What best practices should be followed when integrating database queries with form submissions in PHP applications?

When integrating database queries with form submissions in PHP applications, it is important to sanitize user input to prevent SQL injection attacks. This can be done by using prepared statements or parameterized queries to securely pass user input to the database. Additionally, validating user input before executing queries can help ensure data integrity and prevent errors.

// Connect to database
$servername = "localhost";
$username = "username";
$password = "password";
$dbname = "database";

$conn = new mysqli($servername, $username, $password, $dbname);

// Check connection
if ($conn->connect_error) {
    die("Connection failed: " . $conn->connect_error);
}

// Sanitize user input
$name = mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $_POST['name']);
$email = mysqli_real_escape_string($conn, $_POST['email']);

// Prepare and execute query
$stmt = $conn->prepare("INSERT INTO users (name, email) VALUES (?, ?)");
$stmt->bind_param("ss", $name, $email);

if ($stmt->execute()) {
    echo "New record created successfully";
} else {
    echo "Error: " . $conn->error;
}

// Close connection
$stmt->close();
$conn->close();