PHP - Is My Website Ok, Great Or Fantastic?

I haven't done much php in the past few years so i am a little rusty. Please keep that in mind when helping

Ok so what i am trying to do is build a favorite script for part of my site so a user can favorite different things.

So this is the add favorite page when a user clicks the link i am trying to get it to pull some of the info from one table then add it to a different one then also adds some new data as well that is not getting pulled from a table.

This is the table i am trying to pull some of the data from:
Code: [Select]
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `anime_info` (
  `id` bigint(20) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `title` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `alternative_title` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `image` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `synopsis` text NOT NULL,
  `date` varchar(60) NOT NULL,
  `user_name` varchar(60) NOT NULL,
  `userid` varchar(60) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=1 ;
i am trying to pull title and image and move it to the following table
Code: [Select]
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `favorites` (
  `id` bigint(20) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `anime_id` bigint(20) NOT NULL,
  `anime_title` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `image` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `user_name` varchar(60) NOT NULL,
  `userid` varchar(60) NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY  (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=1 ;
then as for the new data i need to add:
Code: [Select]
$anime_id = mysql_escape_string($_GET['anime_id']);
$user_name = mysql_escape_string($userdata['username']);
$userid = mysql_escape_string($userdata['user_id']);
Here is my latest php script so far i have tried so many ways.
Code: [Select]
<?PHP

// Import form information
$anime_id = mysql_escape_string($_GET['anime_id']);
$user_name = mysql_escape_string($userdata['username']);
$userid = mysql_escape_string($userdata['user_id']);

// Insert info into database
$insert_query="INSERT INTO favorites (anime_title,image) SELECT anime_info.title,anime_info.image FROM anime_info WHERE
id='".mysql_escape_string($_GET['anime_id'])."'";

    mysql_query($insert_query);

    $update_query="UPDATE `favorites` SET `anime_id`='$anime_id',`user_name`='$user_name',`userid`='$userid' WHERE `id`='".mysql_escape_string($_GET['anime_id'])."'";

    mysql_query($update_query);

    echo "Anime added to your favorites <meta http-equiv=\"refresh\" content=\"2; url=/viewfavorites.php\" />";

?>
In this code i can get the insert query to work fine but not update.
the links look like favorite.php?anime_id=1

NOTE: $userdata is being pull else where and thats all working fine.

I have been coding for past 2 month with php , like login script ect. I wana know how and what must one do to become better at php , in order to get into job market for example. What books or videos do you recommend?  im using  mysqli as a beginner of course. but many times i feel so lost with php when i get an error. HOW to avoid this? How can i understand this language better? How do you before you code, draw out ur plans on what u going to do for the project and how u will structure if      ps i dont know a super lot about php jargon           thanks guy would like to know erveryones thoughts    

I registered a few days ago for help on this thread but didn't post again on it now because it has been marked answered and I thought I'd better not bump it.  I received help in a way that has been the most encouraging since I began my calendar project.  I'm wondering, though, if you would help me understand why I'm not successful at implementing the advice to the point that events are inserting into my calendar.    My testing database has only one table:  events and in events, only two columns (other than id):  "startdt" and "description".  This is a screenshot of how the table's columns are set upL    screenshot.jpg   37.21KB   0 downloads   This is a screenshot of the table content:    screenshot2.jpg   9.35KB   0 downloads   This is my code with the edits added from the support thread:

<?PHP

$var = mysql_real_escape_string($_GET['startdt, description']);

$con=mysql_connect("localhost","user","password");
// Check connection
if (mysql_connect_error()) {
  echo "Failed to connect to MySQL: " . mysqli_connect_error();
}
    //select a database to work with
    $selected = mysql_select_db("mydatabase_",$con) 
      or die("Could not select mydatabase_");

    //execute the SQL query and return records
    $result = mysql_query("SELECT information FROM events WHERE value='$startdt', 'description'");
    //fetch tha data from the database
    while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
       echo $row{'startdt, description'};
    }

    //close the connection
    mysql_close($con);

?>

<!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>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/master.css" type="text/css" media="all">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html" />
<title>Yet Another Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<?php
    $currMonth = isset($_GET['month']) ? $_GET['month']  : date('n');
    $currYear  = isset($_GET['year'])  ? $_GET['year']   : date('Y');
    $today = (($currYear == date('Y')) && ($currMonth == date('n'))) ? date('j') : 0;

    $prevMonth = $currMonth==1 ? 12 : $currMonth-1;
    $nextMonth = $currMonth==12?  1 : $currMonth+1;
    $prevYear = $currMonth==1 ? $currYear-1 : $currYear;
    $nextYear = $currMonth==12? $currYear+1 : $currYear;

