Update of data using PHP truncates text data

[jej1216]

I have a series of HTML and PHP pages for an Incident Reporting system. The page I use to enter initial data works, and data is inserted into a MySQL DB. The data is mostly text, many with spaces.

The PHP page that I use to select the data from a previously entered Incident report also works, displaying the data including text with spaces.

Here is the issue: The PHP page that I wrote to update the DB truncates all text data that has a space that is a dropdown field. Text that is in a text field is not affected.

Here is some of my code:

The html page that creates the report has this code (for an example) and it creates the data correctly.

Severity of Incident:
<select name="severity" size="1">
<option value="">Select a Severity Option</option>
<option value="Level1 - No Obvious Harm">Level 1 - No Obvious Harm</option>
<option value="Level2 - Non-permanent Harm">Level 2 - Non-permanent Harm</option>
<option value="Level3 - Semi-permanent Harm">Level 3 - Semi-permanent Harm</option>
<option value="Level4 - Major Permanent Harm">Level 4 - Major Permanent Harm</option>
<option value="Level5 - Death">Level 5 - Death</option>
</select>

---------
The edit php code does this:
php displays the data from:

$sev=$myrow["severity"]; 

and passes this:

<select name="severity" size="1">

<?php echo "<option value = ".$sev.">".$sev."</option>"; ?>
<option value="Level1 - No Obvious Harm">Level 1 - No Obvious Harm</option>
<option value="Level2 - Non-permanent Harm">Level 2 - Non-permanent Harm</option>
<option value="Level3 - Semi-permanent Harm">Level 3 - Semi-permanent Harm</option>
<option value="Level4 - Major Permanent Harm">Level 4 - Major Permanent Harm</option>
<option value="Level5 - Death">Level 5 - Death</option>
</select>

and it truncates at first space in the DB "Level2".

BUT if you re-select it, then it goes into the DB without truncating. "Level2 - Non-permananet Harm"

It truncates the $sev data, if that makes sense.

I think the crux of the issue is that I am saying to update all fields, and when no change is made, the drop-down text data gets truncated.

I have tried wrapping $sev with single or double quotes but that just causes a PHP error. Is it a case where I have to somehow have it compare field by field and only update the changed fields?

Another issue - My PHP Page for updating the DB now shows not only the choices for the drop-down text that are legitimate, but it additionally shows the selected value from the DB.

Level2 - Non-permanent Harm <-------------- from the select page of previously entered data
Level1 - No Obvious Harm
Level2 - Non-permanent Harm
Level3 - Semi-permanent Harm
Level4 - Major Permanent Harm
Level5 - Death

The only solutions I can think of are:
* Don't use Drop-down text fields (not a good choice - there are about 15 drop-downs on the form)
* Replace all spaces in the drop-downs with underscores (ugly)
* Don't use text values in drop-downs that contain spaces at all but pass number values instead (not user friendly)
* Update only the fields that get changed (how?!?)

TIA,

jej1216

[vinyl-junkie]

I don't know exactly what you're trying to do, but I think you should use a code value for your dropdown, like so:

<option value="">Select a Severity Option</option>
<option value="1">Level 1 - No Obvious Harm</option>
<option value="2">Level 2 - Non-permanent Harm</option>
<option value="3">Level 3 - Semi-permanent Harm</option>
<option value="4">Level 4 - Major Permanent Harm</option>
<option value="5">Level 5 - Death</option>

So you actually store a 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 in your database. Then use a code description table that translates the values 1 thru 5 to their corresponding descriptions.

[jthayne]

Sounds to me like it is an issue in the database. The code looks fine to me. There are two things I would check. First, verify the field type in the database and make sure it is set to allow more than 6 characters. Second, double-check the insert/update query and make sure your quotes are in the right place. Make sure that any strings in the formatted query are surrounded by single quotes.

[Maldrex]

Check what you get in post (print_r($_POST), check what you have in DB. Maybe you have too small cell size in bd.

Or use digital ID - it true.