[Resolved] using checkboxes to delete from array

[JLW]

After an item is inserted into an array, I am printing out the array. Next to each item is a checkbox that is generated when the array is printed out. I want to delete the items that are checked from the array, but first I need to know how to what item was checked.

Here is a bit of what I have so far:

<form name="form1" method="post" action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];?>">

for($i=0; $i<$ItemNumber; $i++){

<input type="checkbox" name="checkbox[]" value="<?php $i; ?>">
<!-- General Information -->

<table border="1" bordercolor="#0099FF">
<tr><td>Type</td>
<td>Color</td>
<td>Design</td>
<td>Size</tr>

<?PHP	

printf("<tr><td>%s</td><td>%s</td><td>%s</td><td>%s x %s</td></tr>\n", $AType[$i],$AColor[$i], $ADesign[$i], 
$AHeight[$i], $AWidth[$i]);
?>
<input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Delete">
</form>	
</table>
<?PHP
if($_POST['Submit'] == 'Delete'){
	$number = count($checkbox);
                print("$number<br>");
}

It prints out the correct number of items, but I need to know what items were chosen. I wanted to do this by inserting the value of $i into the checkbox array, that way I would know what array element to delete but I can't even get it to print what values are stored in the checkbox array only the number. Can anyone help???

[maxpup979]

Im not sure what you mean that you can't see the values in the checkbox array, only the number....the value that is being held IS the number (if I read your code correctly)....

to see what the values are try:
print implode(":",$checkbox);

[please_explain]

Your starting page would be:
<?
echo "Select an item(s) to delete\n";
$count_of_items = 5; //this should come from a database query
echo "<form name=\"someItems\" action=\"deleteItems.php\">\n";
echo "<table width=\"100%\" cellpadding=\"10\" border=\"1\">\n";

for ($i=0;$i<$count_of_items;$i++){
echo "<tr><td align=\"right\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">";
echo "<input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"delete_item_array[]\" value =\"item$i\"></td>" ;
echo "<td align=\"left\"><font face=\"Arial\" size=\"2\">Item id: " . $i . "</td></tr>\n";
}//end looping through all the items

echo "<tr><td colspan=\"2\" align=\"center\"><input type=\"submit\" value=\"Delete Selected Items\"></td></tr>\n</table>\n</form>";

?>

After you upload that page... view it in html and look at the source code. There is an array of checkboxes.

Then the page to process the checkboxes would be something like this:

<?
if((isset($delete_item_array)) && (is_array($delete_item_array))){
$cnt_of_items_to_delete = count($delete_item_array);
echo "You have selected " . $cnt_of_items_to_delete . " items to delete!<br><br>\n";
for($j =0; $j<$cnt_of_items_to_delete;$j++){
///php code to connect to data base
$sql_statement = "DELETE from ITEMS where Item_id = '" . $delete_item_array[$j] . "'";
echo "\t\tThe SQL Statement is " . $sql_statement . "\n";
///// have your mysql query call here
}

}else{
echo "There was an error processing your selections, or you selected NO items\n";
}

?>

Hope that helps

[maxpup979]

Ahhh---Much more clear--Kindof...🙂
So after I ran your code, this is the SQL I got:

The SQL Statement is DELETE from ITEMS where Item_id = 'item0' The SQL Statement is DELETE from ITEMS where Item_id = 'item1' The SQL Statement is DELETE from ITEMS where Item_id = 'item2'

which is exactly right....so now Im really confused...🙂

[please_explain]

Hi,
I hope that's what you wanted.

I don't really know you mySQL database structure, but I made up an 'item' or 'a thing' if you will. Each check box should have a value that corresponds the unique identifier for an 'item' or 'a thing'.
So for example, if you are displaying a list of persons, and someone can select a checkbox to delete a person from your database the checkboxes would probably have some value or code like
<input type="checkbox" name="delete_person_array[]" value="smithbily">

Where 'smithbily' would be what you used in the mySQL database to identify one unique, specific person that would be deleted if the user checked the box

The SQL delete statement then would be
DELETE FROM PERSON WHERE person_id = 'smithbily'

Again... I don't know exactly what your an 'item' or 'a thing' is that you'd like to display for someone to delete.

This should be enough with the example to get your code working.

Hope that helps

[maxpup979]

Oh geez---Im a moron--didn't realize that you were answering the question please_explain--Thats what I get for trying to answer questions in the middle of the night--please_explains code works perfectly ....and I need a nap...🙂

[JLW]

Thank you so much!! It worked. I am just learning php and I am having more issues with html than php. I was looking everywhere for an answer but nothing helped. You really helped me out alot, I was stumped. Have a great day!!!

[JLW]

please_explain
Thanks again for your help! I wanted to ask you another question, I have posted this question before but haven't got an answer.

I am working on a shopping cart, it is a little different from other shopping carts because the user gets to customize their order. For this reason I am not pulling information out of the database. Instead I am inserting the information for each item they want into an array (using session vars), allowing them to delete items, then when they are ready to order I will add the information to the database. When I add items to the cart or delete you can't see the changes until I refresh the page. Do you know what might be causing this?

[JLW]

I figured it out. I wasn't setting my array values to global, it caused alot of problems but now it's working fine.