Re: [PHP] populate form input option dropdown box from existing data

At 6:09 PM -0400 6/15/09, PJ wrote:
>I am having difficulties figuring out how enter retrieved data into a
>dropdown box for editing. Here's a snippet:
>...snip
><select name="categoriesIN[]" multiple size="8">
>         <option value="1">Civilization</option>
>         <option value="2">Monuments, Temples &amp; Tombs</option>
>         <option value="3">Pharaohs and Queens</option>... snip
>
>As I understand it, I need to put an array ( $categoriesIN[] ) somewhere
>in the above code... or do I need to insert a series of value "selected"
>fields for the values?
>The closest thing to what I need, seems to be in this post:
>http://www.hpfreaks.com/forums/index.php?topic=165215
>But it doesn't appear too inviting... not sure if they ever got it to
>work...

Think about it. A Select control returns *one* value and not an 
array. As such you don't need to provide an array to collect a single 
value.

Here's the solution:

HTML

<select name="categories" >
    <option value="1">Civilization</option>
    <option value="2">Monuments, Temples &amp; Tombs</option>
    <option value="3">Pharaohs and Queens</option>
</select>

PHP

$category = $_POST['categories'];

The variable $category will contain 1, 2, or 3 after a post form submit.

Try it.

The reference/link you cite above is for a dynamic select control 
that incorporates javascript to populate the second select control. 
It's not a simple select.

If you are looking to understand what basic html does, try this:

http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/

I often use this site to refresh my failing memory about html stuff.

Cheers,

tedd

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