fetching results from table using a Dropdown Menu

qt4u

how would i go about setting a Dropdown menu to select a table from a mysql database and display it😕

this has got me completly lost...

(Even if someone could explain how a multiple checkbox works and maybe even the code for it, i am using Dreamweaver MX if that helps)

Thanks in Advance 🙂

Pig

echo("<select>");
$result = blah blah blah;
while( $row = mysql_fetch_array($result) )
{
echo("<option value=\"$row[table_col_id]\">$row[table_col_name]</option>");
}
echo("</select>");

checkboxes are passed as an array if they have the same name. For instance, if you have 3 check boxes for each person, you would name all of the "absent" checkboxes "absent[]", and give the student's id as the value for each checkbox. Then you can loop through the query and update the table.

foreach( $_POST['absent'] AS $key => $value )
{
$result = mysql_query("INSERT INTO table_name (id, time, absent) VALUES ('$key', '" . strototime("now") . "', '1')");
}

Also, your database design is not normalized. You should have a seperate table for the students, and NOT include their name in this table. What if one of the students changes their name, or you typoed? Do you want to update that entire table needlessly? Also, there is no way to easily pass the name, and the ID. You would be left try to set up some kind of hack like combining the 2 into one string, and then seperating them when it is time to do the update.

HTH
}

tekky

I would personally suggest using RADIO buttons

name them each the same "status" or "attendance"
and set their values to "absent" "present" "late"

then you just have to check the value of
$_POST['attendance'] or whatever you chose to name them

reasoning behind this:
1) if you are late, you are also present (just late)
2) if you are present, well duh obvious here...
3) if you are absent, you arent present or late...
4) if any of the above are true, then you can effectively tell if the student was present or not and or tardy or not

Pig

good point. Then you would just want to loop through all of the $_POST array, excluding any extra fields like "submit"

qt4u

nice one tekky just what i was thinking the same thing after i wrote that post 🙂
i'll give the code a try and see what happens
thanks again guys 🆒

tekky

Originally posted by qt4u
nice on tekky just what i was thinking the same thing after i wrote that post 🙂
i'll give the code a try and see what happens
thanks again guys 🆒

<- done it before... if I could remember the page, Id give you the code... but damned if I cant remember where I did that at...

qt4u

is there much difference having different recordsets to a dropdown box similar to the tables one?
eg different classes...

qt4u

😕 hmmmm.... i still can't get the loop bit, i've never worked with loops or arrays till now - would someone be able to help me code this Rollbook?

Rollbook Data Below

| Present | Late | Absent |
i will be using Radio buttons as tekky suggested.

Pig

questions are free, but not many people will code for free.

qt4u

i get your drift, all i need to know really is how to make the loop for the radio buttons

Pig

Well that I can do.

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM students");
while( $row = mysql_fetch_array($result) )
{ 
     echo("
          $row[students_lname], $row[students_fname] 
          <input type=radio value=1 name=$row[students_id]> present
          <input type=radio value=2 name=$row[students_id] checked> absent
          <input type=radio value=3 name=$row[students_id]> late
          <br>
     ");
}

something like that would give you the check boxes. you can replace the values with words instead of 1-3, but that would not be normalized. Better off keeping it 1-3. Also, note that absent is default.

The next piece assumes that you have a form with only the checkboxes, and a submit button named "submit". This is what process the form.

foreach($_POST AS $key=>$value)
{
     if( $key != "submit" && !empty($value) )
     {
          safe_query("INSERT INTO attend (attend_student, attend_date, attend_status) VALUES ('$key', '" . strtotime("now") . "', '$value')
     }
}

The table "attend" would contain those 3 fields + an ID. Then to get the attendance for a given day, you could do a simple query to get everything within that range.

qt4u

cheers, got it running now 🙂

Thanks for all your help with this post.