Lession 3: Add Student (CREATE)

📘 Introduction

In this lesson, students will learn how to add new student records to the database using MySQLi procedural programming. This is the “C” in CRUD — CREATE. We will build a form using Bulma CSS and write PHP code to insert data into the database.

📝 Step 1: Create the Add Student Form

We begin by creating a new file named create.php. This file contains a Bulma-styled form that collects student information.

<form action="" method="POST">
    <div class="field">
        <label class="label">Name</label>
        <input class="input" type="text" name="name" required>
    </div>

    <div class="field">
        <label class="label">Email</label>
        <input class="input" type="email" name="email" required>
    </div>

    <div class="field">
        <label class="label">Phone</label>
        <input class="input" type="text" name="phone" required>
    </div>

    <button class="button is-primary" name="submit">Save</button>
</form>

🧠 Step 2: Capture Form Data

When the form is submitted, PHP receives the values using the $_POST superglobal.

$name  = $_POST['name'];
$email = $_POST['email'];
$phone = $_POST['phone'];

These variables will be inserted into the database.

🗄️ Step 3: Insert Data into MySQL

We use the INSERT INTO SQL command to add a new record.

$sql = "INSERT INTO students (name, email, phone, created_at)
        VALUES ('$name', '$email', '$phone', NOW())";

mysqli_query($conn, $sql);

The NOW() function automatically stores the current timestamp.

🔁 Step 4: Redirect After Saving

After inserting the record, redirect the user back to the main page.

header("Location: index.php");
exit;

🧠 Syntax Breakdown

• $_POST — retrieves form input values.
• INSERT INTO — SQL command to add new data.
• mysqli_query() — executes SQL commands.
• NOW() — MySQL timestamp function.
• header() — redirects the user.

🧪 Exercise

Add a new field called address to the form and database. Update:

• The MySQL table
• The form
• The PHP insert query

Test your changes by adding a new student with an address.