Postdata not inserted into the updated table in mysql database in magento

Question

I have a issue with inserting data into the Magento mysql database.

I wanted to create a new column (howyouheard) in the existing database in Magento. The column is to take the values from customers about how they heard about my store. I created a front end HTML form which posts data using a php function. Find the function which does that below

public function createPostAction()
{
 $session = $this->_getSession();
 if ($session->isLoggedIn()) {
 $this->_redirect('*/*/');
 return;
 }
 $session->setEscapeMessages(true); // prevent XSS injection in user input
 if ($this->getRequest()->isPost()) {
 $errors = array();
 if (!$customer = Mage::registry('current_customer')) {
 $customer = Mage::getModel('customer/customer')->setId(null);
 }
 $data = $this->_filterPostData($this->getRequest()->getPost());
 foreach (Mage::getConfig()->getFieldset('customer_account') as $code=>$node) {
 if ($node->is('create') && isset($data[$code])) {
 if ($code == 'email') {
 $data[$code] = trim($data[$code]);
 }
 $customer->setData($code, trim($data[$code]));
 $customer->setData('howyouheard', trim($data['howyouheard']));
 }
 }
 if ($this->getRequest()->getParam('is_subscribed', false)) {
 $customer->setIsSubscribed(1);
 }
 /**
 * Initialize customer group id
 */
 $customer->getGroupId();
 if ($this->getRequest()->getPost('create_address')) {
 $address = Mage::getModel('customer/address')
 ->setData($this->getRequest()->getPost())
 ->setIsDefaultBilling($this->getRequest()->getParam('default_billing', false))
 ->setIsDefaultShipping($this->getRequest()->getParam('default_shipping', false))
 ->setId(null);
 $customer->addAddress($address);
 $errors = $address->validate();
 if (!is_array($errors)) {
 $errors = array();
 }
 }
 try {
 $validationCustomer = $customer->validate();
 if (is_array($validationCustomer)) {
 $errors = array_merge($validationCustomer, $errors);
 }
 $validationResult = count($errors) == 0;
 if (true === $validationResult) {
 $customer->save();
 Mage::log($customer, null, 'howyouheard_customer.log');
 Mage::dispatchEvent('customer_register_success',
 array('account_controller' => $this, 'customer' => $customer)
 );
 if ($customer->isConfirmationRequired()) {
 $customer->sendNewAccountEmail('confirmation', $session->getBeforeAuthUrl());
 $session->addSuccess($this->__('Account confirmation is required. Please, check your email for the confirmation link. To resend the confirmation email please <a href="%s">click here</a>.', Mage::helper('customer')->getEmailConfirmationUrl($customer->getEmail())));
 $this->_redirectSuccess(Mage::getUrl('*/*/edit', array('_secure'=>true)));
 return;
 }
 else {
 $session->setCustomerAsLoggedIn($customer);
 $url = $this->_welcomeCustomer($customer);
 $this->_redirectSuccess($url);
 return;
 }
 } else {
 $session->setCustomerFormData($this->getRequest()->getPost());
 if (is_array($errors)) {
 foreach ($errors as $errorMessage) {
 $session->addError($errorMessage);
 }
 }
 else {
 $session->addError($this->__('Invalid customer data'));
 }
 }
 }
 catch (Mage_Core_Exception $e) {
 $session->setCustomerFormData($this->getRequest()->getPost());
 if ($e->getCode() === Mage_Customer_Model_Customer::EXCEPTION_EMAIL_EXISTS) {
 $url = Mage::getUrl('customer/account/forgotpassword');
 $message = $this->__('There is already an account with this email address. If you are sure that it is your email address, <a href="%s">click here</a> to get your password and access your account.', $url);
 $session->setEscapeMessages(false);
 }
 else {
 $message = $e->getMessage();
 }
 $session->addError($message);
 }
 catch (Exception $e) {
 $session->setCustomerFormData($this->getRequest()->getPost())
 ->addException($e, $this->__('Cannot save the customer.'));
 }
 }
 $this->_redirectError(Mage::getUrl('customer/account/create', array('_secure' => true)));
}

Everything is posted apart from "howyouheard" input. The output of the log file that I created using Mage::log($customer, null, 'howyouheard_customer.log') function shows that I am getting my post data to this php file.

Also find below the code that I used for creating a new column in the existing database

<?php
$installer = $this;
$installer->startSetup();
$installer->getConnection()->addColumn(
 $installer->getTable('customer_entity_grid'),
 'howyouheard',
 array(
 'type' => Varien_Db_Ddl_Table::TYPE_TEXT,
 'length' => 255,
 'nullable' => true,
 'default' => NULL,
 'comment' => 'How you heard about us'
 )
);
$installer->endSetup();
?> 

I also added the new version number in the XML file and ran the script, it created a new column in the existing database with null values as default. So basically the database is modified, front end has no issues, I am getting the post data but it doesn't insert into the database.

Can someone help me out with this issue?

Answer 1

I have same issue 2 days ago then after research I come to know magento store some database table structure in var/cache so delete var/cache folder or Flush cache storage option in cache managment and may be you see updates in database

Hope this will help you

• AntiVirus: Hey thanks for your reply @murtuza, I did try doing that too but it didn't work. Can you suggest me anything else?