Checkbox processing for subscriptions

Dev Shed Forums Sponsor:

February 14th, 2013, 02:10 PM

ran_dizolph

from the lab...

Dev Shed Intermediate (1500 - 1999 posts)

Join Date: Nov 2004

Location: the land of wind and ghosts

Posts: 1,841

Time spent in forums: 3 Weeks 4 Days 37 m 13 sec
Reputation Power: 559

Checkbox processing for subscriptions

Hey folks,

I'm developing a system that basically allows users to 'subscribe' for various 'divisions' (of which there are around 15).

These are managed via checkboxes through their account, that they can update whenever they feel like.

My question is, is there an efficient way to process their division subscription changes?

There's the 'divisions' table, and a table joining the user to each division via user_id and division_id.

I just don't think that each time the user changes a division there should be a query to cross reference whether they are or are not subscribed, and updating the table based on their checkbox selections (or de-selections) relative to whether they are or are not subscribed already, but I can't really think of how else to handle it.

Any help'd be greatly appreciated!

__________________
Web Design in Windsor Ontario
Recording studio Windsor Ontario
Screen printing, embroidery and suppliers of promotional products
Custom t-shirts

February 14th, 2013, 02:19 PM

gw1500se

Contributing User

Join Date: Jul 2003

Posts: 2,880

Time spent in forums: 1 Year 2 Weeks 2 Days 8 h 3 m 52 sec
Reputation Power: 581

What difference does it make to the update whether or not they are already subscribed? Just update the all current selections without regard to previous selections.

__________________
There are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those that understand binary and those that don't.

February 14th, 2013, 02:24 PM

ran_dizolph

from the lab...

Join Date: Nov 2004

Location: the land of wind and ghosts

Posts: 1,841

Time spent in forums: 3 Weeks 4 Days 37 m 13 sec
Reputation Power: 559

Quote:

Originally Posted by gw1500se

What difference does it make to the update whether or not they are already subscribed? Just update the all current selections without regard to previous selections.

Hmm, I suppose just for adding more subscriptions it wouldn't matter, but if they want to unsubscribe by de-checking a box, that's where it gets a little confusing/resource intensive, at least in my mind.

Thanks!

February 14th, 2013, 02:35 PM

gw1500se

Contributing User

Join Date: Jul 2003

Posts: 2,880

Time spent in forums: 1 Year 2 Weeks 2 Days 8 h 3 m 52 sec
Reputation Power: 581

From a database update perspective it doesn't matter. If you have to take other actions to unsubscribe someone then you would indeed need to check if they are already subscribed but I see no way around that. However, you only need to do 1 query to get the status of all the subscriptions so I don't see any problem with extra overhead from a database standpoint.

February 14th, 2013, 03:34 PM

ran_dizolph

from the lab...

Join Date: Nov 2004

Location: the land of wind and ghosts

Posts: 1,841

Time spent in forums: 3 Weeks 4 Days 37 m 13 sec
Reputation Power: 559

Yeah, I guess if I just put more work into processing/preparing the actual checkbox part of it, the mysql becomes simpler.

Was also thinking of maybe javascript/ajax to just do the work as they check/uncheck each box, rather than submitting the whole form.

February 15th, 2013, 06:51 AM

gw1500se

Contributing User

Join Date: Jul 2003

Posts: 2,880

Time spent in forums: 1 Year 2 Weeks 2 Days 8 h 3 m 52 sec
Reputation Power: 581

I think that would be less efficient as it means more DB transactions. However, unless you are expecting hundreds of transactions per minute I doubt any of your concerns will be worth a lot of effort.

February 15th, 2013, 10:42 AM

ran_dizolph

from the lab...

Join Date: Nov 2004

Location: the land of wind and ghosts

Posts: 1,841

Time spent in forums: 3 Weeks 4 Days 37 m 13 sec
Reputation Power: 559

Thanks for the input thus far. I think I've got a way to do this without javascript, but I'm just a bit unsure of the syntax.

Here's what I'm using for each form field (a common method i've found for processing checked, as well as unchecked form fields):

Code:

<label>Concrete:</label>
<input type="hidden" name="checkbox-5[]" value="0">
<input type="checkbox" name="checkbox-5[]" class="checkbox" value="1" >

The number after the hyphen is the unique ID associated with the division, which is what I actually need to use to either insert OR delete from the db.

Here's what I'm trying to use to either add or delete the division, but it's not working:

PHP Code:


		
			
if(isset($_POST['updateDivisions'])) {



    $checkbox = $_POST['checkbox'];

    $countCheck = count($_POST['checkbox']);



    for($i=0;$i<$countCheck;$i++) {



        $div_id = explode("-", $checkbox) ;

        $div_id = $checkbox[1][$i];



        if($checkbox[$i] == 1) {

        

        $div_insert = "

        INSERT INTO

            user_divisions

            (user, division)

        VALUES

            (

            ".mysql_real_escape_string($_SESSION['user']['user_id'])."

            ,

            ".mysql_real_escape_string($div_id)."

            )

        ";

        $div_result = mysql_query($div_insert);

        /*    

        } else {

            mysql_query("DELETE FROM user_divisions WHERE user = ".mysql_real_escape_string($_SESSION['user']['user_id'])." AND division = ".mysql_real_escape_string($_POST['checkbox'][$i])."") or die() ;

        }

        */

        }

    }

}



// SUCCESS OR FAILURE MESSAGE WILL APPEAR ONCE THIS IS SORTED

Any thoughts?

February 15th, 2013, 11:08 AM

ran_dizolph

from the lab...

Join Date: Nov 2004

Location: the land of wind and ghosts

Posts: 1,841

Time spent in forums: 3 Weeks 4 Days 37 m 13 sec
Reputation Power: 559

Okay, I got this sorted. I was overthinking how to do this.
I ditched the hidden field, and processed it with this:

PHP Code:


		
			
if(isset($_POST['updateDivisions'])) {



    $total_divisions = countDivisions() ;



    for($i=1;$i<=$total_divisions;$i++) {



        if (isset($_POST['checkbox-'.$i.''])) {

            // ADD THE ENTRY

            mysql_query("INSERT INTO user_divisions (user, division) VALUES (".mysql_real_escape_string($_SESSION['user']['user_id']).", ".$i.")") or die();

        } else {

            // DELETE THE ENTRY    

            mysql_query("DELETE FROM user_divisions WHERE user = ".mysql_real_escape_string($_SESSION['user']['user_id'])." AND division = ".$i."") or die();        

        }



    }  

    

}

It'll be cleaned up and return messages based on additions/deletions, but it works.

Thanks for the help thus far!

February 15th, 2013, 11:11 AM

gw1500se

Contributing User

Join Date: Jul 2003

Posts: 2,880

Time spent in forums: 1 Year 2 Weeks 2 Days 8 h 3 m 52 sec
Reputation Power: 581

Now all you have to do is rewrite the database statements to eliminate the deprecated MySQL extensions and use PDO.

#10

February 15th, 2013, 02:46 PM

ran_dizolph

from the lab...

Join Date: Nov 2004

Location: the land of wind and ghosts

Posts: 1,841

Time spent in forums: 3 Weeks 4 Days 37 m 13 sec
Reputation Power: 559

Quote:

Originally Posted by gw1500se

Now all you have to do is rewrite the database statements to eliminate the deprecated MySQL extensions and use PDO.

Had a couple of stabs at PDO on smaller projects, but that's for another day.

Thanks!

Checkbox processing for subscriptions

Developer Shed Advertisers and Affiliates