Textarea is empty in mySQL database field PHP

Question

i created an HTML form and trying to save the data from its fields to the database. Inputs, drop-down menus and radio button are stored correctly however the textarea is always added to the database as empty field. Here is the code:

HTML:

    
    


Feedback form
    Please answer the questions below.




    
        School
    
    
         
    



    
        Year
    
    
        
    



    
        Gender
    
    
        
    



 



    
        What do you think an engineer does? 
    


    
        
    


 
 


    
        What was the most enjoyable part about the visit today? 
    


    
        
    


 
 


    
        Was there anything you did not like? 
    


    
    Yes (plese give details below)
     
    No
    


    
        
    


 
 


    
        Would you consider studying Engineering at university? 
    


    
    Yes
     
    No
     
    Unsure
    


 
 


    
        Has today's session inspired you to consider becoming an engineer? 
    


    
    Yes
     
    No
     
    Unsure
    


 
 


    
        Before today's session did you know much about engineering? 
    


    
    Yes
     
    No
     
    A little
    


 
 


    
        Has todays session taught you much about engineering? 
    


    
    Yes
     
    No
     
    A little
    


 
 


    
        Based on today's session, what do you think an engineer does? 
    


    
        
    


 
 


    
        Comments/Suggestions/Questions 
    


    
        
    


 
 


    
        
    



    
        Thank you for your feedback
    


    
        © Girls in Engineering 2015

PHP:

$value = test_input($_POST['School']);
$value2 = test_input($_POST['What do you think an engineer does']);
$sql = "INSERT INTO form1 (input1,input2) VALUES ('$value', '$value2')";

if($_POST){
echo '';
print_r($_POST);
echo '';
}

Output from print_r($_POST):

Array
(
    [School] => 123
    [Year] => 
    [Gender] => male
    [What_do_you_think_an_engineer_does] => 234
    [What_was_the_most_enjoyable_part_about_the_visit_today] => 
    [Was_there_anything_you_did_not_like_(comment)?] => 
    [Based_on_today's_session,_what_do_you_think_an_engineer_does?] => 
    [Comments/Suggestions/Questions] => 
)

Thanks for your help.

aimme · Accepted Answer

use name="Comments" in the textarea. as that is what the $_POST['Comments'] is linked to.

Suppose your code have

your post should be $_POST['What was the most enjoyable part about the visit today']

if you want to pass Comments as an array

Hint: Use thed code below for debugging on the page feedback_form_send.php to check what values were sent to it through post on submit;

if($_POST){
echo '';
print_r($_POST);
echo '';
}

EDITED

Advice: Your code is vulnerable to Sql injection. use PDO or mysqli instead of mysql

EDITED

my print shows with values

Array
(
    [School] => myschool
    [Year] => 2018
    [Gender] => male
    [What_do_you_think_an_engineer_does] => engineer sleeps
    [What_was_the_most_enjoyable_part_about_the_visit_today] => it was nice
    [Was_there_anything_you_did_not_like?] => yes
    [Was_there_anything_you_did_not_like_(comment)?] => too beutiful
    [Would_you_consider_studying_Engineering_at_university?] => yes
    [Has_today's_session_inspired_you_to_consider_becoming_an_engineer?] => no
    [Before_today's_session_did_you_know_much_about_engineering?] => unsure
    [Has_todays_session_taught_you_much_about_engineering?] => yes
    [Based_on_today's_session,_what_do_you_think_an_engineer_does?] => engineers do hard work
    [Comments/Suggestions/Questions] => no comments, i suggest to do things
)

So Your php variables should be assigned something like this. This is just a demonstration to make it understandable. Always do remember to sanitize the input before using

    $school=$_POST['School'];
    $year=$_POST['Year'];
    $gender=$_POST['Gender'];
    $whatengineerdoes=$_POST['What_do_you_think_an_engineer_does'];
    $enjoyable_part=$_POST['What_was_the_most_enjoyable_part_about_the_visit_today'];
    $youdontlike=$_POST['Was_there_anything_you_did_not_like?'];
    $didnotlike=$_POST['Was_there_anything_you_did_not_like_(comment)?'];
    $wouldyou=$_POST['Would_you_consider_studying_Engineering_at_university?'];
    $session_inspired=$_POST["Has_today's_session_inspired_you_to_consider_becoming_an_engineer?"];
    $before_session=$_POST["Before_today's_session_did_you_know_much_about_engineering?"];
    $has_taught=$_POST['Has_todays_session_taught_you_much_about_engineering?'];
    $based_on=$_POST["Based_on_today's_session,_what_do_you_think_an_engineer_does?"];
    $comments=$_POST['Comments/Suggestions/Questions'];

EDITED

HERE is example how you can insert the above data into your table

$dbhost = "localhost";
$dbname = "mydatabase";
$dbusername = "root";
$dbpassword = "mypppasss";
$link = new PDO("mysql:host=$dbhost;dbname=$dbname",$dbusername,$dbpassword);
$statement = $link->prepare("INSERT INTO form1(input1,input2,input3,input4,input5,input6,input7,input8,input9,input10,input11,input12,input13)
    VALUES(:inp1,:inp2,:inp3,:inp4,:inp5,:inp6,:inp7,:inp8,:inp9,:inp10,:inp11,:inp12,:inp13)");
$statement->execute(array(
    inp1=>$school,
    inp2=>$year,
    inp3=>$gender,
    inp4=>$whatengineerdoes,
    inp5=>$enjoyable_part,
    inp6=>$youdontlike,
    inp7=>$didnotlike,
    inp8=>$wouldyou,
    inp9=>$session_inspired,
    inp10=>$before_session,
    inp11=>$has_taught,
    inp12=>$based_on,
    inp13=>$comments
));

Textarea is empty in mySQL database field PHP

Answers (2)

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