Insert And Extract/Fetch Data From Database: PHP Script

What to expect ?
Using PHP script insert user entered data/information into database and extract/fetch data stored in database and display it on the browser.
This video tutorial also teaches the MySQL queries.

In this video tutorial we have used a readymade form which uses POST method to pass the user entered information. To watch the coding/designing of this form go to POST Method In Action: Simple Form

Video Tutorial: Insert And Extract/Fetch Data From Database: PHP Script



YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oViKzEDiMo [Watch the Video In Full Screen.]


MySQL Commands and Uses

mysql > drop database abc;

This command will delete the database by name abc, if its already present.

mysql > create database abc;

This MySQL command creates a new database by name abc.

mysql > use abc;

After creating the database abc, we must tell the console that we want to operate on the newly created database. i.e., use abc;

mysql > create table bbc(name varchar(15), company varchar(20));

This MySQL command is used to create a table by name bbc with two string type data fields name and company with character length of 15 and 20 respectively.

mysql > desc bbc;

This shows the description or the structure of the table.

mysql > select * from bbc;

This returns all the contents stored in the table bbc.

PHP Script

Connecting the PHP Script to database

<?php
    $conn = mysql_connect("localhost","root","");
    $db   = mysql_select_db("abc",$conn);
?>

mysql_connect() is a standard function which takes 3 parameters. First parameter is host name, second parameter is the MySQL username, and the 3rd parameter is the MySQL password.
mysql_select_db() is also a php standard function. Firs parameter is the database name, with which you want the script to be connected to, and the second parameter is optional.
NOTE: We can put this database connection code inside a separate file and include it inside whichever script we want using include(); or include_once(); function. This way we can reduce the coding and this helps a lot while we are editing this information.

Compete Source Code

postform.php

<html>
 <head><title>POST Method in Action</title></head>
 <body>
<form action="post.php" method="post">
Name <input type="text" name="user"><br />
Company<input type="text" name="comp"><br />
<input type="submit" value=" Submit Info">
</form>
 </body>
</html>

This is a simple form which contains 2 input fields(user and comp) and a submit button. It uses POST method to pass the user submitted information/data.

post.php

<?php
    $conn = mysql_connect("localhost","root","");
    $db      = mysql_select_db("abc",$conn);
?>

<?php

    $name       =     $_POST['user'];
    $company =    $_POST['comp'];

    # echo "My name is $name 
And I'm the CEO of my company {$company}" $sql = "INSERT into bbc values('$name','$company')"; $qury = mysql_query($sql); if(!$qury) echo mysql_error(); else { echo "Successfully Inserted"; echo "View Result"; } ?>

After storing the information passed by the user inside $name and $company variables, we use the MySQL query to store this data into the database.

   $sql     = "INSERT into bbc values('$name','$company')";

This MySQL query is stored into $sql variable and is passed to a standard PHP function for execution. i.e., mysql_query($sql);
Based on the result of the execution of the query, we show the proper messages using if statement.

mysql_error() is a standard PHP error function. This helps a lot in development stage, as it shows a descriptive error message. It is not advised to have this error function in the script at deployment stage.

show.php
If the query is executed successfully, a link to show.php file is shown and a “Successfully Inserted” message will be displayed on the browser.

<?php
    $conn = mysql_connect("localhost","root","");
    $db      = mysql_select_db("abc",$conn);
?>

<?php

    echo "<ul>";
    $sql = "select * from bbc";

    $qury = mysql_query($sql);

    while($row = mysql_fetch_array($qury))
        echo "<li>Name: $row[0]</li><li>Company: $row[1]</li>";

    echo "</ul>";
?>

We have already explained the select query above.

$row = mysql_fetch_array($qury)

This PHP function gets all the result stored in $query and stores it inside $row variable in the form of an array.

If we put this above statement inside a While loop, the loop terminates once there are no more elements in the $query variable.

Now, echo/print the contents of the $row variable to get the contents being fetched by the database using SELECT query.

We can either use the indexing like: $row[0], $row[1] etc or we can directly mention the database field names to reduce confusion i.e., $row[name], $row[company] etc.



View Comments

  • @ashok, Yes, you're right. The connection needs to be closed.

    Thanks for taking time to provide feedback. We highly appreciate it.

  • Thanks a lot buddy !

    we were too worry to know how to fetch the column value......!!

    Thanx again yaar......!!!!

  • @Naveen Kumar, Thanks a lot for taking time to write. It motivates me a lot, to keep writing more of such articles. Thanks again.

  • thanks so much for everything it helped a lot ....i was just wondering if u can tell us about inserting and displaying images into and from the mysql database

  • @jordan, Thanks. Will let you know about working with images in a video tutorial.

    @praveen, Thanks for your feedback. You can help us by letting your other friends know about Technotip.com

  • thanx dude.. it helped me alot.. was too too too confused abt database insertion n extraction.. :)

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