search engine help

[boo_lolly]

i have a small search form with a few fields (one of them is required). i'm having trouble figuring out how to make it work. for instance, if there is an input field that doesn't have data, how would i populate a MySQL query to not query that field? i've got two text input fields (one of which is required) and 3 drop down menus. here's my code.
[code]
<form method="POST" action="index.php?action=simplesearch">

First Name:<input type="text" name="fname"><BR>

Last Name:<input type="text" name="lname"><FONT COLOR="FF0000" SIZE="-1">(required)</FONT><BR>

<TABLE><TR>
<TD>
<SELECT NAME="event_month">
<OPTION VALUE="">select a month
<OPTION VALUE="1">January
<OPTION VALUE="2">February
<OPTION VALUE="3">March
<OPTION VALUE="4">April
<OPTION VALUE="5">May
<OPTION VALUE="6">June
<OPTION VALUE="7">July
<OPTION VALUE="8">August
<OPTION VALUE="9">September
<OPTION VALUE="10">October
<OPTION VALUE="11">November
<OPTION VALUE="12">December
</SELECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<SELECT NAME="event_day">
<OPTION VALUE="">select a day
<OPTION VALUE="1">01
<OPTION VALUE="2">02
<OPTION VALUE="3">03
<OPTION VALUE="4">04
<OPTION VALUE="5">05
<OPTION VALUE="6">06
<OPTION VALUE="7">07
<OPTION VALUE="8">08
<OPTION VALUE="9">09
<OPTION VALUE="10">10
<OPTION VALUE="11">11
<OPTION VALUE="12">12
<OPTION VALUE="13">13
<OPTION VALUE="14">14
<OPTION VALUE="15">15
<OPTION VALUE="16">16
<OPTION VALUE="17">17
<OPTION VALUE="18">18
<OPTION VALUE="19">19
<OPTION VALUE="20">20
<OPTION VALUE="21">21
<OPTION VALUE="22">22
<OPTION VALUE="23">23
<OPTION VALUE="24">24
<OPTION VALUE="25">25
<OPTION VALUE="26">26
<OPTION VALUE="27">27
<OPTION VALUE="28">28
<OPTION VALUE="29">29
<OPTION VALUE="30">30
<OPTION VALUE="31">31
</SELECT>
</TD>
<TD>
<SELECT NAME="event_year">
<OPTION VALUE="">select a year
<OPTION VALUE="2002">2002
<OPTION VALUE="2003">2003
<OPTION VALUE="2004">2004
<OPTION VALUE="2005">2005
<OPTION VALUE="2006">2006
<OPTION VALUE="2007">2007
<OPTION VALUE="2008">2008
<OPTION VALUE="2009">2009
<OPTION VALUE="2010">2010
</SELECT>
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
<CENTER>
<input type="SUBMIT" value="Search">

                <?php
                $fname = $_POST['fname'];
                $lname = $_POST['lname'];
                $event_day = $_POST['event_day'];
                $event_month = $_POST['event_month'];
                $event_year = $_POST['event_year'];
                ?>
</CENTER>
</form>
[/code]
here's my query so far... which barely works...
[code]
                $result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM my_search_table
                                            WHERE brideLname LIKE '%". $lname ."%' OR groomLname LIKE '%". $lname ."%'
                                            AND event_month ='". $event_month ."'
                                            AND event_day = '". $event_day ."'
                                            AND event_year = '". $event_year ."'")
                                            or die(mysql_error());
[/code]
i don't know what to do. or even where to start... any suggestions? it is posting to the same page, btw.

[taith]

your php is working perfectly, your taking the form information, pulling it out of the database, but your not using it anywhere... how do you want it to work?

you still need to access the information

[code]
while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result)){
}
[/code]

http://www.tizag.com/mysqlTutorial/mysqlfetcharray.php theres a good tutorial site you might find helpful...

[boo_lolly]

my query wasn't working perfectly. it sucked. i do have a method of printing the results, i just didn't post it...

this is how i did it. in theory it should work beautifully.
[code]
<?php
if($lname == NULL && $fname == NULL && $event_day == NULL && $event_month == NULL && $event_year == NULL){
echo "<FONT COLOR=\"FF0000\">You must enter at least one input field. Please try again.</FONT>\n";
exit;
}else{
$query_array = array();
if($lname != NULL){
$query_array[] = "brideLname LIKE '%". $lname ."%' OR groomLname LIKE '%". $lname ."%'";
}
if($fname != NULL){
$query_array[] = "brideFname LIKE '%". $fname ."%' OR groomFname LIKE '%". $fname ."%'";
}
if($event_day != NULL){
$query_array[] = "event_day LIKE '%". $event_day ."%'";
}
if($event_month != NULL){
$query_array[] = "event_month LIKE '%". $event_day ."%'";
}
if($event_year != NULL){
$query_array[] = "event_year LIKE '%". $event_year ."%'";
}

$query_string = "";
foreach($query_array as $key => $val){
$query_string .= " ". $val ." AND";
}
$query_string = substr($query_string, 0, 4);

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM my_search_table WHERE ". $query_string ."") OR die(mysql_error());
}
?>
[/code]
but it gives me this error:
[code]
evenUnknown column 'even' in 'where clause' even
[/code]
why is it doing this? i think it has something to do with the "event_day/month/year" part, but why would it take off the 't'??? what's going on here?


EDIT: upon further review, i concluded there's something terribly wrong with my substr() function. i'm not defining the parameters correctly. how would i cut off the last 4 characters of the $query_string?

[boo_lolly]

[code]$query_string = substr($query_string, 0, -4);
[/code]
is how you do it. i'm having some other issues, but i don't think it has to do with this new code. i think it's old code that's messed up. as i said before... it never worked properly.