session form data across multiple pages and insert into mysql?

Question

can someone help me please, im trying to submit a form over 3 pages. theres 3 text area fields in each and im using session start to echo the form data other the pages.

so then at the end all i have to do is echo out the form data and insert it into the mysql table ptb_registrations.

for some reason though its not working and im getting the error updating database error. i have been working on this for a few hours im sorry to say and i can not figure it out. please can someone help me and show me where i might be going wrong.

page 1:

<?php
session_start();
?>

<form class="" method="post" action="register_p2.php">
<input type="text" id="first_name" name="first_name" placeholder="First Name" />
<input type="text" id="last_name" name="last_name" placeholder="Last Name" />
<input type="email" id="email" name="email" placeholder="Email"  />
<input type="submit" value="Next >"  />
</form>

page 2:

<?php
session_start();
// other php code here

$_SESSION['first_name'] = $first_name;
$_SESSION['last_name'] = $last_name;
$_SESSION['email'] = $email;
?>
<form name="myForm" method="post" action="register_p3.php" onsubmit="return validateForm()" >
<input type="text" id="date_of_birth" name="date_of_birth" placeholder="D.O.B 10/02/1990" />
<input type="text" id="number" name="number" placeholder="Mobile Number" />
<input type="text" id="confirm" name="confirm" placeholder="Are You a UK resident?"  />
<input type="submit" value="Next >"  />
</form>

page 3:

<?php
session_start();
// other php code here

$_SESSION['first_name'] = $first_name;
$_SESSION['last_name'] = $last_name;
$_SESSION['email'] = $email;
$_SESSION['dat_of_birth'] = $date_of_birth;
$_SESSION['number'] = $number;
?>

<form class="" method="post" action="register_p4.php">
<input type="text" id="display_name" name="date_of_birth" placeholder="Display Name" />
<input type="password" id="password" name="password" placeholder="Password" />
<input type="password" id="password2" name="password2" placeholder="Password (Confirm)"  />
<input type="submit" value="Next >"  />
</form>

page 4: (mysql function)

<?php
session_start();
// other php code here

$_SESSION['first_name'] = $first_name;
$_SESSION['last_name'] = $last_name;
$_SESSION['email'] = $email;
$_SESSION['dat_of_birth'] = $date_of_birth;
$_SESSION['number'] = $number;
$_SESSION['display_name'] = $display_name;
$_SESSION['password'] = $password;
?>

<?php
////// SEND TO DATABASE


/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// Database Constants
define("DB_SERVER", "localhost");
define("DB_USER", "root");
define("DB_PASS", "");
define("DB_NAME", "database");

// 1. Create a database connection
$connection = mysql_connect(DB_SERVER,DB_USER,DB_PASS);
if (!$connection) {
    die("Database connection failed: " . mysql_error());
}

// 2. Select a database to use
$db_select = mysql_select_db(DB_NAME,$connection);
if (!$db_select) {
    die("Database selection failed: " . mysql_error());
}
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
$query="INSERT INTO ptb_registrations (ID,
first_name,
last_name,
email,
date_of_birth,
contact_number,
display_name,
password
 )
VALUES('NULL',
'".$first_name."',
'".$last_name."',
'".$email."',
'".$date_of_birth."',
'".$number."',
'".$display_name."',
'".$password."'
)";
mysql_query($query) or die ('Error updating database');
?>
<?php
function confirm_query($result_set) {
                if (!$result_set) {
                    die("Database query failed: " . mysql_error());
                }
        }
function get_user_id() {
    global $connection;
    global $email;
    $query = "SELECT *
                FROM ptb_registrations
                WHERE email = \"$email\"
                ";
        $user_id_set = mysql_query($query, $connection);
        confirm_query($user_id_set);
        return $user_id_set;
        }
?>
<?php
$user_id_set = get_user_id();
while ($user_id = mysql_fetch_array($user_id_set)) {
    $cookie1 = "{$user_id["id"]}";
    setcookie("ptb_registrations", $cookie1, time()+3600);  /* expire in 1 hour */

}
?>

<?php include ('includes/send_email/reg_email.php'); ?>

<? ob_flush(); ?>

Answer 1

please can someone help me and show me where i might be going wrong.

