Generating HTML code...

Anon

I am trying to create an html form and have two drop-boxes areas on the form. What I would like to do for one, since there are 32 enrties, is to use a for-loop to add the 32 items to one of the drop-boxes instead of typing out <OPTION> xxxx </OPTION> 32 times. Is it possible to do this with php? Here is an example that is all that I could think of doing so you can get a better idea...

<FORM ACTION=something.php METHOD=post>
<SELECT>
<?php
for ($i=1;$i<=32;$i++) {
$option = "<OPTION NAME=$i> $i </OPTION>;
echo "$option";
?>
</SELECT>

so it will show up as ____
|1 |
|2 |
|3 |
....
|31|
|32|

when the form is accessed.

As always, any help is much appreciated! :-)

Keith Pemberton

mithril

Keith,

That looks about right, but there's really no need to read the option tags into variable. Simply echoing them should suffice. I'd also suggest storing your option info in arrays since then adding and removing options becomes much easier. You can also easily use different values for the form's element value and display value. For example:

<?php

// element string format "[form value], [display value]"
$optionVal[] = "1, First Option";
$optionVal[] = "two, Second Option";
$optionVal[] = "Third Option, Third Option";
$optionVal[] = "foo, Fourth Option";
$optionVal[] = "bar, Fifth Option";

echo "<SELECT NAME=\"foobar\">\n";

for ($i = 0 ; $i != count($optionVal) ; $i++) {

$option = explode(",",$optionVal[$i]);
echo " <OPTION VALUE=\"" . $option[0] . "\"> " . $option[1] . " </OPTION>"\n";
}

echo "</SELECT>\n";

HTH!!

Cheers,

Geoff A. Virgo

cheald

If you're just wanting to generate a list of numbers, then do this:

for($i=1;$i<=32;$i++)
echo "<OPTION>$i</OPTION>\n";

if you want actual values in there, create an array:

$elements = array (
"value1",
"value2",
);

with as many elements as you want, then do this:

for($i=0;$i<sizeof($elements);$i++)
echo "<OPTION>$elements[$i]</OPTION>\n";

Anon

Alrighty, here is another challenge for you php experts...

I want to retrieve the name of a field in my form within a php script. In other words, I have:
<SELECT NAME=name>
<OPTION NAME=firstname></OPTION>
<OPTION name=secondname></OPTION>
.
.
.
</SELECT>

as one field. Then, in another <SELECT></SELECT> field, I would like to retrieve "name" based on which option is chosen from the field above (ie name=firstname or name=secondname).

Help is much appreciated!

Keith

mithril

Keith,

First of all, the structure for a select field is:

The only arguments that the <option> tag accepts are "value" and "selected", "name" is defined in the select tag. As to determining the value of the field selection, you'd do something like this:

<?php

$selected_value = $some_name;

However, as a server-side technology, PHP can't pick up changed values unless the user manually submits the form. To do what you're asking you'd have to use client-side scripting like JavaScript to auto-submit the form when the value of the field is changed (I'm not sure what the code is of the top of my head, but I'm sure someone else can post it or you can find it in one of the JS code repositories). You may be able to accomplish the same ends using VBScript or ASP also. I'd caution you against relying on client-side technology too heavily, or at all for application critical operations, as it puts too many factors out of your hands as the developer. IMHO, client-side is great for additional functionality, features, and appearance.... but should be used only as add-ons. Core functionality such as error checking, data validation, essential behaviour should always be coded server-side to make sure it works for every user on every browser. Just my $0.02🙂 HTH!!

Cheers,

Geoff A. Virgo

You'll need to