PHP - Help In Understanding Server Load In Putting More Work On Php Or On Mysql

Hello everyone,

Sorry if this has been answered but if it has I can't find it anywhere. So, from the begining then.  Lets say I had a member table and in it I wanted to store what their top 3 interests are.  Their$ row has all the usual things to identify them userID and password etc.. and I had a further 3 columns which were labled top3_1 top3_2 & top3_3 to put each of their interests in from a post form.

If instead I wanted to store this data as a PHP Array instead (using 1 column instead of 3) is there a way to store it as readable data when you open the PHPmyadmin?

At the moment all it says is array and when I call it back to the browser (say on a page where they could review and update their interests) it displays 'a' as top3_01 'r' as top3_02 and 'r' as top3_03 (in each putting what would be 'array' as it appears in the table if there were 5 results. Does anyone know what I mean?

For example -

If we had a form which collected the top 3 interests to put in a table called users,

Code: [Select]
<form action="back_to_same_page_for_processing.php" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data">
   
    <input name="top3_01" type="text" value="enter interest number 1 here" />
    <input name="top3_02" type="text" value="enter interest number 2 here" />
    <input name="top3_03" type="text" value="enter interest number 3 here" />
    <input type="submit" name="update_button" value=" Save and Update! " />

   
    </form> // If my quick code example for this form is not correct dont worry its not the point im getting at :)
And they put 'bowling' in top3_01, 'running' in top3_02 and 'diving' in top3_03 and we catch that on the same page with some PHP at the top -->

Code: [Select]
        if (isset($_POST)['update_button']) {
   
    $top3_01 = $_POST['top3_01']; // i.e, 'bowling' changing POST vars to local vars
    $top3_02 = $_POST['top3_02']; // i.e, 'running'
    $top3_03 = $_POST['top3_03']; // i.e, 'diving'

With me so far? If I had a table which had 3 columns (1 for each interest) I could put something like -

  Code: [Select]
   include('connect_msql.php');
   
    mysql_query("Select * FROM users WHERE id='$id' AND blah blah blah");
   
    mysql_query("UPDATE users SET top3_01='$top3_01', top3_02='$top3_02', top3_03='$top3_03' WHERE id='$id'");


And hopefully if ive got it right, it will put them each in their own little column. Easy enough huh? But heres the thing, I want to put all these into an array to be stored in the 1 column (say called 'top3') and whats more have them clearly readable in PHPmyadmin and editable from there yet still be able to be called back an rendered on page when requested.

Continuing the example then, assuming ive changed the table for the 'top3' column instead of individual colums,  I could put something like this -


Code: [Select]
            if (isset($_POST)['update_button']) {
       
        $top3_01 = $_POST['top3_01']; // i.e, 'bowling' changing POST vars to local vars
        $top3_02 = $_POST['top3_02']; // i.e, 'running'
        $top3_03 = $_POST['top3_03']; // i.e, 'diving'
   
    $top3_array = array($top3_01,$top3_02,$top3_03);
   
    include('connect_msql.php');
   
    mysql_query("UPDATE members SET top3='$top3_array' WHERE id='$id' AND blah blah blah");
But it will appear in the column as 'Array' and when its called for using a query it will render the literal string. a r r in each field instead.  Now I know you can use the 'serialize()' & 'unserialize()' funtcions but it makes the entry in the database practically unreadable. Is there a way to make it readable and editable without having to create a content management system?

If so please let me know and I'll be your friend forever, lol, ok maybe not but I'd really appreciate the help anyways.  The other thing is, If you can do this or something like it, how am I to add entries to that array to go back into the data base?

I hope ive explained myself enough here, but if not say so and I'll have another go.  Thanks very much people,  L-PLate (P.s if I sort this out on my own ill post it all here)

Hi..,
I use below method to export data to excel.

header('Content-type: application/ms-excel');
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=abc.xls');

if I run the script from the server. (http://localhost/export.php) it is work. (pop-up window if i want save or open the file)

but if i run the script from the client (http://192.168.1.5/export.php) it is not work. (nothing happen)

any idea how to solve this?

