XAMPP not carrying out my php script or mysql queries

Question

Working through Head First PHP & MySQL as a newbie.

I first had EasyPHP installed and managed to get php using the $_POST array and echoing nicely the html form input, but then the mail() function wouldn't work. Did some googling and found that I needed a smtp server, so then I uninstalled EasyPHP and installed XAMPP. I put my html and php files in the htdocs folder. The html form works but the php generates a page showing the code of the php rather than the the data held in the $_POST array. I have had no success with the sql INSERT query either.

I have also tried the code provided by the online answers to the book - no joy.

I have made sure that the Apache and MySQL servers are running. I have also successfully used phpMyAdmin. So it seems these modules are working OK - just nothing I've written.

I also uninstalled XAMPP and installed the latest Apache and MySQL servers following the book's instructions to the letter - again no joy.

I have checked for loitering folders and cleaned the registry between each uninstall and reinstall.

I'm on windows 7 home premium 32bit.

Here's my html:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
    <head>
        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css" /> 
    </head>
    <body>
        <h1>Share your story of alien abduction:</h1>
        <form method="post" action ="report.php">
            <label for="firstname">First name:</label>
            <input type="text" id = "firstname" name="firstname" /><br/>

            <label for="lastname">Last name:</label>
            <input type="text" id = "lastname" name="lastname"/><br/>

            <label for"email">What is your email address?</label>
            <input type "text" id = "email" name="email"/><br/>

            <label for="when">When did it happen?</label>
            <input type "text" id="when" name="when"/><br/>

            <label for="howlong">How long were you gone?</label>
            <input type="text" id="howlong" name="howlong"/><br/>

            <label for="howmany">How many did you see?</label>
            <input type = "text" id="howmany" name="howmany"/><br/>

            <label for="describe">Describe them:</label>
            <input type="text" id="describe" name="describe"/><br/>

            <label for="whattheydid">What did they do to you?</label>
            <input type="text" id="whattheydid" name="whattheydid"/><br/>

            <label for="fangspotted">Have you seen my dog Fang?</label>

            Yes <input type="radio" id="fangspotted" name="fangspotted" value="yes" />
            No <input type="radio" id="fangspotted" name="fangspotted" value="no" /><br />

            <img src="fang.jpg" width="100" height="175"><br/>

            <label for="other">Any other info then?</label>
            <textarea name="other"></textarea><br />

            <input type="submit" value="Send the skinny" name="submit" />
        </form>
    </body>
</html>

And here's my php:

<html>
    <head>
        <title>Aliens abducted me - Report an abduction</title>
    </head>
    <body>

    <h2>Aliens abducted me - Report an abduction</h2>

<?php

    $first_name = $_POST['firstname'];
    $last_name = $_POST['lastname'];
    $email = $_POST['email'];
    $when = $_POST['when'];
    $how_long = $_POST['howlong'];
    $how_many = $_POST['howmany'];
    $describe = $_POST['describe'];
    $what_they_did = $_POST['whattheydid'];
    $fang_spotted = $_POST['fangspotted'];
    $other = $_POST['other'];

    $dbc = mysqli_connect('localhost', 'root', '', 'aliendatabase');

    $query = "INSERT INTO aliens_abduction (first_name, last_name, when, how_long, " . 
    "how_many, description, what_they_did, fang_spotted, other, email) " . 
    "VALUES ('$first_name', '$last_name', '$when', '$how_long', '$how_many', " . 
    "'$describe', '$what_they_did', '$fang_spotted', '$other', '$email')";

    $result = mysqli_query($dbc, $query)
    or die ('Its fornicated');

    mysql_close($dbc);

    echo 'Thanks for submitting the form ' . $first_name . ' ' . $last_name . '.<br />';
    echo 'You were abducted ' . $when;
    echo ' by ' . $how_many . ' aliens';
    echo ' and were gone for ' . $how_long . '<br />';
    echo 'You described them like this:  ' . $describe . '<br />';
    echo 'Was fang there? ' . $fang_spotted . '<br />';
    echo 'Your email address is: ' . $email;

?>
    </body>
</html>

Please note I'm new here and will not take offence at advice on how to ask the question better!

Thanks in advance.

That should work -- provided the files are named properly (.php). — Félix Saparelli
That's what I thought - but I feel like there must be big holes in my knowledge about setting up test servers - but then the xampp site doesn't indicate that I need to know anything - and I have followed all their instructions ever so carefully. — Simon Jackson
Unix, Linux, BSD... it was really meant as a kinda joke, but these systems typically run servers much better than XAMPP on Windows does. Probably overkill, though. — Félix Saparelli

dynamic dynamic · Accepted Answer · 2011-05-25T18:13:12

First of all you don't need a SMTP server to run PHP
Second: if phpMyAdmin is working fine and your PHP script aren't then most likely is because you are placing the PHP file in the wrong directory, or there are some issue wiht apache virtual host.
Third but I believe is impossible that you did this wrong considering all the code your wrote check your files extension to be .php

XAMPP not carrying out my php script or mysql queries

2 Answers