multi-select checkboxes on web form

GaryE

Looking for some advise on how to deal with a section of a form which has a set of checkboxes allowing multiple values to be entered. I have a cross-reference table which will collect the data. The problem I'm having right now is displaying the "Checked" value in edit mode. I can see what's wrong with this code, but cannot come up with the solution.

Thanks!

Here's what calls the function in the form:

<?CheckBox("profile_id","SELECT profile_id, profile FROM credit_card_profile ORDER BY profile_id");?>

Here's the function:

    function CheckBox ($name,$query) {
                    global $offer_id,$profile_id;

                    if ($offer_id != "") {
                    $qid = db_query("Select * FROM profile_to_offer "
                    ."WHERE offer_id = $offer_id");
                            while ($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($qid)) {
                                    $list_index = $myrow["profile_id"];
                                    $permlist[$list_index] = $list_index;
                            }
                    }

        $qry = db_query($query);
                    $rcnt = mysql_num_rows($qry);
                    $fcnt = mysql_num_fields($qry);
                    $fidx = 0;  while ($fidx < $fcnt) { $fname[$fidx] = mysql_field_name($qry, $fidx);  $fidx++;  }
                    for ($ridx = 0; $ridx < $rcnt; $ridx++) {
                            $number = mysql_result($qry,$ridx,$fname[0]);
                            echo "<INPUT TYPE=\"CHECKBOX\" NAME=\"$name\" VALUE=\"$number\"";
                            echo ($number == $permlist[$list_index]) ? " CHECKED" : "";
                            echo "> ".mysql_result($qry,$ridx,$fname[1])."<BR>\n";
                    }
           mysql_free_result($qry);
   }

GaryE

Correction on the problem described above. It shows "Checked" for only the last match in the query. If there are more than one match, there is only a single box checked. I need all boxes checked which match records selected in the cross reference table.

-gary

drawmack

I would do it like this

assumptions

options is the name of the database table where I have stored the information that will be handled with checkboxes. This table contains the fields ID and oName. ID is an integer field.

Here is how I would display the form

$sql = "SELECT * FROM options ORDER BY oName";
$query = mysql_query($sql);
for($i=0;$i<mysql_num_rows($query);$i++) {
  echo "<input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"Option_";
  echo mysql_result($query,$i,'ID');
  echo "\" value=\"1\" /> ";
  echo mysql_result($query,$i,'oName');
  echo "<br />\n";
}
mysql_free_result($query);

Then to process the list of checkboxes I would do this

$sql = "SELECT * FROM options ORDER BY oName";
$query = mysql_query($sql);
for($i=0;$i<mysql_num_rows($query);$i++) {
  $chckNm = "Option_" . msql_query($query,$i,'ID');
  if($_POST[$chckNm]) {
    //processing code for a checked option here
  } //end if
} //end for

benkillin

you're not returning anything with the function, if you want a function to multiply two numbers, and then give you the results, you have to return the value like so:

function multiply_two_numbers($a, $b){
     $c = $a * $b;
     return $c;
}

GaryE

Thanks for your help. I got it working with a few minor changes to the code I had been working with (which is some that I grabbed off an existing script I have that is a similar situation). Based on your replies, I realized that I really didn't explain the situation that clearly I guess.

This is part of an administrative form for the backend of a website. This section is one field in a larger form where the admins can edit existing records or add new records.

drawmack: That code works for printing the checkboxes, but didn't help me with regards to inserting the "checked" value on existing records.

benkillin: I understand using "return", but in this case, I'm not returning a value per se, just shelling out from the form to the library of functions to perform the queries etc. Hope that makes sense.

Anyway, here's the working code:

This prints the list of checkboxes from the profile db and then populates (adds "checked") to the appropriate ones based on the cross reference table called profile_to_offer (one offer can have several profiles):

function CheckBox ($name,$query) {
global $offer_id;

    if ($offer_id != "") {
    $qid = db_query("Select * FROM profile_to_offer "
                    ."WHERE offer_id = $offer_id");
            while ($myrow = mysql_fetch_array($qid)) {
                    $list_index = $myrow["profile_id"];
                    $permlist[$list_index] = $list_index;
            }
    }

    $qry = db_query($query);
    $rcnt = mysql_num_rows($qry);
    $fcnt = mysql_num_fields($qry);
    $fidx = 0;  while ($fidx < $fcnt) { $fname[$fidx] = mysql_field_name($qry, $fidx);  $fidx++;  }
    for ($ridx = 0; $ridx < $rcnt; $ridx++) {
            $number = mysql_result($qry,$ridx,$fname[0]);
            echo "<input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"list[$number]\" value=\"$number\"";
            if(isset($permlist[$number])) echo ($number == $permlist[$number]) ? " checked" : "";
            echo "> ".mysql_result($qry,$ridx,$fname[1])."<br>\n";
    }
    mysql_free_result($qry);

}

And this updates existing and/or inserts new records:

    // delete all previous records -- it's just easier to do this.
    $qid2 = db_query("
                    DELETE FROM profile_to_offer
                    WHERE offer_id = $offer_id
                    ");
    if (!$qid2)
            {
            echo "<font color=#0000CC>Update-Delete profile_to_offer:
            <p><pre>".mysql_errno().": ".mysql_error()."
            <br></pre></font>\n";
            exit;
            }

    //step through the $list[] and see what's set and insert them
    reset($list);
    while (list($key,$value) = each($list))
            {
            $qid2 = db_query("
                            INSERT into profile_to_offer
                            VALUES ($offer_id,$value)");
            if (!$qid2)
            {
            echo "<font color=#0000CC>Update profile_to_offer List
            <p><pre>".mysql_errno().": ".mysql_error()."
            <br></pre></font>\n";
            it;
            }
    }[code=php]