PHP - Advanced Search Form

Hey guys, I'm looking for some sort of tutorial on how to code a search script which would allow users to select number of results per page (and take care of the page 1, page 2, etc. links accordingly) as well as order them by date, most views, etc.

I thought I'd be good to do this on my own but my script is looking very dirty and I'm pretty sure it isn't very secure.. anyone ever consult a tutorial with main guidance as how to code the kind of script I'm interested in??

thanks

I'm not sure why, but once I added a search form in my nav menu, it made my other forms on the website such as login and signup form take them to where the search button would take them. any ideas???

I want to know how to display results from mysql database by filling in a form. but i have found a tutorial which shows typing in a text box which displays results. if i follow this tutorial will it help me to understand and create php coding to display results for my form?

I just changed around my database and as such I need to update my search form. The way it used to work was a user could use the search bar to look for actors. In changing my database there in no longer a actor column, there are how ever actor_1, actor_2 ... until actor_7. What I am trying to do it set it up so my form looks the same but the back end will look in all the actor columns for the name. So when a user selects actor from the drop down menu it will look in all 7 actor columns.

Here is what i had before that worked.

for the search bar
Code: [Select]
      <form action="/search.php" method="post">
<span class="rulesub">Search: </span><input type="text" name="search">
<select size="1" name="dropdown">
<option value="" selected>Search by...</option>
<option value="title">Title</option>
<option value="actors">Actors</option>
<option value="difficulty">Difficulty 1-5</option>
</select>
<input type="Submit" value="Search" name="Submit">
</form>

for the search page
Code: [Select]
$connect = mysql_connect('localhost', $username, $password) or die ("Unable to connect to host");

mysql_select_db($database) or die ("Unable to connect to database");
$search = empty($_POST['search'])? die ("Please enter search criteria.") : mysql_escape_string($_POST['search']);
$dropdown = empty($_POST['dropdown'])? die ("Please select from search criteria.") : mysql_escape_string($_POST['dropdown']);
$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM movie WHERE $dropdown Like '%$search%'") or die (mysql_error());

if(mysql_num_rows($query) == 0) {
printf("Could not find $search while looking in $dropdown, please try again.");
//exit;
}
else{


$num=mysql_numrows($query);

mysql_close($connect);

?>

Output

thanks

I have a search form and have set up php, but at the moment its not making the correct searches, what am i doing wrong.
Help is appreciated.

heres my php code:
Code: [Select]

<?php

$server = "";      // Enter your MYSQL server name/address between quotes
$username = "";    // Your MYSQL username between quotes
$password = "";    // Your MYSQL password between quotes
$database = "";    // Your MYSQL database between quotes

$con = mysql_connect($server, $username, $password);       // Connect to the database
if(!$con) { die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error()); }  // If connection failed, stop and display error
mysql_select_db($database, $con);  // Select database to use
// Query database
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM Properties");

// Set up our error check and result check array
$error = array();
$results = array();

// First check if a form was submitted. 
// Since this is a search we will use $_GET
if (isset($_GET['search'])) {
   $searchTerms = trim($_GET['search']);
   $searchTerms = strip_tags($searchTerms); // remove any html/javascript.
   
   if (strlen($searchTerms) < 10) {
      $error[] = "Search terms must be longer than 10 characters.";
   }else {
      $searchTermDB = mysql_real_escape_string($searchTerms); // prevent sql injection.
   }
   
   // If there are no errors, lets get the search going.
   if (count($error) < 1) {
      $searchSQL = "SELECT sid, sbody, stitle, sdescription FROM simple_search WHERE ";
      
      // grab the search types.
      $types = array();
      $types[] = isset($_GET['images'])?"`simages` LIKE '%{$searchTermDB}%'":'';
      $types[] = isset($_GET['Location'])?"`sLocation` LIKE '%{$searchTermDB}%'":'';
      $types[] = isset($_GET['Number of bedrooms'])?"`snumberofbedrooms` LIKE '%{$searchTermDB}%'":'';
      
      $types = array_filter($types, "removeEmpty"); // removes any item that was empty (not checked)
      
      if (count($types) < 1)
         $types[] = "`simages` LIKE '%{$searchTermDB}%'"; // use the body as a default search if none are checked
      
          $andOr = isset($_GET['matchall'])?'AND':'OR';
      $searchSQL .= implode(" {$andOr} ", $types) . " ORDER BY `sLocation`"; // order by title.