    $day1 = mktime(0,0,0,$currMonth,1,$currYear);
    $dim = date('t', $day1);
    $dayN = mktime(0,0,0,$currMonth,$dim,$currYear);
    $dow1 = (date('w',$day1)+0) % 7;
    $dowN = (date('w',$dayN)+0) % 7;
    $calHead = date('F Y',$day1);
    	echo <<<EOT
    	<div class="calwrapper">
    	<div class="caltitle"><h1>Calendar</h1></div>
    	<div class="container">
    	<div class="fnl first"></div>
    	<div class="adjust"></div>
    	<div class="fnl last"></div>
    	</div>
    	<div class="caldisplay">
        <table cellspacing="0">
        <tr>
        <td class="hd"><a class="cal_button" href="$_SERVER[PHP_SELF]?year=$prevYear&month=$prevMonth"> Prev </a></td>
        <td colspan="5" class="adjust">$calHead</td>
        <td class="hd"><a class="cal_button" href="$_SERVER[PHP_SELF]?year=$nextYear&month=$nextMonth"> Next </a></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <th class="we">Sun</th>
          <th class="wd">Mon</th>
          <th class="wd">Tue</th>
          <th class="wd">Wed</th>
          <th class="wd">Thu</th>
          <th class="wd">Fri</th>
          <th class="we">Sat</th>
         </tr>
        <tr>
EOT;
    for ($d=0;$d<$dow1;$d++) echo "<td class=\"hd\"> </td>";
    $c = $dow1;
    for ($d=1; $d<=$dim; $d++, $c++) {
        if ($c%7==0) echo "</tr><tr>";
        $cl = ($c%7==5) || ($c%7==6) ? 'we' : 'wd';
        $st = ($d == $today) ? "style='padding: 0px;'" : '';
        echo "<td class=\"$cl\" $st>\n";
        echo "$d" ;
        echo "</td>\n";
    }
    while ($c++ % 7 != 0) echo '<td class=\"hd\"> </td>';
    echo "</tr></table>\n";
    echo '</div></div>';
    
// calander entries. Use the date as the key (in YYYY/MM/DD format)
$entries = array(
	'2014/8/16' => array(
        				'Event',
					),
	
);
    for ($d=1; $d<=$dim; $d++, $c++) {

        if ($c%7==0) echo "</tr><tr>";

        $cl = ($c%7==5) || ($c%7==6) ? 'we' : 'wd';

        $st = ($d == $today) ? "style='padding: 0px;'" : '';

        echo "<td class=\"$cl\" $st>\n";

        echo "$d" ;

        echo "</td>\n";

    }

// construct the date, this will be used to check to if the key exists in the $entries array
        $dateKey = "$currYear/$currMonth/$d";
        // check if the key exists in the $entries array
        if(array_key_exists($dateKey, $entries)) {
            // for each event, list it in a seperate tool tip
            foreach($entries[$dateKey] as $entry) {
                echo '<div class="has-tooltip">
           Event
            <span class="tooltip">'.$entry.'</span>
        </div>';
            }
        }    
    
?>
</body>
</html>

I am not getting any errors in the PHP Code Checker (although I am receiving the notice that these functions are now deprecated): mysql_close() mysql_connect() mysql_fetch_array() mysql_query() mysql_real_escape_string() mysql_select_db() When I upload my page to the server, everything seems fine, except that no information is added to the table.  When I check the page source, I see this:

