PHP Retrieving Data From MySQL After Modifying URL Parameter

Question

I'm building a webpage that retrives data depending on a URL parameter.

There are two possible parameters.

1: id which is retrieved using $_GET['id']

2: name which is retrieved using $_GET['name']

When I am retrieving data using the id parameter it works like a charm since id is always a numerical value and never alphabetical text.

But when attempting to retrieve data using the name parameter I get no results.

The name parameter is checking the database for an article with the articles title being the parameter.

For example the name parameter in a URL would look like so:

http://example.com/safetyarticles/view.php?name=9-clues-to-solving-this-parameter-issue

And in the database the articles name would be: 9 Clues To Solving This Parameter Issue

I've already written some lines to remove the dashes in my url parameter to spaces and then capitalize each word to match the article name, but I'm not getting any results.

This is the code I have written:

$conn = getConnected("safetyArticles");
if(isset($_GET['id'])) { 
    $articleID = $_GET['id'];
    $articleQuery = mysqli_query($conn, "SELECT * FROM currentArticles WHERE article_id = $articleID");
    $article  = mysqli_fetch_array($articleQuery);
}
else if(isset($_GET['name'])) {
    $articleName = $_GET['name'];
    $articleName = preg_replace("/[\-]/", " ", $articleName); // Replace dashes in URL parameter with spaces
    $articleName = ucwords($articleName); // Uppercase first letter of each word of URL parameter 
    $articleQuery = mysqli_query($conn, "SELECT * FROM currentArticles WHERE article_name = $articleName");
    $article  = mysqli_fetch_array($articleQuery);
}

To my knowledge replacing the dashes with spaces and capitalizing each word should make the article_name in the database and $articleName match.

I did add a line of echo $articleName just to see what the output was and the result was 9 Clues To Solving The Mystery Of The Pilot Car which matches the title in the database but the results are not being pulled.

I copied this directly out of the database just to show that the titles are indeed the same: 9 Clues To Solving The Mystery Of The Pilot Car.

I'm at a loss since everything is matching up as it should.

gavgrif · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-02 16:52:11Z

2

you need '' around the variables in the query:eg '$articleName':

$articleQuery = mysqli_query($conn, "SELECT * FROM currentArticles WHERE article_name = '$articleName'");

edited Apr 2, 2016 at 16:52

answered Apr 2, 2016 at 16:50

gavgrif

15.5k2 gold badges30 silver badges31 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

4 Comments

Jesse Elser Over a year ago

That worked. Now I'm a little confused since in the id query it works without them and with this one it needs them. Is that a difference in numbers and alphabet?

gavgrif Over a year ago

probably - but you should change the $articleID to be '$articleID' as well

Jesse Elser Over a year ago

Will do. Thanks for the help. I'll accept as soon as SO lets me.

gavgrif Over a year ago

Thanks - Happy Coding!

Frederick Eze · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-02 16:56:59Z

1

$articleName in your query needs to be quoted like this : '$articleName'. eg $articleQuery = mysqli_query($conn, "SELECT * FROM currentArticles WHERE article_name = '$articleName'");

answered Apr 2, 2016 at 16:56

Frederick Eze

1311 gold badge2 silver badges12 bronze badges

2 Comments

Jesse Elser Over a year ago

Thanks. First answer was correct but I couldn't accept due to time constraints on the website. Since I couldn't accept 2 answers here's an upvote :)

Frederick Eze Over a year ago

@JesseElser my pleasure.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP Retrieving Data From MySQL After Modifying URL Parameter

2 Answers 2

4 Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

4 Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related