html form radio buttons not saving string to database-CodePudding

I have a html form which includes a question involving three radio buttons. I want the word 'road', 'both' or gravel' to be saved to my database. This field is set up as a varchar in the database.

This is my html:

    <div >
        <label>Do you prefer just road or gravel/trail cycling as well?</label>

        <label for="road">Just road</label>
        <input type="radio" name="bike_terrain" id="road" value="road" required/>
        <span ><?php echo $bike_terrain_err; ?></span>

        <label for="both">Both</label>
        <input type="radio" name="bike_terrain" id="both" value="both" />
        <span ><?php echo $bike_terrain_err; ?></span>                

        <label for="gravel">Just gravel/trail</label>
        <input type="radio" name="bike_terrain" id="gravel" value="gravel" />
        <span ><?php echo $bike_terrain_err; ?></span>

    </div>

I am then using php to validate the input is not empty:

    if(empty($_POST["bike_terrain"])){
        $bike_terrain_err = "Please select a bike terrain.";
    } else {
        $bike_terrain = isset($_POST["bike_terrain"]);
    }

And php to send it to my localhost database:

    if(empty($username_err) && empty($email_err) && empty($bike_terrain_err)) {
        
        // Prepare an insert statement
        $sql = "INSERT INTO users (username, email, terrain) VALUES (?, ?, ?)";
         
        if($stmt = mysqli_prepare($link, $sql)){
            // Bind variables to the prepared statement as parameters
            mysqli_stmt_bind_param($stmt, "sss", $param_username, $param_email, $param_terrain);
            
            // Set parameters
            $param_username = $username;
            $param_email = $email;
            $param_terrain = $bike_terrain;
            

            // Attempt to execute the prepared statement
            if(mysqli_stmt_execute($stmt)){
                // Redirect to login page
                header("location: login.php");
            } else{
                echo "Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later.248";
            }
        }
    }

(Note: I have cut out some of the other fields that I am inserting for simplicity)

$bike_terrain has previously been initialised as a string.

The problem is that nothing is being saved to the terrain field in my database and I don't know why!

Thank you very much! All suggestions, thoughts or ideas are very welcome.

CodePudding user response：

Something like this (untested) should do the trick. you save the same radio with the same name so it would look like a selection somehow.

Had to quickly code from my mobile device XD

<?php
if(isset($_POST['submit'])){

$host = '127.0.0.1';
$user = 'root';
$pass = '';
$db = 'people_db'

$con = mysqli_connect($host, $user, $pass, $db) or die ('Cannot connect'.mysqli_error());
$fullname = mysqli_real_escape_string($con,$_POST['fullname']);
$gender = mysqli_real_escape_string($con,$_POST['gender']);

$q = "insert into employeedb (fullname, gender) values ('".$fullname."', '".$gender."')";
mysqli_result($con,$q);
echo 'Data Saved to Database!';

}

?>

<html>
<head>
<title>Save Radio to DB</title>
</head>
<body>
    <form name="people" method="POST" action="index.php"
    <input type="text" name="fullname" placeholder="Enter your name"/><br/>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="Male"/>
    <input type="radio" name="gender" value="Female"/><br/>
    <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Submit"/>
    </form>
</body>
</html>

CodePudding user response：

I am definitely not a PHP expert, but I will give my two cents:

This code is not correct for checking if the variable $_POST["bike_terrain"] is empty. The empty() function is used to check if a variable is empty, but it returns true if the variable is not set at all. In this case, empty($_POST["bike_terrain"]) will always return true if the bike_terrain key is not present in the $_POST array, even if it is not empty.

To check if the variable $_POST["bike_terrain"] is empty, you can use the isset() function. This function returns true if the variable is set and is not null. You can then check if the variable is empty by using the empty() function.

Here is an example of how you can check if the variable $_POST["bike_terrain"] is empty:

if(isset($_POST["bike_terrain"]) && !empty($_POST["bike_terrain"])){
    // The variable is not empty
    $bike_terrain = $_POST["bike_terrain"];
} else {
    // The variable is empty
    $bike_terrain_err = "Please select a bike terrain.";
}

In this example, the isset() function is used to check if the bike_terrain key is present in the $_POST array, and the empty() function is used to check if the value associated with the key is not empty. If both conditions are met, the $bike_terrain variable is set to the value of $_POST["bike_terrain"]. Otherwise, an error message is assigned to the $bike_terrain_err variable.

Let me know if this helps