Team selection

Remember, in the portfolio a requirement is a team selection function. It is not described in the tut letter because you need to figure it out yourself (not all can be given!).

To help you. a page is presented that draws information from the fixtures table. It presents the positions as described in the database. You pull the players information from the players db, from where you make your selections.

Now figure that out, and give tips. I will monitor.

Hi Sir,

I have a question: My team selection page does not display different fields ie Wing and Fullback but rather a Position field that pulls position data from the player table.

Is this correct or have I misunderstood ?

Thanks very much.

Yes, that is ideal

hi
please help me, I created a table form local host as mentioned in TUT and I studied from home n learn page.
Now i am trying to read it using all functions on how to read from the local host. I'm using xampp

It display that Database not find on the page.

Am I missing something because i tested form server.
Please help if i did it wrong.

If the db is not found, then it is not found - i.e. the code does not point to it.. add a 'or die' like here under which should provide more information.

Language: PHP
$db_found = mysql_select_db($database) or die(mysql_error());

i understand do we use drop down list

It is better to add a drop-down list to select a player for each position

My submit button is not functioning well in the edit.php page
and to my surprise no error message is displayed.

An error message needs to be added!

Is it compalsory to you a drop down list from team selection?

You decide.

Good morning!
I don't know if i'm wrong but i was thinking having a drop down list for the fixture id and one for each position with a submit button to send the selected data to the database.
That's what i did.The only problem i have is the submit button is sending only data from one position and the fixture_id is always 0,i don't know why but i'm working on it.Hope to find where i'm wrong soon

The fixture id is never selected by the user - it is simply sent (as a hidden field) together with the choice of selected players.

sir i didn't use a drop down list i manually input the team positions in a text field; is this ohk

If people type the position in and they make a typing mistake, then it means there is a data integrity problem. So one should not type a position or a player's name

owk , so could this be the course of my team selection.php page not to link with the fixture.php for selected players that must appear in my public_fixtures.php page,
i`m asking coz i`ve inserted fixture_id in a textbox area instead of hiding it...and the two do not link

You have a fixture. You send the fixture id to the team selection page, because that will allow you to enter (and associate) players selected for that fixture. Thus, you need to link a fixture id to a player id.

On the public fixtures page, you simple echo the results - you have a player id and a fixture id, so you just need to draw the relevant information from the relevant tables. When the player needs to be edited, you still need to send the fixture id (and the player id) to ensure you edit the correct row of the player in the team selection table.

We have a field named position in the list of players. Do have to insert the fields for position created for selection into these field. Second question is if we want to read al three tables do we use join tables statements?

You SHOULD use JOINS... but I also accept it is a steep learning curve - thus I accept nested db statements. It is about developing logic.... This is how one get to understand functions - is there a shorter and better way to code this? Also, the best route is to have position as a row rather than a column.

guys i have a problem , my site works well when i test it on opera and chromi browser but i can't say the same thing for IE browser,what i would like to know is which browser do the mark use when they mark the portfolio ?
cos i cant re due my portfolio from start to support IE too

The browser should not make any difference because PHP is not interpreted by the browser - it just displays the result. If you used JS, which is less reliable across browsers, then that is your choice....

[The fixture id is never selected by the user - it is simply sent (as a hidden field) together with the choice of selected players]
I managed to use the fixture_id directly from the fixtures page to the selection page,now when i select players and submit to the database,only the latest selection is added,everytime i add a selection i have the same latest selection in the database.I don't know what i'm doing wrong he.Here is my insert query:

Language: PHP
<?php
if (isset($_POST[';submit';])){
$id = $_GET[';fixture_id';];
$sql="INSERT INTO selection (fixture_id,point_guard,shooting_guard,small_forward,power_forward,center)VALUES(';$id';,';$pg';,';$sg';,';$sf';,';$pf';,';$center';)";
$qry = mysql_query($sql);
if (!$qry)
  {
  die(';Error: '; . mysql_error($db_handle));
  } 
}           
?>

Any help will be much appreciated

If your form method="POST", then all data, including hidden fields, will be in the $_POST array. -

Language: PHP
$id = $_POST[';fixture_id';];    // ???

Can i add "name" field in the selection table? because position i think is not enough for visitor to know which player was selected for the game!

You can add whatever you want in the table - it is for you to decide. It will all depend on how you see/code it.

