Reading TEXT (not VARCHAR) field from MySQL with PHP not displaying in HTML textarea

Question

I'm trying to create an edit page where data is read from MySQL with PHP and then displayed in HTML. Normal fields like VARCHAR displays correctly, but I have difficulty in displaying TEXT fields.

<?php
    $DATABASE_HOST = '';
    $DATABASE_USER = '';
    $DATABASE_PASS = '';
    $DATABASE_NAME = '';
   
    mysqli_report(MYSQLI_REPORT_ERROR | MYSQLI_REPORT_STRICT);
    $mysqli = mysqli_connect($DATABASE_HOST, $DATABASE_USER, $DATABASE_PASS, $DATABASE_NAME);
    if ( mysqli_connect_errno() ) {
        exit('Failed to connect to MySQL: ' . mysqli_connect_error());
    }
       
    $idjob = $_POST['jobID']; 
    $jobquery = $mysqli->prepare('SELECT * FROM jobs WHERE id = ?');
    $jobquery->bind_param('s', $idjob); // 's' specifies the variable type => 'string'

    $jobquery->execute();

    $jobresult = $jobquery->get_result();
    while ($row = $jobresult->fetch_assoc()) {
        $jobtitle = $row['jobtitle'];
        $workhours = $row['workhours'];
        $type = $row['type']; 
        $availfrom = $row['availfrom'];
        $deadline = $row['deadline'];              
        $customer = $row['customer'];
        $province = $row['province'];
        $town = $row['town'];        
        $minreq = $row['minreq'];
        $posdetails = $row['posdetails'];
        $minsal = $row['minsal'];
        $maxsal = $row['maxsal'];
    }
    mysqli_free_result($jobresult);
    mysqli_close($mysqli);

?>
<!DOCTYPE html>

<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <title>Edit Job Listing</title>
        <link rel="shortcut icon" type="image/jpg" href="images/Logo.jpg">
        <meta charset="UTF-8">
        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0 shrink-to-fit=no">        
        <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=Edge,chrome=1">
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/4.0.0/css/bootstrap.min.css">             
        <link rel="stylesheet" href="../assets/css/style.css" type="text/css"/>
    </head>
    <body id="editjoblisting">
        <!-- Container (About Add New Job Listing Section) -->
        <div id="abouteditnewjob" class="container-fluid bg-grey">
            <div class="row">
                <div class="col-sm-2"></div>
                <div class="col-sm-8">
                    <div class="text-center">
                        <h2> Edit Job Listing </h2>
                    </div>
                </div>
                <div class="col-sm-2"></div>
            </div>
        </div>
        <div class="container-fluid bg-grey">
            <form method="post" id="updedit_form" action="../php/updeditjob.php">
                <div class="form-row">
                    <div class="col-sm-2"></div>
                    <div class="col-sm-4">
                        <div class="form-group">                               
                            <label for="jobtitle"> Job Title</label>
                            <input type="text" class="form-control"  name="jobtitle" value='<?php echo $jobtitle; ?>'>                                              

                            <label for="workhours"> Working Hours</label>                            
                            <input type="text" class="form-control"  name="workhours" value='<?php echo $workhours; ?>'>                            

                            <label for="worktype">Type</label>
                            <select class="form-control"  name="worktype" >
                                <option value='<?php echo $type; ?>' selected><?php echo $type; ?></option>
                                <option>--None--</option>
                                <option>Temporary</option>
                                <option>Permanent</option>                                
                            </select>

                            <label for="availfrom"> Available From</label>                            
                            <input type="date" class="form-control" id="availfrom" name="availfrom" required maxlength="50" value='<?php echo $availfrom; ?>'>                            

                            <label for="deadline"> Application Deadline</label>                            
                            <input type="date" class="form-control" id="deadline" name="deadline" required maxlength="50" value='<?php echo $deadline; ?>'>                            
                        </div>
                    </div>
                    <div class="col-sm-4">
                        <div class="form-group">
                            <label for="minreq">Minimum Requirements</label>
                            <textarea class="form-control" type="textarea" name="minreq" id="minreq" maxlength="6000" rows="5" value='<?php echo $minreq; ?>'></textarea>