      $searchResult = mysql_query($searchSQL) or trigger_error("There was an error.<br/>" . mysql_error() . "<br />SQL Was: {$searchSQL}");
      
      if (mysql_num_rows($searchResult) < 1) {
         $error[] = "The search term provided {$searchTerms} yielded no results.";
      }else {
         $results = array(); // the result array
         $i = 1;
         while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($searchResult)) {
            $results[] = "{$i}: {$row['sLocation']}<br />{$row['sNumberofbedrooms']}<br />{$row['sbody']}<br /><br />";
            $i++;
         }
      }
   }
}

function removeEmpty($var) {
   return (!empty($var)); 
}

if (!$result)
{
    echo "Error running query:<br>";
    trigger_error(mysql_error());
}
elseif(!mysql_num_rows($result))
{
    // no records found by query.
    echo "No records found";
}
else
{
    $i = 0;
    echo '<div class="container" style="float:left;">';
  while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {     // Loop through results
        $i++;
echo '<div class="imageholder" style="float:left;">';
        echo '<img class="image1" src="'. $row['images'] .'" />';   //image
echo '</div>';
echo '<div class="textholder" style="font-family:helvetica; font-size:13px; float:left; padding-top:10px;">';
        echo "<span style=\"color:green;\"><b>Displaying record $i<br>\n</b><br></span>";
        echo "<b>" . $row['id'] . "</b><br>\n";      // Where 'id' is the column/field title in the database
        echo "Location: ". $row['Location'] . "<br>\n";            // Where 'location' is the column/field title in the database
        echo "Property Type: ". $row['Property_type'] . "<br>\n";       // as above
        echo "Bedrooms: ". $row['Number_of_bedrooms'] . "<br>\n";  // ..
        echo "Purchase Type: ". $row['Purchase_type'] . "<br>\n";       // ..
        echo "Price: ". $row['Price_range'] . "<br>\n";         // ..
echo '</div>';
echo '<div style="clear:both"></div>';
    }
echo '</div>'; }

mysql_close($con);  // Close the connection to the database after results, not before.
?>

I Have been working on this search for for a while which is working but lacks a few feature i wanna add. 1st is if the make/model/price is empty i want to search the whole db

I have attached the php file

Also each card has a image and need help adding these to the search. the images are located in a uploads folder


Iv grafted hard on this and need some help

Also is this the correct way to process a form search?

Hi, I was wondering could anyone help me here please, I'm pretty stuck and not sure what's wrong.

I have also posted this topic on Daniweb if that is OK as I'm kind of stuck for time on this (If I'm not allowed post on multiple forums this can be deleted). I have a database that contains files and I want to be able to search those files by putting in a ID number into a textbox on my homepage of a website I'm working on. In my databse my doc_id is the primary key, and I want the user to be able to enter a document ID and have all the information returned to them.

Can anyone help me here as I don't understand why it isn't working? Here is the code as it is at the moment -

Code: [Select]
<?php
include 'connect_db.php';
include 'newheader.php';

function sanitize_data($data)
    {
        $data = array_map('trim',$data);
        $data = array_map('strip_tags',$data);
        $data = array_map('htmlspecialchars',$data);
        $data = array_map('mysql_real_escape_string',$data);
        return $data;
    }
    $post = sanitize_data($_POST);

if (isset($_POST['searchID']))
{
$find = $_POST['find'];

$find = strtoupper($find);
$find = strip_tags($find);
$find = trim ($find);

$field = $_POST['field'];

$data = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM tc_tool.forms WHERE upper(".$field.") LIKE'%$find%'") or die(mysql_error());

while ($result = mysql_fetch_array( $data ))
{
echo $result['doc_number'];
echo " ";
echo $result['doc_title'];
echo " ";
echo "<br>";
echo "<br>";
}
?>
The error returned to me is this -

Incorrect parameter count in the call to native function 'upper'

Here is the code to my button too if it is any use -

Code: [Select]
<body onLoad = "documentNumber.focus()">

<input type= "text" id= "documentNumber" name= "searchbyequipmenttype" class= "eSearchFormInput"/>
<input type= "submit" name= "searchID" value="Search By Doc ID" /><br />
And I have no idea why it is, can anyone help if possible? I have tried it a few ways so if needed I'll post the other ways I've tried it. Thanks if anyone can help

Hello!To search in a table from my database i use this:

mysql_connect ("localhost", "","")  or die (mysql_error());
mysql_select_db ("");

$key = $_POST['key'];
 
$sql = mysql_query("select * from internet_securitate where nume_produs like '%$key%'");

