Dummies Problem - Session Variable Insert

[mdclermont]

Hello,

 

I am working the PHP & MySQL for Dummies book. A lot of the material has gone fine or I've figured out what the problem was. However, I'm trying to insert a row into the MySQL table Login each time the user logs in. The login itself goes fine, but no row is added to that table.

 

• I recently updated my Dreamhost php version to 5.3.
• The Login table has two fields: loginName loginTime
• I receive no errors of any kind.
• I am able to add a row to the table in phpMyAdmin using INSERT INTO with the user's name and NOW()
• Line 33: I've tried some syntax things like adding periods at each end of $_SESSION or making it '$_SESSION['logname']' etc. I also tried substituting the post variable.

This is what I believe to be the applicable part of the file (line 30 and following I think):

session_start();                                          #8
switch (@$_POST['Button'])                                #9
{
  case "Log in":                                         #11
    include("xxxxx");                                 #12
    $cxn=mysqli_connect($host,$user,$password,$dbname)
             or die("Query died: connect".mysqli_error ($cxn));             #14
    $sql="SELECT loginName FROM Member
              WHERE loginName='$_POST[fusername]'";
    $result=mysqli_query($cxn,$sql)
                or die("Query died: fusername: ".mysqli_error($cxn));
    $num=mysqli_num_rows($result);                     #19
    if($num > 0)  //login name was found                 #20

    {
	  $sql="SELECT loginName FROM Member
              WHERE loginName='$_POST[fusername]'
              AND password=('$_POST[fpassword]')";//took out md5 before (
      $result2=mysqli_query($cxn,$sql)
                   or die("Query died: fpassword");      #26
      $num2=mysqli_num_rows($result2);                 #27
      if($num2 > 0)  //password matches                  #28
      {$_SESSION['auth']="yes";                         #30
        $_SESSION['logname']=$_POST['fusername'];      #31
        $sql="INSERT INTO Login (loginName,loginTime)
                VALUES ('$_SESSION[logname]',NOW())"; #changed $_SESSION[logname] to $_POST[fusername]
        $result=mysqli_query($cxn,$sql)
                   or die("Query died: insert");         #35
        header("Location: SecretPage.php");              #36
      }
      else  // password does not match                   #38

Thanks,

Matt

[mdclermont]

I was worried that maybe I wasn't properly storing the variable, but I think I was able to confirm it was stored by echoing. It outputs the login name on the next page when I use the following:

<?php
  session_start();
echo "Secret Page<br>";
echo "try 1.3<br>";
echo $_SESSION['logname'];
?>

Thanks,

Matt

[mdclermont]

Got it...two issues. One was I had jacked up the syntax trying different things. The biggest issue, and hopefully one I will remember to check earlier next time, was that the database name in the *.inc file was wrong.   Thanks for those that considered the issue.

 

Just in case it could be helpful for someone else in the future, here is what I ended up with:

 if($num2 > 0)  //password matches                  #28
      {$_SESSION['auth']="yes";                         #30
        $_SESSION['logname']=$_POST['fusername'];      #31
        $sql="INSERT INTO Login (loginName,loginTime)
                VALUES('$_SESSION[logname]',NOW())"; #changed $_SESSION[logname] to $_POST[fusername]
        $result=mysqli_query($cxn,$sql)
                   or die("Query died: insert");         #35
        header("Location: SecretPage.php");              #36
      }
      else  // password does not match                   #38

Matt