Q:

How do I update a specific row in a table using php form?

Please bear with me, I'm not familiar yet with the language. I have a table that lists an applicant record such as applicant number, name and status. I want to update an applicant status either 'hired' or 'failed' on a specific row using a PHP form. However, I'm not sure how to get the specific submit name on its row upon submission. Or if you have a workaround I would appreciate that. Thank you so much for your help.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
      <h2>Applicant Records</h2>
<?php

$mysql_hostname = "localhost";
$mysql_user = "root";
$mysql_password ="";
$mysql_database = "applicantrecord";

// Create connection
$conn = new mysqli($mysql_hostname, $mysql_user, $mysql_password, $mysql_database);
// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
} 

$sqli = "SELECT id, firstname, lastname, status FROM applicant";
$result = $conn->query($sqli);

if ($result->num_rows > 0) { ?>
    <table class="table">
    <thead>
        <tr>
            <th>Applicant No.</th>
            <th>Lastname</th>
            <th>Firstname</th>
            <th>Status</th>
            <th></th>
        </tr>
    </thead>
<?php
    // output data of each row

    echo "<tbody>";
    while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) 
    { ?>
            <tr>
                <td>
                    <?php echo $row["id"]; 
                        $appid = $row["id"];
                    ?>  
                </td>
                <td>
                    <?php echo $row["lastname"]; ?>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <?php echo $row["firstname"]; ?>
                </td>
                <td>
                    <?php echo $row["status"]; ?>
                </td>
                <td>
                </td>
                <td>

                        <div>
                        <form action="" role="form" method="post" name="form<?php echo $appid; ?>">
                        <select name="applicant_status">
                        <option value="Hired">Hire</option>
                        <option value="Failed">Fail</option>
                        </select>

                        </p>
                        <button type="submit" class="btn btn-default" name = "submit<?php echo $appid; ?>" data-dismiss="modal">Submit</button>                     
                        </form>
                        <?php

                        if(isset($_POST["submit"])){
                            $dbhost = 'localhost';
                            $dbuser = 'root';
                            $dbpass = '';
                            $newappid = $appid;
                            $newapptstatus = $_POST['applicant_status'];
                            $connect = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);
                        if(! $connect ) {
                            die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
                            }

                        $sql_sub = "UPDATE applicant ". "SET status = '$newappstatus'".  
                                    "WHERE id = '$newappid'" ;
                                    mysql_select_db('applicantrecord');
                        $retval = mysql_query( $sql_sub, $connect );

                        if(! $retval ) {
                        die('Could not update data: ' . mysql_error());
                            echo "<script type= 'text/javascript'>alert('An error occured! Applicant status update failed!');</script>";
                        }

                        echo "<script type= 'text/javascript'>alert('Applicant status updated successfully!');</script>";
                        mysql_close($connect);

            }                   
                        ?>
                        </div>

                </td>
            </tr>
    <?php }
    echo "</tbody>";
    echo "</table>";
} else {
    echo "0 results";
}
$conn->close();
?>

</html>

A:

In your if statement where you check that $_POST['submit'] is set, the index 'submit' does not exist. Thus isset($_POST['submit']) evaluates to false and your query to update the table is never being executed.
The variable $appid is being changed with each row that is added, so when the page is done loading and the submit button is pushed on a certain row, $appid won't necessarily contain the correct row number.
To get around this, you could use a hidden input in your form:
<input name="id" value="<?php echo $appid ?>" type="hidden">

Then you can replace isset($_POST['submit']) with isset($_POST['id']) and set  $newappid = $_POST['id'] to get the row number to be changed.