This isn't exactly an application design question, but rather a system design one.   I am about to install an Inventory Control System inside this store I work in.   The store itself also owns a Linode VPS running Centos 6.4 which hosts our website.   This new Inventory System will come built in with a Microsoft SQL Server, and supposedly it is a SQL Anywhere database, but I'm not too sure what that means.     I need to make this database publicly accessible, but only via the Linode VPS.  Surely, setting restrictions is easy enough to address that issue.  That isn't my question.   My first idea is to put this server into the DMZ, easy.  But it doesn't exactly sound safe.  So my next idea was to put a middleman server in the DMZ, this way the Linode can send queries to that middleman server and it will send that data to the SQL Server and back.  This is very vaguely described I know, but I don't want to get too much into details, but rather, understand how I can create that middleman server, and what could Install onto it that would allow me to securely process queries?   My first thought was to install a webservice, that accepts an XML/JSON request and returns an XML/JSON response. Then, I realized directly afterwards that I don't have any experience setting up a webservice like that. What kind of options are there out there?
  Ultimately, my question is, should I just put the Server in the DMZ or should I create the middleman, and if so, can someone point me in the right direction as to getting a webservice set up?
Edited by Zane, 15 July 2014 - 11:28 PM.

Hi,

I am still learning php and I've been racking my brain to get some field data
from the mysql database and put the results into variables to use.

I need to do a query to get the data from two fields and place them in a variable.

I have this field from a form: $_REQUEST['linkurl']

So i need to check this form field against (tablename, fieldname) alldomain.domain_name

when the match is found I need to store the value of tablename, fieldname) domain.manual_approve into $x_manual_approve

and then check that rows userid field: (tablename, fieldname) alldomain.userid and equals (tablename, fieldname) register.id

the userid and id are matching from two different tables (tables alldomain and register).

When I get that match I need to get (tablename, fieldname) register.username and store the value into $x_username

Thanks much for any help,

Gibs

<?php
$PostID = mysql_escape_string($_GET['postid']);
?>
<?php
If ($_GET['CODE'] == '0') {
    $GetPostData = "SELECT * FROM ".FORUM_POSTS." WHERE post_id='{$PostID}'";
    $GetPostRes = mysql_query($GetPostData, $db);
    $PostText = mysql_result($GetPostRes, 0, 'post_text');
    $AuthorID = mysql_result($GetPostRes, 0, 'user_id');
    
    If ($memid == $AuthorID || $MemLevel >= 1000) {
?>  
<div class="maintitle" align="left"><img src="./images/nav_m.gif" width="8" height="8">&nbsp;Editing Post</div>
<form action="index.php?act=edit&postid=<?php echo $PostID; ?>&CODE=1" method="POST">
<table width="100%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="4">
    <tr>
        <td class="titlemedium" colspan="2">Make changes below.</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="row2" align="right" width="15%" valign="top">Post Text:</td>
        <td class="row2" align="left" width="85%">
            <textarea cols="80" rows="20" name="posttext"><?php echo $PostText; ?></textarea>
        </td>
    </tr>
    <tr><td class="row2" colspan="2" align="center"><input type="submit" value="Post" /></td></tr>
</table>
</form>
<?php
}
Else {
?>
<div class="maintitle" align="left"><img src="./images/nav_m.gif" width="8" height="8">&nbsp;Error</div>
<table width="100%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="4">
    <tr><td class="row2">You do not have the permission to edit this post.<br>If you believe this is an error please contact an administrator.</td></tr>
</table>
<?php
}
}
If ($_GET['CODE'] == '1') {
    //Gather Information
    $PostText = mysql_escape_string($_POST['posttext']);
    $PostText = htmlentities($PostText);
    $PostID = mysql_escape_string($_GET['postid']);
    
    //Update Database
    $EditQry = "UPDATE ".FORUM_POSTS." SET post_text='{$PostText}' WHERE post_id='{$PostID}'";
    $EditRes = mysql_query($EditQry, $db);
    //Check Data went in
    If (!$EditRes) {
?>
<div class="maintitle" align="left"><img src="./images/nav_m.gif" width="8" height="8">&nbsp;Error</div>
<table width="100%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="4">
    <tr><td class="row2">Could not modify database. Please contact administrator.</td></tr>
</table>
<?php
    }
    Else {
?>
<div class="maintitle" align="left"><img src="./images/nav_m.gif" width="8" height="8">&nbsp;Success</div>
<table width="100%" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="4">
    <tr><td class="row2">Post modified. Please go back to the thread to see it.</td></tr>
</table>
<?php
    }
}
?>
</div>



This is my page for editing a post.

However, whenever this form actually goes through, the query for some reason makes post_text in the database blank with no text in it whatsoever.

I have tried echoing the query to see what it says and it has a perfectly fine query and I can copy/paste it manually to put it into the mysql but I don't get why this isn't adding it.