If anyone has any ideas on converting this to a class... any help would be great.

//brief explanation:
//the function gets all the fields from the table name entered in the function.
//compares them to the names in the sqlArray entered in the function.
//then inserts the values of the sqlArray into the appropriate fields in the table.
//

PHP Code:

function doSql($do_what,$tablename,$sqlArray) {
     switch ($do_what) {
          case "insert":
          $res = mysql_query("SHOW COLUMNS FROM ".$tablename);
          while($blah = mysql_fetch_array($res)) {
               $fields[]=$blah[0];
          }
          foreach($sqlArray as $key=>$value) {
               if (in_array($key,$fields) && $value !='') {
                   $key=mysql_real_escape_string($key);
                   $value=mysql_real_escape_string($value);
                   $keys.="$key,";
                   $values.="'$value',";
               }
          }
          $keys = trim($keys,","); //strips the last comma
          $values= trim($values,","); //strips the last comma

          $res = mysql_query("INSERT INTO $tablename ($keys) VALUES ($values)");
          return mysql_insert_id();
          break;
} 


Sample usage:

PHP Code:

doSql("insert","content",$_POST); 


insert = do what? meaning (insert into db, update db, delete from etc..)
content = the table name
$_POST = an array of everything to be inserted.

The form is this:
<form method='post'>
<input type='hidden' name = 'content_id' value = '4'>
<input type='text' name = 'article_name' value = 'an-article'>
<input type='text' name = 'category' value = 'php'>
<input type='text' name = 'date' value = '2008-01-01'>
<input type='submit' name = 'submit' value = 'submit'>
</form>

So when the form is submitted the key - values are content_id=>4,article_name=an-article etc....

it automatically inserts each into the database and returns the id.

The function works exactly as I wanted it to. I could continue to extend it by making more functions inside this function but this gets unruly.

So now besides validation... how would I turn my function into an extendable class.

This ought to get you started:

PHP Code:

<?php
class MySQLAuto {
  private $database_columns = array();
  public function __construct() {
    /*
      Load data about the database tables.
      Better to load now, so that we load once.
      Better idea is to cache these results as they change very infrequently (e.g. save to a file as a serialized array)
    */

    if ($current_tables = mysql_query("SHOW TABLES")) {
      if (mysql_num_rows($current_tables) > 0) {
        while ($a_table = mysql_fetch_assoc($current_tables)) {
          $table_name = current($a_table);
          //Get columns for this table.
          if ($table_columns = $database->query("SHOW COLUMNS FROM ".$table_name)) {
            $inline = '';
            while ($a_column = msyql_fetch_assoc($table_columns)) {
              $this->database_columns[$table_name][$a_column['Field']] = $a_column['Type'];
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
  public function autoSql($action, $table_name, $fields) {
    $key_prefix = ''; $values_prefix = '';
    switch ($action) {
      case "insert":
        foreach($fields as $field_name=>$field_value) {
          if (isset($this->database_columns[$table_name][$field_name]) && !empty($field_value)) {
            $key = preg_replace('/[^a-z\_]/i','',$key); //Field names should only have a-z and _ in them.
            $value = $this->autoQuote($value); //values need to be quoted, where appropriate.
            $keys .= $key_prefix.$key;
            $values .= $values_prefix ;
            $key_prefix = ','; $values_prefix = ','; //This makes it so you don't have to remove the trailing comma from results
          }
        }

        if (strlen($keys) > 0) {
          //Only execute query if necessary (i.e. there are keys which implies there are values)
          if ($res = mysql_query("INSERT INTO ".$table_name." (".$keys.") VALUES (".$values.")")) {
            return mysql_insert_id();
          } else {
            //Query failed, so return error.
            return mysql_error();
          }
        }
        break;
      case 'update':
        break;
      case 'delete':
        break;
    }
    return -1; //No queries were executed!  Setting -1 as the error for failed query.
  }
  private function autoQuote($value, $add_quotes=true, $allow_wildcards=true, $require_quotes=false) {
    // Taken from the PHP site, with modifications for quotes and wildcards.
    // Stripslashes
    if (get_magic_quotes_gpc()) {
      $value = stripslashes($value);
    }
    // Quote if not a number or a numeric string
    if (is_numeric($value)) {
      if ($require_quotes) {
        $value = "'" . $value . "'";
      }
    } else {
      if ($add_quotes){
        $value = "'" . mysql_real_escape_string($value) . "'";
      } else {
        $value = mysql_real_escape_string($value);
      }
    }
    if (!$allow_wildcards) {
      $value = str_replace('%','\%',$value);
      $value = str_replace('_','\_',$value);
    }
    return $value;
  }
}
?>