How to Build a Search Form with Multiple Search Parameters in PHP?

Search Form with One or More (Multiple) Parameters

Problem:

You have a search form that allows users to input multiple search parameters, such as student ID, name, major, or college. You want to be able to search for students using any combination of these parameters.

Answer:

To enable searching with multiple parameters, dynamically build the SQL WHERE clause based on the parameters entered by the user.

Solution:

1. Use PHP's PDO (Preferred Method):

   • Create an array to hold the WHERE conditions.
   • Iterate through each search parameter and add a corresponding WHERE condition to the array.
   • Implode the array to create a single WHERE clause.
   • Prepare and execute a PDO statement using the WHERE clause and bind the parameters.

   $wheres = [];
   $params = [];
   if (!empty($_GET['id'])) {
       $wheres[] = 'a.uid = :uid';
       $params[':uid'] = $_GET['id'];
   }
   if (!empty($_GET['major'])) {
       $wheres[] = 'a.major = :major';
       $params[':major'] = $_GET['major'];
   }
   if (!empty($_GET['name'])) {
       $wheres[] = 'b.name LIKE :name';
       $params[':name'] = '%'.$_GET['name'].'%';
   }
   // ...continue for additional parameters
   
   $sql = "SELECT * FROM user_details AS a JOIN user AS b ON a.uid = b.id";
   if (!empty($wheres)) {
       $sql .= " WHERE " . implode(' AND ', $wheres);
   }
   $stmt = $db->prepare($sql);
   $stmt->execute($params);

2. Modify Existing MySQLi Approach:

   • Check for each non-empty parameter and append a corresponding WHERE condition to the SQL query.
   • Use AND to combine the conditions.

   $sql = "SELECT * FROM user_details a, user b WHERE a.uid = b.id";
   if (!empty($_GET['id'])) {
       $sql .= " AND a.uid = '" . $_GET['id'] . "'";
   }
   if (!empty($_GET['major'])) {
       $sql .= " AND a.major = '" . $_GET['major'] . "'";
   }
   if (!empty($_GET['name'])) {
       $sql .= " AND b.name LIKE '%" . $_GET['name'] . "%'";
   }
   // ...continue for additional parameters
   
   $result = mysqli_query($db, $sql);

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