Postdata not inserted into the updated table in mysql database in magento

Question

I have a issue with inserting data into the Magento mysql database.

I wanted to create a new column (howyouheard) in the existing database in Magento. The column is to take the values from customers about how they heard about my store. I created a front end HTML form which posts data using a php function. Find the function which does that below

public function createPostAction()
{
    $session = $this->_getSession();
    if ($session->isLoggedIn()) {
        $this->_redirect('*/*/');
        return;
    }
    $session->setEscapeMessages(true); // prevent XSS injection in user input
    if ($this->getRequest()->isPost()) {
        $errors = array();

        if (!$customer = Mage::registry('current_customer')) {
            $customer = Mage::getModel('customer/customer')->setId(null);
        }

        $data = $this->_filterPostData($this->getRequest()->getPost());

        foreach (Mage::getConfig()->getFieldset('customer_account') as $code=>$node) {
            if ($node->is('create') && isset($data[$code])) {
                if ($code == 'email') {
                    $data[$code] = trim($data[$code]);
                }
                $customer->setData($code, trim($data[$code]));
                $customer->setData('howyouheard', trim($data['howyouheard']));
            }
        }

        if ($this->getRequest()->getParam('is_subscribed', false)) {
            $customer->setIsSubscribed(1);
        }

        /**
         * Initialize customer group id
         */
        $customer->getGroupId();

        if ($this->getRequest()->getPost('create_address')) {
            $address = Mage::getModel('customer/address')
                ->setData($this->getRequest()->getPost())
                ->setIsDefaultBilling($this->getRequest()->getParam('default_billing', false))
                ->setIsDefaultShipping($this->getRequest()->getParam('default_shipping', false))
                ->setId(null);
            $customer->addAddress($address);

            $errors = $address->validate();
            if (!is_array($errors)) {
                $errors = array();
            }
        }

        try {
            $validationCustomer = $customer->validate();
            if (is_array($validationCustomer)) {
                $errors = array_merge($validationCustomer, $errors);
            }
            $validationResult = count($errors) == 0;

            if (true === $validationResult) {
                $customer->save();
                Mage::log($customer, null, 'howyouheard_customer.log');

                Mage::dispatchEvent('customer_register_success',
                    array('account_controller' => $this, 'customer' => $customer)
                );

                if ($customer->isConfirmationRequired()) {
                    $customer->sendNewAccountEmail('confirmation', $session->getBeforeAuthUrl());
                    $session->addSuccess($this->__('Account confirmation is required. Please, check your email for the confirmation link. To resend the confirmation email please <a href="%s">click here</a>.', Mage::helper('customer')->getEmailConfirmationUrl($customer->getEmail())));
                    $this->_redirectSuccess(Mage::getUrl('*/*/edit', array('_secure'=>true)));
                    return;
                }
                else {
                    $session->setCustomerAsLoggedIn($customer);
                    $url = $this->_welcomeCustomer($customer);
                    $this->_redirectSuccess($url);
                    return;
                }
            } else {
                $session->setCustomerFormData($this->getRequest()->getPost());
                if (is_array($errors)) {
                    foreach ($errors as $errorMessage) {
                        $session->addError($errorMessage);
                    }
                }
                else {
                    $session->addError($this->__('Invalid customer data'));
                }
            }
        }
        catch (Mage_Core_Exception $e) {
            $session->setCustomerFormData($this->getRequest()->getPost());
            if ($e->getCode() === Mage_Customer_Model_Customer::EXCEPTION_EMAIL_EXISTS) {
                $url = Mage::getUrl('customer/account/forgotpassword');
                $message = $this->__('There is already an account with this email address. If you are sure that it is your email address, <a href="%s">click here</a> to get your password and access your account.', $url);
                $session->setEscapeMessages(false);
            }
            else {
                $message = $e->getMessage();
            }
            $session->addError($message);
        }
        catch (Exception $e) {
            $session->setCustomerFormData($this->getRequest()->getPost())
                ->addException($e, $this->__('Cannot save the customer.'));
        }
    }
    $this->_redirectError(Mage::getUrl('customer/account/create', array('_secure' => true)));
}

Everything is posted apart from "howyouheard" input. The output of the log file that I created using Mage::log($customer, null, 'howyouheard_customer.log') function shows that I am getting my post data to this php file.

Also find below the code that I used for creating a new column in the existing database

<?php

$installer = $this;
$installer->startSetup();

$installer->getConnection()->addColumn(
    $installer->getTable('customer_entity_grid'),
    'howyouheard',
    array(
        'type'      => Varien_Db_Ddl_Table::TYPE_TEXT,
        'length'    => 255,
        'nullable'  => true,
        'default'   => NULL,
        'comment'   => 'How you heard about us'
    )
);

$installer->endSetup();

?> 

I also added the new version number in the XML file and ran the script, it created a new column in the existing database with null values as default. So basically the database is modified, front end has no issues, I am getting the post data but it doesn't insert into the database.

Can someone help me out with this issue?

Answer 1

I have same issue 2 days ago then after research I come to know magento store some database table structure in var/cache so delete var/cache folder or Flush cache storage option in cache managment and may be you see updates in database

Hope this will help you