variable values not passing into function?

Question

i have a php file that sends data to a mysql database. when i try to send the data get this:

ERROR! EMPTY RESULTINSERT INTO email (First, Last, Full, Email, CountryCoude, Phone, Company, Serial) VALUES ('','',' ','[email protected]',,,'Webscan, Inc.','TEST mySQL')[email protected]+1303-459-4521Webscan, Inc.TEST mySQL

as you can see from the output, the variables i put into my insert function are not empty but the values being sent in the query are. why is this?

non-confidential part of the php file:

insert($firstname,$lastname,$email,$countrycode,$phonenumber,$companyname,$serialnumber);
$result = mysql_query("SELECT DISTICT * FROM email");
if (empty($result)) {
    echo "ERROR! EMPTY RESULT";
}
else {
    print_r($result);
}
echo "INSERT INTO email (First, Last, Full, Email, CountryCoude, Phone, Company, Serial)
    VALUES ('".$first."','".$last."','".$first." ".$last."','".$email."',".$code.",".$phone.",'".$company."','".$serial."')";
echo $firstname.$lastname.$email.$countrycode.$phonenumber.$companyname.$serialnumber;
?>
</div>
</div>
</body>
<?php
function insert ($first, $last, $email, $code, $phone, $company, $serial) {
    mysql_query("INSERT INTO email (First, Last, Full, Email, CountryCoude, Phone, Company, Serial)
    VALUES ('".$first."','".$last."','".$first." ".$last."','".$email."',".$code.",".$phone.",'".$company."','".$serial."')");
}
?>

Well, before doing anything, you should really be escaping your inputs with mysql_real_escape_string(), or using prepared statements. Other than the fact that it doesn't work, that's your biggest problem. — Dan
– Dan, Commented Jun 17, 2011 at 17:45
Silly question, but what if you put the insert statement into a string, then echo out that string before you do the actual mysql_query? Find out what's really going in, as what you have looks correct. Also, CountryCoude doesn't look like it's spelled right. — AndyD273
– AndyD273, Commented Jun 17, 2011 at 17:48
@Ben7005: Look it up in the manual. You should already be using the manual. Begin now. — Lightness Races in Orbit
– Lightness Races in Orbit, Commented Jun 17, 2011 at 17:49

Lightness Races in Orbit · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-17 17:52:26Z

1

empty is a PHP feature that checks PHP variables for certain conditions.

It does not have knowledge of MySQL libraries and the fact that your $result is just a resource handle. (Indeed, $result is never "empty"; it's always an object, and it's always a resource handle, even if it's a handle to an empty resultset.)

Instead of this:

if (empty($result)) {
    echo "ERROR! EMPTY RESULT";
}

write:

if (!mysql_num_rows($result)) {
    echo "ERROR! EMPTY RESULT";
}

Similarly, print_r($result) isn't going to do what you think. Look at the documentation for the library you're using, and use its API. There are loads of examples out there about how to iterate a resultset that you retrieved via mysql_query; I am not going to repeat them here.

You also misspelt DISTINCT. Add proper error checking/handling to your code.

Don't be misled by the red herring of your broken debug output:

echo "INSERT INTO email (First, Last, Full, Email, CountryCoude, Phone, Company, Serial)
    VALUES ('".$first."','".$last."','".$first." ".$last."','".$email."',".$code.",".$phone.",'".$company."','".$serial."')";

You used the wrong variable names here. You did not make this mistake in the function that actually performs the insert. (I don't understand why this debug output isn't inside that function, where this sort of mistake would be really obvious and easy to avoid.)

edited Jun 17, 2011 at 17:52

answered Jun 17, 2011 at 17:47

Lightness Races in Orbit

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3 Comments

diracdeltafunk Over a year ago

i tried your code and if (!mysql_num_rows($result)) { echo "ERROR! EMPTY RESULT"; } does not work, it gives me the error Warning: mysql_num_rows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home2/rocksoli/public_html/webscan/trucheckupdates/mySQL-test/sql_submit.php on line 43

Lightness Races in Orbit Over a year ago

@Ben7005: Because you have no error handling, and your query has the error mentioned in my answer, so $result is FALSE rather than a result resource. Please read the examples in your PHP book; they will be very thorough.

Lightness Races in Orbit Over a year ago

@Ben7005: BTW please get into the habit of triggering notifications when you direct a message at someone, using the "@name:" syntax.

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