In: Categories » Computers and technology » Programming » Modifying an Employee in the Database
The DateFormat() function around the DateOfBirth column in the codereturns the employee’s birth date reformatted according to a display mask. DateOfBirth normally comes back from the database in the following format:
2002-01-01 00:00:00.0
That format is not very user-friendly. Calling DateFormat() with a mask of “mm/dd/yyyy” returns the date as follows:
01/01/2002
This version is, of course, more natural and easy to read.
The same is true for the employee edit process. Before the user can edit an employee record, he must enter the SSN of the employee that he wants to edit. EmployeeGetEditForm.cfm is nearly identical in behavior to CompanyGetEditForm.cfm. Create a file named EmployeeGetEditForm.cfm inside the Ch02 directory, type the code into the file’s editing window, and save the file.
<html> <head> <title>ColdFusion MX Bible</title> <link rel=”stylesheet” href=”styles.css”> </head> <body> <h1>Edit an Employee</h1> <table> <cfform action=”EmployeeEditForm.cfm” method=”POST”> <tr> <td>SSN</td> <td> <cfinput type=”Text” name=”SSN” message=”Please enter the SSN” validate=”social_security_number” required=”Yes” size=”12” maxlength=”11”> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td> <input type=”submit” value=”Get Employee”> </td> </tr> </cfform> </table> </body> </html>
The employee edit form combines a number of techniques that you’ve learned so far, such as creating a query to retrieve a record from the database, pre-populating form fields with the data from that record, and so on. Create a file named EmployeeEditForm.cfm inside the Ch02 directory, type the code into the file’s editing window, and save the file.
<cfquery name=”GetEmployee” datasource=”#Request.MainDSN#”> SELECT CompanyID, SSN, Firstname, Lastname, Salary, DateOfBirth FROM Employee WHERE SSN = ‘#Trim(SSN)#’ </cfquery> <cfquery name=”GetCompanies” datasource=”#Request.MainDSN#”> SELECT CompanyID, CompanyName FROM Company ORDER BY CompanyName </cfquery> <html> <head> <title>ColdFusion MX Bible</title> <link rel=”stylesheet” href=”styles.css”> </head> <body> <h1>Edit an Employee</h1> <table> <cfform action=”EmployeeEditAction.cfm” method=”POST”> <cfoutput> <input type=”hidden” name=”OldSSN” value=”#SSN#”> </cfoutput>
<tr> <td>Company</td> <td> <cfselect name=”CompanyID” size=”1” selected=”#GetEmployee.CompanyID#” message=”Please select a Company.” query=”GetCompanies” value=”CompanyID” display=”CompanyName” required=”Yes”></cfselect> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>SSN</td> <td> <cfinput type=”Text” name=”SSN” value=”#GetEmployee.SSN#” message=”Please enter the employee’s Social Security Number.” validate=”social_security_number” required=”Yes” size=”12” maxlength=”11”> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>First Name</td> <td> <cfinput type=”Text” name=”Firstname” value=”#GetEmployee.Firstname#” message=”Please enter the employee’s first name.” required=”Yes” size=”22” maxlength=”20”> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Last Name</td> <td> <cfinput type=”Text” name=”Lastname” value=”#GetEmployee.Lastname#” message=”Please enter the employee’s last name.” required=”Yes” size=”22” maxlength=”20”> </td> </tr> <tr>
<td>Salary</td> <td> <cfinput type=”Text” name=”Salary” value=”#GetEmployee.Salary#” message=”Please enter a valid salary.” validate=”float” required=”Yes” size=”22” maxlength=”20”> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>DOB</td> <td> <cfinput type=”Text” name=”DateOfBirth” value=”#DateFormat(GetEmployee.DateOfBirth, ‘mm/dd/yyyy’)#” message=”Please enter a valid date of birth in the format mm/dd/yyyy” validate=”date” required=”Yes” size=”11” maxlength=”10”> </td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td> <input type=”submit” value=”Update Database”> </td> </tr> </cfform> </table> </body> </html>
Two calls to CFQUERY are on this page. GetEmployee populates the employee edit form with the employee record, and GetCompanies populates the CFSELECT menu with the list of companies. As you move down the template, you should see the CFFORM tag and then a hidden form field named OldSSN. Remember that, on the company edit form, the CompanyID wasn’t editable, so you could just pass the ID through to the action page. On the employee edit form, however, you must pass both the current SSN value (in the OldSSN hidden form field) and the new SSN value (in the SSN CFINPUT) to the action page. We need both the old and new values of SSN because changing its value requires you to use the old value (what’s currently in the database) in the action template’s WHERE clause and the new value (what the user has changed) in its SET clause.As in CompanyEditForm.cfm, each CFINPUT tag in this template has a Value attribute that populates the form field with the value retrieved from the query. CFSELECT’s Selected attribute tells ColdFusion which item to select in the select menu as the form is initially displayed to the user. After the employee edit form, the employee edit action template is a welcome reprieve. Create a file named EmployeeEditAction.cfm inside the Ch02 directory, type the code into the file’s editing window, and save the file.
<cfquery name=”UpdateEmployee” datasource=”#Request.MainDSN#”> UPDATE Employee SET SSN = ‘#Trim(Form.SSN)#’, CompanyID = #Val(Form.CompanyID)#, Firstname = ‘#Trim(Form.Firstname)#’, Lastname = ‘#Trim(Form.Lastname)#’, Salary = #Val(Form.Salary)#, DateOfBirth = #CreateODBCDate(Form.DateOfBirth)# WHERE SSN = ‘#Trim(Form.OldSSN)#’ </cfquery> <cflocation url=”Finished.cfm?msg=#URLEncodedFormat(‘#Form.FirstName# #Form.Lastname# has been updated in the database.’)#”>
Point your Web browser to http://<yourserver>/CFMXBible/Ch02/EmployeeGet EditForm.cfm. Enter the SSN of an employee currently in the database and click Submit. To get a valid SSN pick one from the employee list. Change a few values on the edit form and click Submit. Then go back to the employee list and make sure that the employee record was changed. (You may need to click Refresh.) If everything doesn’t work perfectly, check the files that you created against their respective listings.
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