                            <label for="posdetails">Position Details</label>
                            <textarea class="form-control" type="textarea" name="posdetails" id="posdetails" maxlength="6000" rows="5" value='<?php echo $posdetails; ?>'></textarea>

                            <label for="minsal"> Minimum Salary</label>                            
                            <input type="text" class="form-control" id="minsal" name="minsal" value='<?php echo $minsal; ?>'>                            

                            <label for="maxsal"> Maximum Salary</label>                            
                            <input type="text" class="form-control" id="maxsal" name="maxsal" value='<?php echo $maxsal; ?>'>                            
                        </div>                        
                    </div>
                    <div class="col-sm-2"></div>                        
                </div>                                                
            </form>
        </div>
    </body>
</html>

This is the data I'm trying to show/edit.

id "251"    
jobid "ID#20101664"
jobtitle "SENIOR CONVEYANCING SECRETARY"    
workhours "Monday - Friday 7:00 - 17:00"    
type "Permanent"    
availfrom "2021-06-07"  
deadline "2021-10-29"       

minreq  
"- Matric Certificate
- Minimum 3 years experience 
- Knowledge in Law programs (Lexis Nexis, Windeed) – Compulsory
- Knowledge of Bonds: Absa, Standard Bank, FNB and Nedbank
- Bilingual (English & Afrikaans)
- Computer literate
- Be accurate and methodical etc.." \N  
minsal "0"  
maxsal "0"

Everything works nicely except minreq which is a TEXT field in MySQL. It is not displayed, yet echo shows that it was retrieved in the $row array.

**Warning!** You're open to [SQL injection attacks](https://owasp.org/www-community/attacks/SQL_Injection)! Read [how to prevent SQL injection in PHP](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/60174/how-can-i-prevent-sql-injection-in-php) by using prepared statements with bound parameters instead of injecting variables directly into your queries. It's not just about security. If your data contains, for example, a single quote `'`, your query will break. — M. Eriksson, Sep 23 '21 at 06:36
HTML textarea does not have `value` - put the text between the tags `` — Honk der Hase, Sep 23 '21 at 06:36
What **exactly** is not working with that single value? What have you tried to resolve the problem? — Nico Haase, Sep 23 '21 at 06:37
_Suggestion:_ Use `mysqli_fetch_assoc()` instead of `mysqli_fetch_array()` and you will be able to fetch the values by their column names (`$row['title']` and so on), which tends to be easier to both read and manage. — M. Eriksson, Sep 23 '21 at 06:39
Use mysqli_fetch_assoc function. It's easier to code as your array keys are the columns names. See docs: https://www.php.net/manual/en/mysqli-result.fetch-assoc.php — Robert, Sep 23 '21 at 06:56
@MagnusEriksson Thank you - I have updated my code to prevent SQL injection — PRossouw, Sep 23 '21 at 07:21
Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. — Community, Sep 30 '21 at 10:22

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 23 '21 at 06:41

1

Try to echo the value between the textarea tags, not in the value attribute:

<textarea class="form-control" type="textarea" name="minreq" id="minreq" maxlength="6000" rows="5"><?php echo $minreq; ?></textarea>

answered Sep 23 '21 at 06:41

Harshit Rastogi

1,996
1
10
19

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 23 '21 at 07:15

0

Please remove the value from inside the text area and write your code like this:

//here is the valid code...this will 100% work.
<textarea class="form-control" type="textarea" name="posdetails" id="posdetails" maxlength="6000" rows="5">
    <?php echo $posdetails; ?>
</textarea>

edited Sep 23 '21 at 07:15

David Buck

3,752
35
31
35

answered Sep 23 '21 at 06:39

Ahsan khan

26
2

If you write HTML in a question or answer, and don't format it as code, it renders as HTML and is unreadable. – David Buck Sep 23 '21 at 07:16

Reading TEXT (not VARCHAR) field from MySQL with PHP not displaying in HTML textarea

2 Answers2