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($sql)){
    echo 'Produs ID: '.$row['internet_securitateID'];
    echo '<br/> Denumire Produs: '.$row['nume_produs'];
    echo '<br/> Descrie  '.$row['descriere'];
    echo '<br/> Disponibilitate: '.$row['disponibilitate_produs'];
    echo '<br/><br/>';
    }

can i expand this to searh in 3 tables? :-?
 

hi  im new to these stuff and appreciate any help.     im creating a simple form with 1 textbox and a search button. when the button is pressed a select query should run and check the mysql database and list that result on that same page.  For example, lets say there is a textbox named Lastname, then the search button should search mysql and list down the last name matching that name.     Form code : 

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head>     <title>Search</title> </head> <body>     <form action="post.php" method="GET">         <input type="text" name="query" />         <input type="submit" value="Search" />     </form> </body> </html>

    Any help? I need to show the result right bellow the button, and if no match found it should display an error : no match found    thanks

Hi,

Hoping someone could help me, im not great at php programming and im trying to implement a search form which searches a sql database but for some reason its not working i keep on getting the following error..
" Warning: mysql_fetch_array() expects parameter 1 to be resource, boolean given in C:\xampp\htdocs\site\contact\search.php on line 141"

Im not sure why this happens and its really starting to bug me now :/

I have to pages to the search feature, one page which contains the <form> and the other with the PHP code....

the form..
<form method="get" action="search.php">
   <label>Search Term:
    <input type="text" id="query" name="query"/>
  </label>

<label>
    <select name="category" id="category">
      <option value="none">Please Select a Type</option>
      <option value="teamname">Manager Name</option>
      <option value="manager">Team Name</option>
      <option value="age">Age Group</option>
    </select>
  </label>
 
   <input name="Search" type="submit" value="Search"/>
</form>

the PHP code..

   <?php
$query=$_GET['query'];

$db_host="localhost";
$db_username="root";
$db_password="";
$db_name="info";
$db_tb_name="info";
$db_tb_atr_name=$_GET['category'];

mysql_connect("$db_host","$db_username","$db_password");
mysql_select_db("$db_name");

$query_for_result=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM $tb_name WHERE $db_tb_atr_name like '%".$query."%'");

while($data_fetch=mysql_fetch_array($query_for_result))
{
   echo "<p>";
   echo $data_fetch['table_attribute'];
   echo "</p>";
}

mysql_close();
?>

Id be really great full for any light you guys could shed on this for me

with thanks,

fozze

Just take a look at the code.. idk whats wrong.

<?php

  // Get the search variable from URL

  $var = @$_GET['q'] ;
  $trimmed = trim($var); //trim whitespace from the stored variable

// rows to return
$limit=10; 

// check for an empty string and display a message.
if ($trimmed == "")
  {
  echo "<p>Please enter a search...</p>";
  exit;
  }

// check for a search parameter
if (!isset($var))
  {
  echo "<p>We dont seem to have a search parameter!</p>";
  exit;
  }

//connect to your database ** EDIT REQUIRED HERE **
mysql_connect("localhost","root",""); //(host, username, password)

//specify database ** EDIT REQUIRED HERE **
mysql_select_db("school") or die("Unable to select database"); //select which database we're using

// Build SQL Query  
$query = "select * from the_table where 1st_field like \"%$trimmed%\"  
  order by 1st_field"; // EDIT HERE and specify your table and field names for the SQL query

 $numresults=mysql_query($query);
 $numrows=mysql_num_rows($numresults);

// If we have no results, offer a google search as an alternative

if ($numrows == 0)
  {
  echo "<h4>Results</h4>";
  echo "<p>Sorry, your search: &quot;" . $trimmed . "&quot; returned zero results</p>";

// google
 echo "<p><a href=\"http://www.google.com/search?q=" 
  . $trimmed . "\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Look up 
  " . $trimmed . " on Google\">Click here</a> to try the 
  search on google</p>";
  }

// next determine if s has been passed to script, if not use 0
  if (empty($s)) {
  $s=0;
  }

// get results
  $query .= " limit $s,$limit";
  $result = mysql_query($query) or die("Couldn't execute query");

// display what the person searched for
echo "<p>You searched for: &quot;" . $var . "&quot;</p>";

// begin to show results set
echo "Results";
$count = 1 + $s ;

// now you can display the results returned
  while ($row= mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
  $title = $row["1st_field"];

  echo "$count.)&nbsp;$title" ;
  $count++ ;
  }

$currPage = (($s/$limit) + 1);

//break before paging
  echo "<br />";

