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POHow to identify correct email to update proper database record?
 

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  1. POHow to identify correct email to update proper database record?
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    <p>Using PHP, I am making an application similar to an online concierge service. I have a page displaying a form asking the user what he would like me to do. When the user completes the form, the information is saved into a database and also the user is sent an email saying: "Thank you for recently submitting: (whatever he just submitted)." The user will (hopefully) be submitting this same form many times each month.</p> <p>I would like to have the user have the ability to reply to my automated email with new information, and then that new information update the correct database record.</p> <p><strong>Problem: How do I get that new information to update the correct database record?</strong> </p> <p>For example, lets say User 'John' submits that form twice today. First he requests me to make him dinner reservations at Chili's, and second he requests me to book him some airline tickets to NYC. John would receive 2 emails from the site thanking him for his requests. Lets say later today John changes his mind and decides he wants to go to Applebees instead. I would like him to be able to reply to the FIRST email stating his change. I would then like that information appended to the correct record in the Database. <strong>How do I make a connection between the information in the Database record and the email?</strong></p> <p>I was thinking as a possible solution I could include the Database's record ID number in the subject line of the email, like: "Thank you for your recent request #428." and then I could grab that number 428 and update record number 428 in the database. But I think this might confuse the user if he sees this number popping up out of no where.</p> <p>I am looking for something similar to using a hidden input like you can do in Form's and processing POST data.</p> <p>BTW: I am using CakePHP 2.1.x and am downloading my emails using IMAP. But the answer is probably not CakePHP specific.</p> <p>Any suggestions? Thanks!</p>
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    1. USBigHeadCreations
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    1. COProviding an ID to every record seems to be the best solution as you can isolate every record in the DB
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      1. POHow to identify correct email to update proper database record?
      1. USViren Rajput
    2. COLISTSERV software accomplishes this with a per-message "email address" proxy. This also somewhat helps with impersonation (since the email address you provided to the "user"/client is the key (hopefully only sent to the one account). I would suggest not eradicating the data with a new email, as well, and add a superseding record instead (in case of spoofing).
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      1. POHow to identify correct email to update proper database record?
      1. USJared Farrish
    3. COYou can also look at how JIRA works, since it allows both accounts to be created automatically and issues to be created from email. You don't need to login, of course, to reply to the email, which goes back to the system through a common "reply@" address and specifies an "issue identifier" in the subject used to determine the related issue (after created). This looks like `[JIRA] (PRJ-32) My request subject`, which you can then easily pull with a regex.
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      1. POHow to identify correct email to update proper database record?
      1. USJared Farrish
 

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