Your code itself is just horrible. Because:

1) You mix session and database responsibilities

2) You use mysql_query() for queries you do not expect a result-set. For INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE queries should be used mysql_unbuffered_query()

3) You do not escape values using mysql_real_escape_string() so that you're vulnerable to SQL injection

4) You use procedural code and global state

5) You use deprecated mysql_* functions instead of PDO or MySQLi

6) You use string concatenation instead of sprintf(), here:

 )
 VALUES(
    '".$first_name."',
    '".$last_name."',
    '".$email."',
    '".$date_of_birth."',
    '".$number."',
    '".$display_name."',
    '".$password."'

7) You do not validate anything in $_SESSION and $_POST. What if you have set the variables and they do not exist?

8) Your query validation is wrong, here: confirm_query($result_set) {..

I'd better stop here.

So instead of coding this way, you'd really separate responsibilities.

For session, it should look like this:

File session.php

function seesion_init(){
   if ( session_id() == '' ){
     return session_start();
   } else {
     return true;
   }
}

function session_set(array $values){
  foreach($values as $key => $val){
     $_SESSION[$key] = $val;
  }
}

/**
 * It will give you a confidence that you get an existing value
 * @param string $key
 */
function session_get($key){
    if ( isset($_SESSION[$key]) ){
         return $_SESSION[$key];
    } else {
       throw new RuntimeException(sprintf('Accessed to non-existing session variable %s', $key));
    }
}

File: dbconnection.php

<?php

define('HOST', '...');
define('USER', '...');
...


function connect(){

   if ( ! mysql_connect(...) ){
      die('...');
   }

   if ( ! mysql_select_db('DB_NAME_HERE') ){
       die('...');
   }
}


function query($query){
  return mysql_query($query); //<- Should only be used for SELECT queries
}


function ub_query($query){
   return mysql_unbuffered_query($query); // <- Should only be used for INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE queries
}

function fetch($result){
  return mysql_fetch_assoc($result);
}

File: users.php

require_once('dbconnection.php');

connect();

/**
 * Returns user id by his username
 * 
 * @return array on success
 *         FALSE if email does not exists  
 */
function get_user_id_by_email($email) {

   $query = sprintf("SELECT `id` FROM `ptb_registrations` WHERE `email` = '$email' LIMIT 1", mysql_real_escape_string($email));

   $result = ub_query($query);

   if ( $result ){
      return fetch($result);
   } else {
      return false;
   }

}

and so on. The concept here is to separate responsibilities for each script and then use the "part" you need.

Back to the original question

You want to insert a value into the table? Then validate this value firstly. The problem is that you do not do that. Nothing more.

Answer 2

Pge 1:

<form class="" method="post" action="register_p2.php">
<input type="text" id="first_name" name="first_name" placeholder="First Name" />
<input type="text" id="last_name" name="last_name" placeholder="Last Name" />
<input type="email" id="email" name="email" placeholder="Email"  />
<input type="submit" value="Next >"  />
</form>

No need of session_start here

Page2:

<?php
session_start();
// other php code here

$_SESSION['first_name'] = $_POST['first_name'];
$_SESSION['last_name'] = $_POST['last_name'];
$_SESSION['email'] = $_POST['email'];
?>
<form name="myForm" method="post" action="register_p3.php" onsubmit="return validateForm()" >
<input type="text" id="date_of_birth" name="date_of_birth" placeholder="D.O.B 10/02/1990" />
<input type="text" id="number" name="number" placeholder="Mobile Number" />
<input type="text" id="confirm" name="confirm" placeholder="Are You a UK resident?"  />
<input type="submit" value="Next >"  />
</form>

Added $_POST

Page 3:

<?php
session_start();
// other php code here


$_SESSION['dat_of_birth'] = $_POST['date_of_birth'];
$_SESSION['number'] = $_POST['number'];
?>

<form class="" method="post" action="register_p4.php">
<input type="text" id="display_name" name="date_of_birth" placeholder="Display Name" />
<input type="password" id="password" name="password" placeholder="Password" />
<input type="password" id="password2" name="password2" placeholder="Password (Confirm)"  />
<input type="submit" value="Next >"  />
</form>

