Check before insert in Database

[Steph]

hello everyone,

I would to know how to check the value I am getting from an HTML form.

Let's put it that way, I need to get a string and I would like to make sure
this is a string and not a number for instance.

What kind of test could I use to check that?

//here is the line where I get the value

$variable = $_POST['value'];

The point is I have to insert the data in an Oracle database. And I would
like to test it before sending the data to the database.

Any advice, please?

[Paul Lautman]

Re: Check before insert in Database

Steph wrote:[color=blue]
> hello everyone,
>
> I would to know how to check the value I am getting from an HTML form.
>
> Let's put it that way, I need to get a string and I would like to
> make sure this is a string and not a number for instance.
>
> What kind of test could I use to check that?
>
> //here is the line where I get the value
>
> $variable = $_POST['value'];
>
> The point is I have to insert the data in an Oracle database. And I
> would like to test it before sending the data to the database.
>
> Any advice, please?[/color]

How are you defining a string and a number? Is 9,999 a number or a string?

[Gordon Burditt]

Re: Check before insert in Database

>I would to know how to check the value I am getting from an HTML form.[color=blue]
>
>Let's put it that way, I need to get a string and I would like to make sure
>this is a string and not a number for instance.[/color]

Everything you get from $_POST is a string. It might also be the
string representation of a number.

Make checks appropriate for the specific data involved. PHP has
all sorts of nice string functions to pick strings apart, to do
regular expression matching, etc. If a serial number is supposed
to be a letter followed by 5 digits, you might match it against
"[A-Za-z][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9]".

is_numeric() checks for a string that could be interpreted as a number.
It allows signs, decimal points, and exponential notation.
[color=blue]
>What kind of test could I use to check that?
>
>//here is the line where I get the value
>
>$variable = $_POST['value'];
>
>The point is I have to insert the data in an Oracle database. And I would
>like to test it before sending the data to the database.[/color]

That's a very good idea, but I don't see what kind of field has restrictions
like "any string that isn't a number".

Gordon L. Burditt

[mattyfroese@gmail.com]

Re: Check before insert in Database

try is_numeric()

http://ca3.php.net/manual/en/function.is-numeric.php

I believe 9,999 will return true aswell

[NC]

Re: Check before insert in Database

Steph wrote:[color=blue]
>
> I would to know how to check the value I am getting from an HTML form.
>
> Let's put it that way, I need to get a string and I would like to make sure
> this is a string and not a number for instance.
>
> What kind of test could I use to check that?[/color]

No test necessary. If you received it via HTTP, it is a string.

Cheers,
NC

[Chirag Shukla]

Re: Check before insert in Database


Steph wrote:[color=blue]
> hello everyone,
>
> I would to know how to check the value I am getting from an HTML form.
>
> Let's put it that way, I need to get a string and I would like to make sure
> this is a string and not a number for instance.
>
> What kind of test could I use to check that?[/color]

is_numeric function is what we should use to first check if the
incoming values are valid or not. If not valid, display error message
or else proceed to check the next variable.