How to Submit Multiple Rows from a Form to MySQL in Laravel Without Duplicates

Learn how to efficiently submit multiple rows of form data to a MySQL database in Laravel, ensuring that the data is properly structured to avoid duplicates.
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Handling Multiple Row Submissions in Laravel

When developing web applications, especially those that require data entry, you might find yourself needing to submit multiple rows of data at once. If you're using Laravel and MySQL, you may encounter challenges like creating duplicate rows when adding new entries. In this guide, we’ll walk through a clean and effective way to handle multiple row submissions in Laravel without duplicating rows in the database.

The Problem

You have a form built in Laravel that allows users to input various items along with their associated tax, price, selling price, and total price. Each time a user clicks "Add More", new fields are created dynamically. The challenge is ensuring that all the information entered in these form fields can be submitted as a single request without inadvertently creating duplicate entries in the database.

The Solution

To solve this issue, we need to adjust both the front-end form structure and the back-end logic in the Laravel controller. Here’s how:

1. Modify Your Blade Template

First, let’s enhance the existing form. We will use array syntax for the input names to differentiate between each row of data. This way, we can easily loop through the incoming data in the controller.

Updated HTML Form

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2. Adding JavaScript for Dynamic Fields

To allow users to add more rows dynamically, we’ll need some JavaScript to handle this. Here’s how to add a new row every time the "Add More" button is clicked:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This script allows the user to keep adding new rows with the correct naming convention to ensure they can be grouped in the request.

3. Update the Controller Logic

Finally, we need to update the controller's create method to save each row of data to the database correctly. By looping through the data, we can insert each item into the database without creating duplicates.

Updated create Method in InventoryController

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Conclusion

By correctly structuring your form to handle multiple rows and adjusting your controller to process each entry individually, you can confidently submit dynamic forms in Laravel without worrying about duplicates. Utilizing array syntax for input names and iterating through the data in your controller are key steps to achieving this.

Feel free to adapt this approach to fit your specific project needs, and happy coding!