css">
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="stylized" class="myform">
      <form id="form" name="form" action="" method="post">

. . . . . .

 if(count($articletags) > 0)
{
 $articletags_string = implode(",", $articletags);
}

 if (isset($_POST['submit']))
 { 
 $articletitle = mysql_real_escape_string(htmlspecialchars($_POST['articletitle']));
 $articleorganization = mysql_real_escape_string(htmlspecialchars($_POST['articleorganization']));
 $articledate = mysql_real_escape_string(htmlspecialchars($_POST['articledate']));
 $articleurl = mysql_real_escape_string(htmlspecialchars($_POST['articleurl']));
 $articletags = implode(',', $_POST['articletags']);

. . .

mysql_query("INSERT articles SET articletitle='$articletitle',   articleorganization='$articleorganization', articledate='$articledate',   articleurl='$articleurl', articletags='$articletags' ")
 or die(mysql_error()); 

 // once saved, redirect to success page
 header("Location:addsuccess.html"); 
 }
 }
 else

{
 renderForm('','','','');
 }
?>

Now, though, I'm wondering if I should have gone with a boolean checkbox instead.

The reason is that I've built an edit form as well and it follows the new entry form exactly except that values are already filled in via the MySQL DB.

So, I'm assuming that it would be considerably easier to use boolean, right?

So, instead of using an array, I should give the checkboxes different names, and on the edit.php page I can use something like:

<?php
 function renderForm($id, $articletitle, $articleorganization, $articledate, $articleurl, $articletags)
 {
 ?>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
  <head>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css">
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="stylized" class="myform">
      <form id="form" name="form" action="" method="post">
      <input type="hidden" name="id" value="<?php echo $id; ?>"/>
        <h1>Edit Details for &nbsp; &nbsp;<?php echo $articletitle; ?></h1>
        <fieldset>
          <legend>Article details</legend>
          <div class="row">
            <div class="field"><label>Article Title</label><input type="text" name="articletitle" value="<?php echo $articletitle; ?>"/></div>
          </div>
          <div class="row">
            <div class="field"><label>Article Author </label><input type="text" name="articleorganization" value="<?php echo $articleorganization; ?>"/></div>
            <div class="field"><label>Article Date </label><input type="text" name="articledate" value="<?php echo $articledate; ?>"/></div>
          </div>
          <div class="row">
            <div class="field"><label>Article Url: </label><input type="text" name="articleurl" value="<?php echo $articleurl; ?>"/></div>
          <div class="row">

          <input type="checkbox" name="articletags1" value="checkbox" id="articletags_0" />
          <input type="checkbox" name="articletags2" value="checkbox 2" id="articletags_1" />

          </div>
        </fieldset>
        <footer><input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit"></footer></form>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>
<?php
 }

 include('settings.php');

 if (isset($_POST['submit']))
 { 
 if (is_numeric($_POST['id']))
 {
 $id = $_POST['id'];
 $articletitle = mysql_real_escape_string(htmlspecialchars($_POST['articletitle']));
 $articleorganization = mysql_real_escape_string(htmlspecialchars($_POST['articleorganization']));
 $articledate = mysql_real_escape_string(htmlspecialchars($_POST['articledate']));
 $articleurl = mysql_real_escape_string(htmlspecialchars($_POST['articleurl']));
 $articletags = implode(',', $_POST['articletags']);


 if ($articletitle == '' || $articletags == '')
 {
 $error = 'ERROR: Please fill in all required fields!';
 renderForm($id, $articletitle, $articletags);
 }
 else
 {
 mysql_query("UPDATE articles SET articletitle='$articletitle', articleorganization='$articleorganization', articledate='$articledate', articleurl='$articleurl', articletags='$articletags' WHERE id=$id")
 or die(mysql_error()); 

 header("Location: editsuccess.html"); 
 }
 }
 else
 {
 echo 'Error!';
 }
 }
 else
 {
 if (isset($_GET['id']) && is_numeric($_GET['id']) && $_GET['id'] > 0)
 {
 $id = $_GET['id'];
 $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM articles WHERE id=$id")
 or die(mysql_error()); 
 $row = mysql_fetch_array($result);
 if($row)
 {
 $articletitle = $row['articletitle'];
 $articleorganization = $row['articleorganization'];
 $articledate = $row['articledate'];
 $articleurl = $row['articleurl'];
 $articletags = $row['articletags'];

 renderForm($id, $articletitle, $articleorganization, $articledate, $articleurl, $articletags, '');
 }
   else
 {
   echo "No results!";
 }
 }
   else
 {
   echo 'Error!';
    }
     }
?>

The problem with that though is that my checkboxes on the edit.php page still aren't showing the checked state.

Praveen Kumar Purushothaman · Accepted Answer · 2012-06-08 07:59:22Z

1

You need to use checked="checked" in the same way as you used for value. See the solution bottom:

<input type="checkbox" <?php if(isset($_POST[articletags1])) echo 'checked="checked" ' ?>name="articletags1" value="checkbox" id="articletags_0" />
<input type="checkbox" <?php if(isset($_POST[articletags2])) echo 'checked="checked" ' ?>name="articletags2" value="checkbox 2" id="articletags_1" />

Hope this works. Updated the right code. Use ini_set('display_errors', 1); to get the error generated.

edited Jun 8, 2012 at 7:59

answered Jun 8, 2012 at 7:34

Praveen Kumar Purushothaman

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2 Comments

Zrb0529 Over a year ago

Praveen, I tried your suggestion and it resulted in a blank page...could you be a little more specific?

Bailey Parker Over a year ago

There is a problem with the isset(). It needs a $_POST[], otherwise the articletags1 is interpreted as a constant. isset($_POST['articletags1'])

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