PHP/mySQL question

[sonofslim]

i've got a database that inserts records with a time field in the format MM/DD/YYY, instead of a standard timestamp. (i know, i know... but unfortunately i didn't write the original code.)

i'm trying to pull the records back out via PHP with a statement like the following, based on a time i'm setting with an earlier form ($criteria_time):

SELECT a, b FROM table WHERE record_time > '$criteria_time'

and i've been playing with things like:

$criteria_time = date('n/j/Y', (mktime(0, 0, 0, $month, $day, $year)));

which puts my starting date into a format that matches the one in the database. but i'm having no luck in getting it to work; it just returns every record in the table. does anyone know how i should be doing this? i figure i need to tell mySQL to evaluate record_time and criteria_time as dates and not just strings, but i don't know how to do this.

any and all help appreciated.

 

[cb911]

i can't answer your question, but i just wanted to mention that http://www.3dbuzz.com has video tutorials for PHP/mySQL. you can download them from that site after you've registered. i've got them on CD (haven't watched them yet) but all their VTM's are really good stuff.

 

[sonofslim]

thanks for the tip!

in case anyone is curious, the answer to my problem is to use a SUBSTRING(string, pos, len) in my query like so:

SELECT blah FROM table WHERE 
(SUBSTRING(record_date, 1, 2) >= '$startmonth') 
AND (SUBSTRING(record_date, 4, 2) >= '$startday')  AND(SUBSTRING(record_date, 7, 4) >= '$startyear')

which parses each bit of the date string separately.

 

[Rower_CPU]

Yup, I do something similar on my website to convert a timestamp to the "month, year" in the archives section in the left-hand column.