Configuring Date

[jay64]

I have an html form from which I am trying to insert the data into a MySQL db. I have heard that the date needs to be in a specific format for inserting into the table, I believe it was YearDayMonth (20070612) Is this true? Because of that, I broke the date into 3 fields with drop down menus to make sure that I got the information in the correct format. Maybe there was an easier way to script this, but this is what I came up with:

<p>Date: <select name="date_month">
	<option value="jan">January</option>
	<option value="feb">Febuary</option>
	<option value="mar">March</option>
	<option value="apr">April</option>
	<option value="may">May</option>
	<option value="jun">June</option>
	<option value="jul">July</option>
	<option value="aug">August</option>
	<option value="sep">September</option>
	<option value="oct">October</option>
	<option value="nov">November</option>
	<option value="dec">December</option>
	</select>
	<select name="date_day">
		<option value="1">1</option>
		<option value="2">2</option>
		<option value="3">3</option>
		<option value="4">4</option>
		<option value="5">5</option>
		<option value="6">6</option>
		<option value="7">7</option>
		<option value="8">8</option>
		<option value="9">9</option>
		<option value="10">10</option>
		<option value="11">11</option>
		<option value="12">12</option>
		<option value="13">13</option>
		<option value="14">14</option>
		<option value="15">15</option>
		<option value="16">16</option>
		<option value="17">17</option>
		<option value="18">18</option>
		<option value="19">19</option>
		<option value="20">20</option>
		<option value="21">21</option>
		<option value="22">22</option>
		<option value="23">23</option>
		<option value="24">24</option>
		<option value="25">25</option>
		<option value="26">26</option>
		<option value="27">27</option>
		<option value="28">28</option>
		<option value="29">29</option>
		<option value="30">30</option>
		<option value="31">31</option>
		
	</select>
	<select name="date_year">
		<option value="07">2007</option>
		<option value="08">2008</option>
		<option value="09">2009</option>
	</select>

My question is, what is the script to change the three fields into one variable to be added to the table? Do I just do something like $TIMESTAMP=(date_year + date_day + date_month) Another question that I had, does timstamp automatically make it the current date for when it is being inserted, or can I have it be user set like above?

[TopDogger]

Try using different values for your select options. It makes it much easier to assemble a date in the proper format, which is yyyy-mm-dd.

<select name="date_year">
<option value="2007">2007</option>

<select name="date_month">
<option value="01">January</option>

<select name="date_day">
<option value="01">1</option>

You can then assemble the date string in the proper format on the receiving end.

$theDate = $_POST."-".$_POST."-".$_POST;

[jay64]

Thanks TopDogger. I'll try and make those changes that you suggested.

[jay64]

I know I marked this as solved already, but I just noticed something. TopDogger recommended to use: $theDate = $_POST['date_year']."-".$_POST['date_month']."-".$_POST['date_day']; I just noticed that there are some '.' (dot) in the line. What is the reason for putting the dot there?

[TopDogger]

You use dots to concatinate string values in PHP. The dots do not appear in the final value.