PHP - Best Practice: Null Vs ' '

I am trying to update the database with isset to set the value of the variable to either null or the value entered by the user. Currently, if no value has been entered null is being set as a string causing the date field to populate with zeros. How do I code it so that it populates or sets the value as null and not as string null?   Here's my code: (yes I know sql injections it's still in development  ) <?php

Until participating and reading this topic, I had though the following code was perfectly fine. I don't claim to even be good at OOP or application design, although I would like to be lol


Anyway, the only functionality regarding google maps polylines I could think of in PHP, was encoding and decoding them, so I placed them in a static class:




<?php
/*
-- Polyline.class.php
@return string (encoded lat/lng)           - polyline::getEncoded(-2.5675, 2.5456);
@return string (encoded lat/lng's)         - polyline::getEncoded(array(-2.5675, 2.5456), array(-2.5675, 2.5456));
@return string (encoded lat/lng's)         - polyline::getEncoded(-2.5675, 2.5456, -2.5675, 2.5456);

@return array  (decoded array(lat, lng)'s) - polyline::getDecoded('zmtn_?_epn_?zmtn_?_epn_?zmtn_?_epn_?');
*/
class Polyline 
{
private static $_calls   = 0;
private static $_lastLat = 0;
private static $_lastLon = 0;
// public accessors
public static function get_encoded()
{
// $encoded to store encoded points
$encoded = '';
$args = func_get_args();
if ( is_array($args[0]) )
{
while ( list($k, $arg) = each($args) )
$encoded .= self::_encode($arg[0]) . self::_encode($arg[1]);
}
else
{
$cnt     = count($args);
if ( !$cnt )
return false;
$i = 0;
while ( $i < $cnt )
$encoded .= self::_encode($args[$i++]);
}
self::$_calls   = 0;
self::$_lastLat = 0;
self::$_lastLon = 0;
return $encoded;
}
public static function get_decoded($str)
{
$points = array();
$lat    = 0;
$lon    = 0;
while (strlen($str))
{
$lat += self::_decode($str);
$lon += self::_decode($str);
$points[] = array($lat * 1e-5, $lon * 1e-5);
}
return $points;
}
// private
private static function _encode($dec)
{
$dec = round($dec * 1e5, 0);
if ( !(self::$_calls % 2) )
{
//lon
if ( self::$_calls >= 2 )
$ndec    = $dec - self::$_lastLon;
self::$_lastLon = $dec;
}
else
{
//lat
if ( self::$_calls >= 2 )
$ndec    = $dec - self::$_lastLat;
self::$_lastLat = $dec;
}
$dec = isset($ndec) ? $ndec : $dec;
$is_neg  = stristr($dec, '-');
$dec   <<= 1;
// invert bits if negative
if ( $is_neg )
$dec = (~$dec);
//0 pad to 32 bits
$dec     = str_pad(sprintf('%b', $dec), 30, '0', STR_PAD_LEFT);
// chunk into 5 char strings and reverse
$dec     = array_reverse(str_split($dec, 5));
// or with 0x20 except last one ( add 63 to each and convert to ascii )
$c = count($dec);
for ( $i = 0; $i < $c; ++$i )
$dec[$i] = (isset($dec[$i+1]) && $dec[$i+1] & 31) ?  ((bindec($dec[$i]) | 32) + 63) : (((bindec($dec[$i])) > 0) ?  bindec($dec[$i]) + 63 : '');
// set times called
self::$_calls++;
return vsprintf('%c%c%c%c%c%c', $dec);
}
private static function _decode(&$str)
{
$shift  = 0;
$result = 0;
$i      = 0;
do { // while ascii($str[$i++]) > ascii([space] " ")
$b       = ord($str[$i++]) - 63;
$result |= ($b & 0x1f) << $shift;
$shift += 5;
} while ($b >= 0x20);
$str = substr($str, $i);
return (($result & 1) ? ~($result >> 1) : ($result >> 1));
}
private function __construct() {}
private function __clone()     {}
}
?>



not that it matters much, since the rest of the application in which this class resides went to design shit, but; is this bad practice in your opinion?

Hi,

(Apologies in advance if this is a total newbie question - if it is, just give me some idea on what I need to search for!)

I have written php code that essentially pulls together multiple records (using mySQL) and displays them in a webpage. The challenge I have now is making the output pretty.

What is the best way to do this?

I have my css file (with several styles in the format below):
Code: [Select]
.textstyle0 {font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;font-size:48px;text-decoration:none;color:#ffffff;}
div.Object50 { position:absolute; padding-right:5px; top:189px; left:92px; z-index:0; text-align:left; width:437px; }

And my html file (that I want to bring in the php output):
Code: [Select]
<div class="Object50"><span class="textstyle0">Q. THIS IS A TEST?<br></span></div>

My php code is sitting in a tidy block:
Code: [Select]
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM tbl_scores WHERE ID=$f_id") or die(mysql_error());
$row = mysql_fetch_array( $result );
$f_score = $row['score'];
$f_freq = $row['freq'];
echo "test" . $f_score;

Do I need to update all my php code with the relevant css tags or can I reference the php? Or do I split up my php code?

Do I leave my php code at the top and store all the values somewhere? Then these get pulled into html?

I guess I am trying to reduce how much of the php coding I need to modify while leaving the flexibility in the design....

mysql_query("INSERT INTO people (company, lname) VALUES ('clean($_POST[Company])', 'clean($_POST['lname'])' ");

using a clean function in the query instead of doing it before hand?

Hi,    I study a php book and every thing is going fine, the problem is that I dont know how to practice what I study...   iv'e searched alot in the internet of exercise and found few but not every thing there is the same as what I study and sometimes they ask me to do things that I dont know yet..   some people saying that you need to think about a project and start building it but I dont have enough knowledge so start build something on my own..   right now I know about if/else, loops, operators, functions and objects, arrays, date and time, and file handling.   so most of the exercise I find involving mysql that I dont know yet.   can someone give me tips maybe how he started to study php?    it will help me alot and im sure it will help to more people.     thakns in advance,   guy.