The Perfect Job - Part 1

The Devil Is In The Details

The script "job_details.php" is designed to accept a particular job code, connect to the database, and print details such as qualifications and responsibilities for that job. It also includes a link to the job application form, should the user be interested in applying for the job.

<?      
// job_details.php - display job details      
     
// includes      
     
// check for missing parameters      
if (!$jcode || $jcode == "")      
{      
header("Location:error.php");      
exit;      
}      
     
// open connection to database      
$connection = mysql_connect($hostname, $user, $pass) or die ("Unable      
to connect!");      
     
// get job details      
// use a join to get data from different tables      
$query = "SELECT listing.designation, listing.jcode,      
department.department, location.location, salary.salary,      
listing.responsibilities, listing.qualifications, listing.cname,      
listing.cmail, listing.posted from department, listing, location,      
salary WHERE department.id = listing.fk_department AND location.id =      
listing.fk_location AND salary.id =      
listing.fk_salary AND listing.jcode = '$jcode'";      
$result = mysql_db_query($database, $query, $connection) or die ("Error in      
query: $query. " . mysql_error());      
     
// error check      
if (mysql_num_rows($result) <= 0)      
{      
header("Location:error.php");      
exit;      
}      
else      
{      
// obtain data from resultset      
list($designation, $jcode, $department, $location, $salary,      
$description, $qualification, $cname, $cmail, $posted) =      
mysql_fetch_row($result);      
     
// clean up      
mysql_close($connection);      
?>      
     
<!-- snip -->      
     
<!-- print job details -->      
<b>Designation:</b> <? echo $designation; ?>      
<p>      
<b>Department:</b> <? echo $department; ?>      
<p>      
     
<!-- snip -->      
     
     
<b>Posted on:</b> <? echo fixDate($posted); ?>      
<p>      
<!-- link to application form -->      
<a href="apply.php?jcode=<? echo $jcode; ?>">Apply online</a> for this      
job, or <a href="job_list.php">return to job listings</a>      
     
<!-- snip -->      
     
<?      
}      
?>

The first thing this script does is check to ensure that it has been passed a job code, via the URL GET method. If this job code is absent, control is transferred to the generic error handler via HTTP redirection and the header() function.

Assuming a job code is present, the next thing to do is ensure that it is valid, and that there does exist such a job in the database. A query is executed to obtain a complete job description (by joining the "listing" table to other ancillary tables via foreign keys). If the query returns a value, the information is printed; if not, the error handler is invoked again.

The list() function is used to separate the various elements of the returned row and assign them to regular variables; these are then printed in the appropriate places. At the end, a link to the "apply.php" script takes the user to the application form, again using the job code as identifier.

Note the fixDate() function - it is used to turn mySQL's DATE type into something a little more readable, and is read from "functions.php".

<?      
// function to format mySQL DATE values      
function fixDate($val)      
{      
//split it up into components      
$arr = explode(" ", $val);      
$datearr = explode("-", $arr[0]);      
// create a timestamp with mktime(), format it with date() return      
date("d M Y", mktime(0, 0, 0, $datearr[1], $datearr[2], $datearr[0]));      
}      
?>

Here's what it looks like:

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