Drop down list

[Anon]

Hi

I have a drop list of menu options. I would like a user to select an option and have that option passed to a select query.
i.e. menu option: apples
select query: select * from grocery.tbl where item = apple

Any ideas how to do this?
Thanks

[theslinky]

Here is the HTML code:

...some code...
...
<form action="script.php" method="GET">
...some more form stuff...
<select name="item">
<option value="apple">Apple
<option value="mango">Mango
<option value="banana">Banana
</select>
</form>
... more code ...

Here is the PHP:

<?php

$fruit = $_GET['item'];
$SQ = "SELECT * FROM grocery.tbl WHERE item LIKE '$fruit'";
// do rest of processing here

?>

I used LIKE instead of = because LIKE searches case insensitive and it is recommended for strings because you can use wildcards with the % sign.

-sridhar

[fitzbean]

you forgot to close your options 🙂

[theslinky]

I believe the /option isn't requried unless you are using strict DTD or XHTML. I usually close it when I go and revise all my HTML in the end :-)

but for forums and posting, I don't make it perfect... hoping meticulous users like you would!

-sridhar

[[deleted]]

as Sridhar said you can use LIKE, but keep in mind that this can cause very long execution time for the script. (in tables with thousands of rows)

So if there are't many rows in the table it is ok, but for bigger project you might prefer a different way ... because long execution time is not necessary. =)

ali