Added $_POST $_SESSION['first_name'] = $_POST['first_name'];

No need to add this section again in page3 :

$_SESSION['first_name'] = $first_name;
$_SESSION['last_name'] = $last_name;
$_SESSION['email'] = $email;

Page 4:

<?php
session_start();
// other php code here

$first_name = $_SESSION['first_name'];
$last_name  = $_SESSION['last_name'];
$email      = $_SESSION['email'];
$date_of_birth = $_SESSION['dat_of_birth'] ;
$number    =$_SESSION['number'];
$display_name = $_SESSION['display_name'];
$password  = $_SESSION['password'];
?>

<?php
////// SEND TO DATABASE


/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// Database Constants
define("DB_SERVER", "localhost");
define("DB_USER", "root");
define("DB_PASS", "");
define("DB_NAME", "database");

// 1. Create a database connection
$connection = mysql_connect(DB_SERVER,DB_USER,DB_PASS);
if (!$connection) {
    die("Database connection failed: " . mysql_error());
}

// 2. Select a database to use
$db_select = mysql_select_db(DB_NAME,$connection);
if (!$db_select) {
    die("Database selection failed: " . mysql_error());
}
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
$query="INSERT INTO ptb_registrations (ID,
first_name,
last_name,
email,
date_of_birth,
contact_number,
display_name,
password
 )
VALUES('NULL',
'".mysql_real_escape_string($first_name)."',
'".mysql_real_escape_string($last_name)."',
'".mysql_real_escape_string($email)."',
'".mysql_real_escape_string($date_of_birth)."',
'".mysql_real_escape_string($number)."',
'".mysql_real_escape_string($display_name)."',
'".mysql_real_escape_string($password)."'
)";
mysql_query($query) or die ('Error updating database');
?>
<?php
function confirm_query($result_set) {
                if (!$result_set) {
                    die("Database query failed: " . mysql_error());
                }
        }
function get_user_id() {
    global $connection;
    global $email;
    $query = "SELECT *
                FROM ptb_registrations
                WHERE email = \"$email\"
                ";
        $user_id_set = mysql_query($query, $connection);
        confirm_query($user_id_set);
        return $user_id_set;
        }
?>
<?php
$user_id_set = get_user_id();
while ($user_id = mysql_fetch_array($user_id_set)) {
    $cookie1 = "{$user_id["id"]}";
    setcookie("ptb_registrations", $cookie1, time()+3600);  /* expire in 1 hour */

}
?>

<?php include ('includes/send_email/reg_email.php'); ?>

<? ob_flush(); ?>

Assign session to variables :

$first_name = $_SESSION['first_name'];

mysql_* functions are deprecated use mysqli_* or PDO

You code is vulnerable to mysql_injection : use atleast mysql_real_escape_string

Answer 3

It is bad practice, this whole script but I believe your SQL error is because you are supplying an ID as null. ID is probably an integer and most likely auto increment. Do this instead:

$query="INSERT INTO ptb_registrations (
    first_name,
    last_name,
    email,
    date_of_birth,
    contact_number,
    display_name,
    password
 )
 VALUES(
    '".$first_name."',
    '".$last_name."',
    '".$email."',
    '".$date_of_birth."',
    '".$number."',
    '".$display_name."',
    '".$password."'
 )";

Answer 4

In page2.php you need set session as below.

because $first_name, etc.. did not declared.

page2.php

$_SESSION['first_name'] = $_POST['first_name'];
$_SESSION['last_name'] = $_POST['last_name'];
$_SESSION['email'] = $_POST['email'];

page3.php

$_SESSION['dat_of_birth'] = $_POST['date_of_birth'];
$_SESSION['number'] = $_POST['number'];

page4.php

$_SESSION['display_name'] = $_POST['display_name'];
$_SESSION['password'] = $_POST['password'];

in page4.php do one more variables declaration.

$first_name = $_SESSION['first_name'];
$last_name = $_SESSION['last_name'];
$email = $_SESSION['email']; etc...

then store it in database.