What are some common mistakes to avoid when saving dropdown selections in a database with PHP?

One common mistake to avoid when saving dropdown selections in a database with PHP is not properly sanitizing user input before inserting it into the database. This can lead to SQL injection attacks. To solve this issue, always use prepared statements with parameterized queries to securely insert data into the database.

// Connect to the database
$pdo = new PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=mydatabase", "username", "password");

// Get the selected dropdown value from the form
$dropdownValue = $_POST['dropdown'];

// Prepare a SQL statement with a parameterized query
$stmt = $pdo->prepare("INSERT INTO mytable (dropdown_column) VALUES (:dropdownValue)");

// Bind the dropdown value to the parameter
$stmt->bindParam(':dropdownValue', $dropdownValue);

// Execute the statement
$stmt->execute();