Hello MAC
I have turned to numerous coding forums such as stackoverflow (click to see question) with my problem but I can not get a clear answer.
I want to know how would I go abouts getting values selected from MULTIPLE dropdown menus.

Ive been battling away with this:

Ive got a page where I pull names from players specific to their positions in a sport squad.
Example: I will display all the Wings in the squad using a dropdown where a coach can then pick his wing for the game.

There are dropdowns for each different position The aim of the page is to let the coach quickly select his team for a fixture.
Page displayed:


After the coach selected his team he will, select the opponents for which the selected team will play against.

When he clicks submit the selected oppents and players will get stored in two arrays which will get called to display the team selected and their opponents on a new page. (After which it will get uploaded to the DB.)
I am having trouble getting the values from the select list to display on the new page.
I guess I have to do something like this on the new page:

Language: PHP
foreach ($_REQUEST[';opponents';] as $opponents){
            print $opponents;
    echo';<br>';; 
    }

but it is not giving the desired results.

Strangely what gets printed is the variable name from the previous page select menu. Upon further inspection I did a vardump on the new page and it says that $opponenets gets passed a value of string which is the variable name and not the value thereof?

Some of my code looks like this any help would be greatly appreciated.

Language: PHP
if(isset($_POST["submit"]))
{
    foreach ($_REQUEST[';opponents';] as $against){
        var_dump($against);
            print $against;
            echo';<br>';; 
    }
}
else
{
   echo';<h1>Select your Team</h1>';;
   $x = array("THP", "HKR", "LHP", "LH", "FLH"); //players positions gets assigned to x which will be used to query the database 
   echo ';<form name="playerselect" method="post" action="">';;
   //query database with different query after each loop     
   for ($i = 0; sizeof($x) > $i; $i++) 
   {
        //query where position field equeals variable x
        $result = mysql_query("SELECT `name`, `position` FROM `player_info` 
               WHERE `position` = ';$x[$i]';") or die(mysql_error()) ;
        //Gets data from DB and assigns values to arrays below
        while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) 
        {
        $playername[] = $row[';name';];
        $position[] = $row[';position';];
         }
         //print player position
         print $position[0]; 
         echo';<br>';;
         //unset the array so that it is empty for the next query in the new loop
         unset($position); 
         echo ';<select name="players[]" >'; ;
         foreach ($playername as $name )
         {
         //Put playernames relevant to the position in the option element
             echo';<option value="$name" selected="selected">';.$name;';</option>';; 
            echo';<br>';;
          }
          echo';</select>';;
          //unset array so that its contents is empty for the next query in the new loop
          unset($playername); 
          echo';<br>';;
     }

Have a look/post the source code as printed by the browser here - it will help me understand something that you have not posted here.
What do you mean by "variable name from the .... select menu"?

Not sure if I understand your problem correctly, but it seems very simple.
Each dropdown has a name - so you just recover each value from $_POST on the new page in the usual way.

$thp = $_POST['thp']; // where 'thp' is the name of the first dropdown etc.
$hkr = $_POST['hkr'];

etc., and then assign them to your array.

Thank you for the reply MAC
What I meant when I referred to the, "variable name in the...select menu" was that, the array $name is passed to the option elements to display the data which $name holds.

Language: PHP
echo ';<select name="players[]" >'; ;
         foreach ($playername as $name )
         {
         //Put playernames relevant to the position in the option element
             echo';<option value="$name" selected="selected">';.$name;';</option>';; 
            echo';<br>';;
          }

notice the variable $name between the option tags

Here is the output from browser


Now I need to find out which elements of the array $name was selected from the dropdown menu.



I try to do this on the next page using the $_REQUEST super global

Language: PHP
foreach ($_REQUEST[';players';] as $selected_player)
{
            print $selected_player
            echo';<br>';; 
    }

Now the code above should print all the selected players from the previous page but strangely it only prints the arrays actual name, which is $name...?

