Updating database field in PHP when link is pressed

Question

My page lists out all of the rows from a MySQL table and puts them inside separate divs as links.

        while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result))
        {
            echo "<a href='projects/" . $row['dir'] . "'><div>";
            echo "<h2>" . $row['name'] . "</h2>";
            echo "<p>Created: " . $row['date_created'] . "</p>";
            echo "<p>Last opened: " . $row['date_last_opened'] . "</p>";
            echo "<p>" . $row['description'] . "</p>";
            echo "</div></a>";
        }

When I click on a box (div), it opens that specific project. What I need, is to update the 'date_last_opened' field for a project to the current date when I click into one. The column for it in the table is of type 'date'.

Thanks to anyone that can help.

Does the value of date_last_opened change in your database prior to opening the project in which it's found? — Cedric Ipkiss
– Cedric Ipkiss, Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 0:15
can you use javascript and Jquery or you want to do only with PHP? — Nishanth Matha
– Nishanth Matha, Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 0:17
@noob I don't mind using JavaScript and Jquery if there is an easy work around with them. Not too great with it though. — Cayman Roe
– Cayman Roe, Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 0:18
@che-azeh No the value does not change. I manually put them into the table, so it's static at the moment. I just need it to update to the current date when the link is pressed. — Cayman Roe
– Cayman Roe, Commented Feb 9, 2015 at 0:19

Nishanth Matha · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-09 15:50:25Z

1

Simple method would be use of Jquery and AJAX:

First add click function to your link in while loop like this:

echo "<a href='projects/" . $row['dir'] . "' onclick='update(".$row['name'].")';><div>";

and in your JS file use Jquery Ajax:

function update(name){
var now = new Date();
var dateToInsert = now.format("dd/M/yy h:mm tt");//or whatever format you need
var projectName = name;

$.ajax({
type: "POST",
url: "update.php",
data: { date: dateToInsert, name: projectName}
})
.done(function( msg ) {
alert( "Data Saved: " + msg );
});
}

and your update.php:

if(isset($_POST['date']) && $_POST['name']){
$sql = "update yourTable set date ='".$_POST['date']."' where name= '".$_POST['name']."'";
//Rest of the code to execute query
}
else{
    echo "AJAX call failed to send post variables";
}

edited Feb 9, 2015 at 15:50

answered Feb 9, 2015 at 0:38

Nishanth Matha

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1 Comment

Cayman Roe Over a year ago

This worked great. I had an ID column in the table, so I used that instead of the 'name'. And in the SQL query, I had to format it like so: ...SET date_last_opened = '".$_POST['date']."' WHERE... And for anyone else, the date.format works using this. Many thanks again.

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