  // next we need to do the links to other results
  if ($s>=1) { // bypass PREV link if s is 0
  $prevs=($s-$limit);
  print "&nbsp;<a href=\"$PHP_SELF?s=$prevs&q=$var\">&lt;&lt; 
  Prev 10</a>&nbsp&nbsp;";
  }

// calculate number of pages needing links
  $pages=intval($numrows/$limit);

// $pages now contains int of pages needed unless there is a remainder from division

  if ($numrows%$limit) {
  // has remainder so add one page
  $pages++;
  }

// check to see if last page
  if (!((($s+$limit)/$limit)==$pages) && $pages!=1) {

  // not last page so give NEXT link
  $news=$s+$limit;

  echo "&nbsp;<a href=\"$PHP_SELF?s=$news&q=$var\">Next 10 &gt;&gt;</a>";
  }

$a = $s + ($limit) ;
  if ($a > $numrows) { $a = $numrows ; }
  $b = $s + 1 ;
  echo "<p>Showing results $b to $a of $numrows</p>";
  
?>

its supposed to search my databases i guess.. i need a site searcher if anyone wanna make me post it please.. or post a tut

How would i begin to start php coding to work for this form shown in the image? could anyone point me to useful tutorials, i would appreciate it, thanx

i need some help.....im using a basic form with pagination, but it does not seem to be working for some reason it displays the username i search for the first time but when i click on the next button i get no more results even though i have like 30 more results left in the database ........... any help would be appriciated thanks in advance


Here is the code i am using


<?php include ('connect.php'); ?>
<?php
echo"<h3>Please enter your search Username</h3>
<form action='search.php?find' method='post'>
<input name='username' size='40'  maxlength='32'/>
<input type='submit' value='Submit' />
</form>";
?>
<hr width="800">               

<?php                
  
if (isset($_GET["find"]))
{
$username =  ($_POST["username"]);

$per_page =5;

$start = @$_GET['start'];

$record_count = mysql_num_rows(mysql_query("SELECT * FROM register WHERE username LIKE '%$username%' ORDER BY username"));

$max_pages = $record_count / $per_page; 

if(!$start)
  $start = 0;

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM register WHERE username LIKE '%$username%'ORDER BY username LIMIT $start, $per_page ");
$exist = mysql_num_rows($query); 

if($exist=='0')
{
echo "No match found";
}
else 
{
echo "Your matches for: <b>$username</b><br><br>";
while($currow = mysql_fetch_array($query))
{
$username = ($currow['username']);
   

echo"</td>
  </tr>
</table>";
?>



<?php echo"
        <a href='../mysite/$username'>$username</a><br>" ;

}
}

?>

<?php
$prev = $start - $per_page;
$next = $start + $per_page;

echo"<br>";
if(!($start<=0))
echo "<a href='{$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']}?start=$prev'>Prev</a>&nbsp;";

$i=1;
for($x=0;$x<$record_count;$x=$x+$per_page)
{
if($start!=$x)
echo "<a href='{$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']}?start= $x'>$i</a> ";
 else
   echo "<a href='{$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']}?start= $x'>$i</a> ";
$i++;
}

if(!($start>=$record_count-$per_page))
echo "<a href='{$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']}?start=$next'>Next</a>";
echo"&nbsp;$next";
echo"<br><br>";
}
?>

</div>
</body>
</html>
<?php include ('footer.php'); ?>

I wrote the search form below to enable users search other users of a site based on certain criteria like age, race etc.  Then I wrote the php script beneath, to execute that search.  I decided to make the script very simple, searching only for one criterion for now (ethnicity).  So even though I have several fields in the search form, I wrote the script to process only one of those fields(ethnicity).  So basically, the script searches all records for members on the site from two tables called images and members(the members table has an "ethnicity column"), who meet the user's ethnicity preference and returns certain columns for all members who meet that preference.  Well when  I click the submit button, all I get is "Form not submitted".  I added that form not submitted clause at the end of the script just after I had tweaked the script in every way possible but got nothing but a blank page every time I submitted the form.  So take a look people and tell me what could be going wrong here.  Appreciate any help. Code: [Select]

<form id="search_profiles_form" action= "profile_search.php">





Seeking A: &nbsp;
<select name= "sex">
<option value= "man">Man</option>
<option value= "woman">Woman</option>
<option value= "both">Both</option>
<select>   


<p> <tab> Age Range:
<?php
print '<select name= "min_age">';
for ($age = 18; $age <= 99; $age++) {
    print "\n<option value=\"$age\">$age</option>";
}
print '</select>'; ?> </tab>

<tab> and: <?php
print '<select name= "max_age">';
for ($age = 18; $age <= 99; $age++) {
    print "\n<option value=\"$age\">$age</option>";
}
print '</select>'; ?> </tab> </p>