 <!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>
 <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
<link rel="stylesheet" href="css/master.css" type="text/css" media="all">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html" />
<title>Yet Another Test</title>
</head>
<body>
    	<div class="calwrapper">
    	<div class="caltitle"><h1>Calendar</h1></div>
    	<div class="container">
    	<div class="fnl first"></div>
    	<div class="adjust"></div>
    	 <div class="fnl last"></div>
    	 </div>
    	 <div class="caldisplay">
        <table cellspacing="0">
        <tr>
          <td class="hd"><a class="cal_button" href="/1cal/calendar.php?year=2014&month=7"> Prev </a></td>
          <td colspan="5" class="adjust">August 2014</td>
          <td class="hd"><a class="cal_button" href="/1cal/calendar.php?year=2014&month=9"> Next </a></td>
        </tr>
        <tr>
          <th class="we">Sun</th>
          <th class="wd">Mon</th>
          <th class="wd">Tue</th>
          <th class="wd">Wed</th>
          <th class="wd">Thu</th>
          <th class="wd">Fri</th>
          <th class="we">Sat</th>
         </tr>
        <tr><!--DEBUG: year=$currYear and month=$currMonth<hr/--><td class="hd">&nbsp;</td><td class="hd">&nbsp;</td><td class="hd">&nbsp;</td><td class="hd">&nbsp;</td><td class="hd">&nbsp;</td><td class="we" >
1</td>
<td class="we" >
2</td>
</tr><tr><td class="wd" >
3</td>
<td class="wd" >
4</td>
<td class="wd" >
5</td>
<td class="wd" >
6</td>
<td class="wd" >
7</td>
<td class="we" >
8</td>
<td class="we" >
9</td>
</tr><tr><td class="wd" >
10</td>
<td class="wd" >
11</td>
<td class="wd" >
12</td>
<td class="wd" >
13</td>
<td class="wd" >
14</td>
<td class="we" style='padding: 0px;'>
15</td>
<td class="we" >
16</td>
</tr><tr><td class="wd" >
17</td>
<td class="wd" >
18</td>
<td class="wd" >
19</td>
<td class="wd" >
20</td>
<td class="wd" >
21</td>
<td class="we" >
22</td>
<td class="we" >
23</td>
</tr><tr><td class="wd" >
24</td>
<td class="wd" >
25</td>
<td class="wd" >
26</td>
<td class="wd" >
27</td>
<td class="wd" >
28</td>
<td class="we" >
29</td>
<td class="we" >
30</td>
</tr><tr><td class="wd" >
31</td>
<td class=\"hd\"> </td><td class=\"hd\"> </td><td class=\"hd\"> </td><td class=\"hd\"> </td><td class=\"hd\"> </td><td class=\"hd\"> </td></tr></table>
</div></div></body>
</html>

I don't have an understanding of what the Debug is telling me although I note the number "1" within the tag and find that interesting because on those occasions, earlier today, when the file upload would result in a white page, viewing the page source would reveal nothing but the numeral "1" in the upper left top.   Are the deprecated functions enough to cause the event not to insert into the calendar?  I'd appreciate any help in sorting why I'm not succeeding.  As you see so often around here, I'm not a coder.  I'm just forced into a position to have to fend for myself, as of late, and so I'm trying to learn what I can.  Thank you for any help. 
Edited by Izzy-B, 15 August 2014 - 07:24 PM.

 

Any help would br GREAT! This Post is about Sticky Forms and How to get them working.

I would like to record  the users input after processing it. I have the processing page redirecting back to the form page. I have been trying and trying and trying some more to re-display the users input, so they don't hav eto keep entering the same crap ova & ova.

I would imagine this must be done using sessions given I am not using PHP Self fuction..

Here's what I have that does not work at all :-) This first code is on the process page.
Code: [Select]
<?php

ob_start();
session_start();
$itemDescription=$_POST['itemDescription'];
$itemPrice=$_POST['itemPrice'];
$itemQty=$_POST['itemQty'];
$bidderId=$_POST['bidderId'];
$totalPrice=$_POST['totalPrice'];

mysql_connect("$host", "$db_user", "$db_password")or die("cannot connect to server");
mysql_select_db("$db_name")or die("cannot select DB");

if (isset($bidderId)) {
$totalPrice=$itemQty * $itemPrice;
mysql_query("INSERT INTO transactions (itemDescription, itemPrice, itemQty, bidderId, totalPrice) 
 VALUES('$itemDescription', '$itemPrice', '$itemQty',   '$bidderId', '$totalPrice')")
or die(mysql_error());  
$_SESSION['itemDescription']='$itemDescription'; 
header("Location: attendance.php");

exit();
}

else 
echo "<font face= \"calibri\" size= \"3\" color= \"red\">You have left a field blank, please press your browsers back button. </font>";
 
exit();

ob_end_flush();

?>
Now How do I display the users input back to the form?

Code: [Select]
<?php
session_start(); 
$itemDescription = ""; //item description, default as blank

?>
<form action="record_trans.php" method="post">
<font face= "calibri" size= "4">
<table>

<tr>  <td><b>Item Description:</b></td>
<td><input type= "text" name= "itemDescription" size= "30" value="<?php echo $itemDescription;?>"></td>
</tr>
<tr>   <td><b>Item Price:</b></td>

<td><input type= "text" name= "itemPrice" size= "5" value="<?php echo $itemPrice;?>"> </td>
</tr>
</tr>   <td><b>Winning Bidders:</b></td>
<td><input type="text" name= "bidderId" size= "5" />
</td>
</tr>
<tr>   <td><b>How many deals?:</b></td>
<td><input type="text" name= "itemQty" size= "3" value= "1" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
<br/>
<center><input type="submit" name="submit" value= "Save & Cont."
" /></center>
<center><input type="reset" value="Reset Form"></center>

</form></font>
[code]

ALL SUGGESTIONS WELCOME- Before you leave give me ur take(if you have even a faint idea:-)

Thanks Guys!