php store locator help

[gdogfunk]

Hello all,

I'm a newbie at PHP and SQL, but have managed to create a "retailer" database in MySQL hosted on my webserver. I finally found a site with a similar setup that I am trying to mimic:

http://www.reapermini.com/store_locator/index.php

What I don't understand is where/how to setup the variable for each state within the script. For example, I click on California...how does it know to look for the column and then match CA and then return the results? I have found a zip code locator which is great, but my client really wants the map...

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Ryan

[BeastRider]

This is a client side javascript app which maps the image into a bunch of regions. Take a look at the source for the page with the map on it. About halfway down, you'll see 50 lines like these.

<map name="usa">
<area shape="rect" coords="215,4,331,29" href="#" onClick="document.myform.searchstate.value='CD';this.href='javascript:document.myform.submit()'" alt="CANADA">
<area shape="rect" coords="539,113,563,126" href="#" onClick="document.myform.searchstate.value='NJ';this.href='javascript:document.myform.submit()'" alt="NJ">
<area shape="rect" coords="541,87,564,99" href="#" onClick="document.myform.searchstate.value='RI';this.href='javascript:document.myform.submit()'" alt="RI">

Notice that each state has been defined by a set of rectangular coordinates and when the mouse is clicked within that rectangle, the searchstate value is set to whatever two character state is contained within the rectangle.

Then, at the bottom of the html page, you'll see that the store listing script is called with the value in searchstate.

[gdogfunk]

Thanks for the reply.

I ended up figuring out a way to get it working from a tutorial I found online. Can you tell me if there is a way to format HTML output from PHP? I mean like having my results appear in a table with the correct cell populated with the correct data. I tried adding some table code into the print function, but no go....What about color or font size attributes? Can PHP format that on HTML output? Thanks again for the help!

Ryan