php: script updates fields prematurely?

Question

I'm making an auction type website that as you can imagine is supposed to delist products as they expire. the expiration is simply stored as MySQL datatype DATE.

so check_items.php:

<?php
function check_items()
{
$con = mysql_connect('localhost','heh','heh');
mysql_select_db('heh_db',$con);
$q = mysql_query("select last_check from ran_last",$con) or die("Check ran_last 1");
$r = mysql_fetch_assoc($q);
//if((time()-strtotime($r['last_check'])) >(60*60*17))//check only once every 17 hours
if(true)
{
    $q2 = mysql_query("select * from Item where expired=0");
    $remove = array(); $count=0;
    while($row = mysql_fetch_assoc($q2))
    {
        if(strtotime($row['time_expire'])<time())
        {
            echo("strtotime: ".strtotime($row['time_expire'])." time: ".time());
            $remove[$count] = $row['ItemID'];
            $count++;
        }
    }
    mysql_free_result($q2);
    foreach($remove as $next)
    {
        echo($next);
        $q3 = mysql_query(sprintf("select * from Item where ItemID='%s'",$next)) or die("check items outer query foreach");
        $r3 = mysql_fetch_assoc($q3);
        $q4 = mysql_query(sprintf("update Item set expired='1' where ItemID='%s'",$r3['ItemID']));
        if(isset($r3['bidderID']))
        {
            $f1 = mysql_query(
                sprintf("insert into notifications(userID,item_name,ItemID,type,info) values('%s','%s','%s','%s','%s')",
                $r3['bidderID'],
                $r3['item_name'],
                $r3['ItemID'],
                "BUY",
                sprintf("You have won the bidding for this item. Contact the <a href=\"pm.php?ID=%s&&expired_item=%s\">seller</a> for details",
                    $r3['userID'],
                    $r3['ItemID'])
                ),$con
            );
            $f2 = mysql_query(
                sprintf("insert into notifications(userID,item_name,ItemID,type,info) values('%s','%s','%s','%s','%s')",
                $r3['userID'],
                $r3['item_name'],
                $r3['ItemID'],
                "SELL",
                sprintf("<a href=\"pm.php?ID=%s&&expired_item=%s\">User</a> has won the bidding for your item. You are encouraged to contact each other",$r3['bidderID'],
                    $r3['ItemID'])
                ),$con
            );
        }
        else
        {
            $f1 = mysql_query(
                sprintf("insert into notifications(userID,item_name,ItemID,type,info) values('%s','%s','%s','%s','%s')",
                $r3['userID'],
                $r3['item_name'],
                $r3['ItemID'],
                "SELL",
                sprintf("Unfortunately no one bid on your item. You can view expired items from your userpage and re-upload",
                    $r3['userID'])
                ),$con
            );
        }
        mysql_free_result($q3);
    }
    $done = mysql_query("insert into ran_last values()");
}
mysql_free_result($q);
}
?>

The script, fully functional, stores the last time it did an update and should only run once every 17 hours. Right now it runs whenever the function is called. Basically whenever I list a product it automatically gets delisted.

Answer 1

Uh, why are you doing it this way? you can do the filtering in PHP and save yourself a LOT of hassle:

SELECT ItemID
FROM Item
WHERE (expired = 0) AND (time_expire < (SELECT last_check FROM last_ran))

Plus, you're not even checking for this value when you do the real expiry check:

    if(strtotime($row['time_expire'])<time())
                                      ^^^^^^--- shouldn't this be $r['last_check']?