PHP Script to search MySQL Database- Need help...

andharbaahar · #1 (**permalink**) 07-21-09, 06:18 AM

Hi All...

I'm working on a website, and one of the pages is an option to search for a particular student. I (modified and) used the following free script I found online, but for some reason, it won't work. I've got two pages- one is the Search form (studentsearch-form.php), and the other is the Search execution code (studentsearch-exec.php).

The code for studentsearch-form.php is:

Code:

<html>

<head>
<title>Searching for a student...</title>
</head>

<body bgcolor=#ffffff>

<h2>Search</h2>

<form name="search" method="post" action="studentsearch-exec.php">
Seach for: <input type="text" name="find" /> in
<Select NAME="field">
<Option VALUE="firstname">First Name</option>
<Option VALUE="lastname">Last Name</option>
<Option VALUE="idnumber">ID Number</option>
</Select>

<input type="submit" name="search" value="Search" />
</form>

</body>

</html>

And the code for the studentsearch-exec.php page is:

Code:


<html>
<head><title>Searching for a student...</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor=#ffffff>

<?php

echo "<h2>Search Results:</h2><p>";

//If they did not enter a search term we give them an error
if ($find == "")
{
echo "<p>You forgot to enter a search term!!!";
exit;
}

// Otherwise we connect to our Database
mysql_connect("localhost", "root", "{MyPassword}") or die(mysql_error());
mysql_select_db("databasename") or die(mysql_error());

// We perform a bit of filtering
$find = strtoupper($find);
$find = strip_tags($find);
$find = trim ($find);

//Now we search for our search term, in the field the user specified
$data = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM tablename WHERE upper($field) LIKE'%$find%'");

//And we display the results
while($result = mysql_fetch_array( $data ))
{
echo $result['firstname'];
echo " ";
echo $result['lastname'];
echo "<br>";
echo $result['idnumber'];
echo "<br>";
echo "<br>";
}

//This counts the number or results - and if there wasn't any it gives them a little message explaining that
$anymatches=mysql_num_rows($data);
if ($anymatches == 0)
{
echo "Sorry, but we can not find an entry to match your query...<br><br>";
}

//And we remind them what they searched for
echo "<b>Searched For:</b> " .$find;
//}
?> 


</body>
</html>

But when I try to execute this, and try out a search term, this is the window that I get:

Quote:

Search Results:

Notice: Undefined variable: find in C:\wamp\www\SWD\studentsearch-exec.php on line 15

You forgot to enter a search term!!!

I've been sitting on this for a few days now, and I'm falling behind schedule. Any help would be appreciated... also, if, as an alternative, you know of a Search script that works, I would appreciate it if you would provide a link to it or share it with me (if it's free, that is...).

Thanks in advance...

.

Tunçay Sanli

therocket954 · #2 (**permalink**) 07-21-09, 07:59 AM

Just taking a quick look.... in your studentsearch-exec.php (before your first IF statement you haven't initialized the $find variable, which is why your IF statement is always returning your result.

You have to tell your script what $find is... like this:

PHP Code:


			
$find = $_POST['find'];