Simplify MySQL INSERT query

Question

Is there a way to simplify the code below? I want to simplify it, but I don't know if it is possible.

In the table below, I insert data which will end up in a MySQL table.

HTML

<table border="0">
 <tr>
 <td align="center">Dată / Interval orar</td>
 <td align="center">Denumire</td>
 <td align="center">Moderatori</td>
 <td align="center">Detalii</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td align="center"><input name="DataInterval1" type="text" id="DataInterval1"></td>
 <td align="center"><input name="Denumire1" type="text" id="Denumire1"></td>
 <td align="center"><input name="Moderatori1" type="text" id="Moderatori1"></td>
 <td align="center"><input name="Detalii1" type="text" id="Detalii1"></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td align="center"><input name="DataInterval2" type="text" id="DataInterval2"></td>
 <td align="center"><input name="Denumire2" type="text" id="Denumire2"></td>
 <td align="center"><input name="Moderatori2" type="text" id="Moderatori2"></td>
 <td align="center"><input name="Detalii2" type="text" id="Detalii2"></td>
 </tr>
 ...
 <tr>
 <td align="center"><input name="DataIntervaln" type="text" id="DataIntervaln"></td>
 <td align="center"><input name="Denumiren" type="text" id="Denumiren"></td>
 <td align="center"><input name="Moderatorin" type="text" id="Moderatorin"></td>
 <td align="center"><input name="Detaliin" type="text" id="Detaliin"></td>
 </tr>
</table>

Part of the PHP code that I want to simplify:

$DataInterval1=$_POST['DataInterval1'];
$Denumire1=$_POST['Denumire1'];
$Moderatori1=$_POST['Moderatori1'];
$Detalii1=$_POST['Detalii1']; 
$DataInterval2=$_POST['DataInterval2'];
$Denumire2=$_POST['Denumire2'];
$Moderatori2=$_POST['Moderatori2'];
$Detalii2=$_POST['Detalii2'];
...
$DataIntervaln=$_POST['DataIntervaln'];
$Denumiren=$_POST['Denumiren'];
$Moderatorin=$_POST['Moderatorin'];
$Detaliin=$_POST['Detaliin']; 
// Insert data into mysql
$sql="INSERT INTO tabel (DataInterval, Denumire, Moderatori, Detalii)VALUES
('".$DataInterval1."', '".$Denumire1."', '".$Moderatori1."', '".$Detalii1."'),
('".$DataInterval2."', '".$Denumire2."', '".$Moderatori2."', '".$Detalii2."'),
... 
('".$DataIntervaln."', '".$Denumiren."', '".$Moderatorin."', '".$Detaliin."')";
$result=mysql_query($sql);

• shmuli: The mysql extension has been deprecated; no longer in active development, and no longer supported in php5.5x. Using the old mysql extension will make your code less future proof. Look into PDO and mysqli (-mysql "improved" extension) and also take advantage of their support for OOP.

Answer 1

Use indexing in HTML name attributes

<table>
 <tr>
 <td>Dată / Interval orar</td>
 <td>Denumire</td>
 <td>Moderatori</td>
 <td>Detalii</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td><input name="DataInterval[0]" type="text" id="DataInterval1"></td>
 <td><input name="Denumire[0]" type="text" id="Denumire1"></td>
 <td><input name="Moderatori[0]" type="text" id="Moderatori1"></td>
 <td><input name="Detalii[0]" type="text" id="Detalii1"></td>
 </tr>
 ...
 <tr>
 <td><input name="DataInterval[n]" type="text" id="DataIntervaln"></td>
 <td><input name="Denumire[n]" type="text" id="Denumiren"></td>
 <td><input name="Moderatori[n]" type="text" id="Moderatorin"></td>
 <td><input name="Detalii[n]" type="text" id="Detaliin"></td>
 </tr>
</table>

Use the indexing on the server side

<?php
$data = array();
foreach ($_POST["DataInterval"] as $index => $value) {
 $data[] = array(
 "DataInterval" => $_POST["DataInterval"][$index],
 "Denumire" => $_POST["Denumire"][$index],
 "Moderatori" => $_POST["Moderatori"][$index],
 "Detalii" => $_POST["Detalii"][$index],
 );
}

After this you only have to iterate throught the $data array and execute paramtrized INSERT SQL commands.

• do not use old mysql lib
• learn about PDO and prepared statements

• ion voinescu: no i don't know the rest...

Answer 2

I use this function:

 function InsertToTable($table, $data) {
 $total = count($data);
 $sql = "INSERT INTO `$table` (";
 $runs = 0;
 foreach($data as $name => $value) {
 $runs++;
 $sql .= "`$name`";
 if($runs != $total) {
 $sql .= ',';
 }
 }
 $sql .= ') VALUES(';
 $runs = 0;
 foreach($data as $name => $value) {
 $runs++;
 $sql .= "'$value'";
 if($runs != $total) {
 $sql .= ',';
 }
 }
 $sql .= ')';
 if(mysql_query($sql)) {
 return true;
 } else {
 return false;
 }
 }

And then you have an array with the data, like so:

 // columns to insert (array)
 // like this:
 // 'NAME_OF_FIELD_IN_TABLE' => 'CONTENT (i.e. the $_POST['field'] value)'
 $columnsToInsert = array(
 $DataInterval1 => $_POST['DataInterval1'],
 $Denumire1 => $_POST['Denumire1'],
 $Moderatori1 => $_POST['Moderatori1'],
 );
 if(InsertToTable('tabel', $columnsToInsert)) {
 echo 'Hurray! Success';
 } else {
 echo 'An error happend :(';
 }

Hope it solves your question.

• ion voinescu: This is in conjunction with what Peter Kiss wrote?