Ill try to give more info
My logic for the page is this

firstly I declare a variable $x and assign to it the values of the different positions in the team

Language: PHP
$x = array("THP", "HKR", "LHP", "LH", "FLH"); //players positions gets assigned to x which will be used to query the database

Now I use a For loop to loop over however many elements is in the $x array

Language: PHP
for ($i = 0; sizeof($x) > $i; $i++)

Inside the For loop I have a mysql_query which queries the database with the value of variable $x

Language: PHP
//query where position field equeals variable x
        $result = mysql_query("SELECT `name`, `position` FROM `player_info` 
               WHERE `position` = ';$x[$i]';") or die(mysql_error()) ;

Next I use a whileloop to get Data from database and assign it to array

Language: PHP
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) 
        {
        $playername[] = $row[';name';];
        $position[] = $row[';position';];
         }

I then extract the values from the array $playername with a foreach loop as such

Language: PHP
echo ';<select name="players[]" >'; ;
         foreach ($playername as $name )
         {
         //Put playernames relevant to the position in the option element
             echo';<option value="$name" selected="selected">';.$name;';</option>';; 
            echo';<br>';;
          }
          echo';</select>';;

Now a dropdown menu was created for the 1st position in the team.

unset the arrays values so that it is empty for next loop as such

Language: PHP
unset($playername);

The forloop first iteration is completed
The forloop starts again querying the database for players who plays the 2nd position in the team
: and so on

Everything is working perfectly I just need a way to get the values which was selected.....

Yes I got the logic which is ok..

Have a look at your page source - $name IS the value that is passed instead of the person's name i.e. in the page source it should be Oliver, for example, and not $name

Each person has their own preference - I prefer to type it as follows:

Language: PHP
echo "<option value=\"$name\" selected=\"selected\">".$name;"</option>"; 
 
// in the page source then Oliver is the value 
 
<select name="players[]" ><option value="Oliver" selected="selected">Oliver

Close correctly using an closing </option)! Why each option selected?

<option value="$name" should contain the actual players name, otherwise the returned value will literally be $name.
Using a PHP variable in an HTML statement ?

You are preselecting all the options with selected="selected". Should only preselect one option per dropdown ?
(And have not enabled multiple selections).

<select name="players[]"> - Same for each dropdown ?
Should it not be "players[1]" "players[2]" etc.?


Edit: Sorry, Prof Mac reply had not been posted when I started.

I can fails if i did not comment my code? knowing that my application is working perfectly. and if i must comment my code how i must do it? line by line or page by page? the exams is just in the corner...

No, you cannot fail but we award marks for commenting. See the tut on how to comment.

sorry for late replys internet issues.but thanks alot for help my fixture.php is perfect now the fixture_id was the trick and I`m done with the portfolio now....

In my team_selection page, i have 4 arrays. I read the database,then check every row's position and assign it to the relevant array(goalkeepers,defenders,midfielders,strikers). From the arrays, i create checkboxes with the names from the arrays. There is too much coding,but i guess the logic count.

Hi there MAC
Just a quick one regarding my team selection page


My team is displayed in a dropdown menu. With a different dropdown menu for each different position.
Now the coach selects his team
He then selects the opponents against whom the selected team will play
He then clicks submit
When he clicks submit the isset() function is triggered which will upload the selected team to the selected_team table in my db

Ok that is easy enough and it is working. Here is my problem, lets say the coach wants to change his selection for a certain fixture. He then goes to the selection page again and redo the whole process described above. But what now happens is that the same fixture_id for opponents is uploaded to the database (only with different playernames where he changed his selection) thus creating duplicate entries.
Here is an example


Notice in above example that the 1st selection still remains. The second selection gets added below the first selection instead of replaicing the 1st selection. Thus creating duplicate entries
So my question is
How do I replace data in my table if duplicate entries are found?

Then one more question

What is the assestment criteria for the portfolio
Will points be awarded for the look and feel of your site?
Or is it purely based on the PHP code?
Thank you

An update should draw the current data from the table, which is then updated using the selection_id - not re-inserted. We mark the PHP code - not the look.

You need to use UPDATE and not INSERT.

If your entries have different Primary Keys (Auto increment ?), then mySQL will not consider them to be duplicates.
You will need to DELETE them manually.

Selection_id with an attribute of auto increment is the PK because that is what it said we must do in the tut. Can I change my PK in the above table to fixture_id which will make much more sense. Unless im completely missing something
Thank you bigron & mac for the replies

The Primary Key must be unique for each row.
Using fixture_id will not give you a unique PK for each row,

Using the selection_id you are ensured that you are updating the correct row. There should just be one row of information for Jannie Duplessus with the fixture id 6 - not two. He can only be selected in one position for this fixture. It is possible that you can have two players with the same name and surname - so you need something "else" to ensure you are drawing and updating the correct person, and that is what the selection_id provides you with.

DOH! That makes sense.

Thank you MAC.