<p>Distance:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <select name= "distance">
<option name="5">Within 5 Miles</option>
<option name="10">Within 10 Miles</option>
<option name="50">Within 50 Miles</option>
<option name="100">Within 100 Miles</option>
<option name="250">Within 250 Miles</option>
<option name="any">Beyond 250 Miles</option>
</select> </p>



<p>Ethnicity:&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <select name= "ethnicity">
<option name="black">Black/African Descent</option>
<option name="white">Caucasian?European Descent</option>
<option name="latino">Hispanic Non White</option>
<option name="asian">Asian Descent</option>
<option name="native_american">Native American</option>
<option name="pacific_islander">Pacific Islander</option>
<option name="indian">Indian Descent</option>
<option name="middle_east">Middle Eastern</option>
<option name="other">Other</option>
</select> </p>


<p>Last Active: <select name= "last_active">
<option name="0">Online Now</option>
<option name="1">1 Hr Ago</option>
<option name="5">5 Hrs Ago</option>
<option name="24">24 Hrs Ago</option>
<option name="1wk">1 Week Ago</option>
<option name="3wk">Over 3 Weeks Ago</option>
</select> </p>


<input type="hidden" name="submitted" value="TRUE"/>


<p> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
    &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<input type ="submit"  value="Search!"/> </p>







</form>

And here goes the php script.
Code: [Select]

<?php

//address error handling

ini_set ('display_errors', 1);
error_reporting (E_ALL & ~E_NOTICE);


//authenticate user
require('auth.php');


if (isset($_POST['submitted'])) {

// Connect to the database.

        require_once ('config.php');

//Query the database.

$sql = "SELECT * FROM members INNER JOIN images ON members.member_id = images_member_id WHERE members.ethnicity = '{$_POST['ethnicity']}' AND images.cartegory = 'main' ";

 

$query = mysql_query($sql);

 

//Check for success here.

if(!$query)

{

     trigger_error("SQL query $sql failed: " . mysql_error(), E_ERROR);

     // Handle as desired

}else{  //If query is valid.

     if(mysql_num_rows($query) > 0){


         while ($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($query)){ 

             //Redirect to search results page.

echo $_POST['ethnicity']; echo $row['member_id']; echo $_SESSION['id']; echo $row['image'];
         
 }

          

     }else {//No rows returned.

        
         echo 'No results match this search query.' ;

     }

}//End of else if query is valid.

}else{ echo "form not submitted";}




?>

hi iam trying to make a simple search form to search the members tables based on there input. iam new php so most of my code is guess work

Code: [Select]
<form method="GET" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];?>" name="searchForm">
<label for="country">Country:</label>
      <input type="text" name="country" />
      <label for="state">State:</label>
      <input type="text" name="state" />
      <label for="city">City:</label>
      <input type="text" name="city" />
      <input type="submit" value="submit" />
      </form>

<?

if ($_GET == array ()) {
//Define a variable that will be used to query the members; in this case, it would select all members
$query = "SELECT * FROM users";
} else {
//If the user typed at least one thing (in the form OR the url)
if (count ($_GET) == 1) {
//If what they typed is only for one criteria, define a variable that creates a query for only ONE criteria to search for
$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE 1";
foreach ($_GET as $field => $value) {
$query .= " AND $field = '$value'";
}
//If the user has typed in more than one field and hits search
} else {
//Define a variable for a query that selects members based off each criteria
$query = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE 1";
foreach ($_GET as $field => $value) {
$query .= " AND $field LIKE '%$value%'";
}
}

while($info = mysql_fetch_array( $data )) {

 Echo "<img src='http://datenight.netne.net/images/".$info['img'] ."' width='150' height='250''> <br>";

 Echo "<b>Name:</b> ".$info['username'] . "<br> <hr>";
 Echo "<b>Sex:</b> ".$info['sex'] . " <br><hr>";
 Echo "<b>Intrested in</b>" . "<br><hr>";
 Echo "".$info['rel'] . " ";
 Echo "".$info['frwb'] . " ";
 Echo "".$info['ons'] . " ";
 Echo "".$info['fr'] . "<br><hr>";
 Echo "<b>About me:</b> ".$info['aboutme'] . "<br><hr> ";
 Echo "<b>Looking for:</b> ".$info['looking'] . " <br><hr>";
 Echo "<a href='login_success.php'>'Back'</a>";

}
?>
    </body>
</html>

while($info = mysql_fetch_array( $data )) {  is not vaild error