need help

kav

tables eg:
author (authorid, catid, title, desc)
category (catid, category)
values in the category can be horror, comedy etc.
The values in the list box are always taken from the tables.

want to use 2 list box.
category:
title:

description: (display area)

what i want do is when the page is first display, nothing is selected. the title list box should be empty as no category has yet to be selected. when a category is selected, then the title list box will have the appropriate values according to its category taken from database (mysql). it will not display all titles in the database but only according to category.
Next when the title is selected, the description of it will be display at the space provide.
Note: If another title is select, a new description will be display. If a new category is selected, the display area will contain nothing(blank).

yuraupt

so, what is the problem?

go ahead, try to do it yourself. I am pretty sure you can!!! this is a good task to begin with 😉

kav

i do not know how to do and not sure whether it is possible or valid. FYI, i am new to php and i am definately cracking my head. Anyway, i love cracking my head.

Using onchange at category list box and calling javascript funtion.
Pass the value and do php and mysql. I am confuse at implementing javascript, php and mysql together at the <head> section. Is it possible to write query in javascript? how to do that?
and if possible, how to display the result to the next list box (title). Valid?

just using php without javascript?

Would like to get some concept or ideas coz i have none. Cant figure out a way.

alblan

I'm sure you can do that better with javascript caching all the values you need from your db and not needing to execute a request everytime you change the value ... but i don't know how to do it. If someone could explain that it would be great

This is the way I would do it in php/mysql
--------- onChange.php --------------
<HTML>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<FORM METHOD="POST" action="onChange.php" name="form1">
<select name="cat" onChange="form1.submit()">
<?php
//check the value of $cat here and do the right sql to get the title associated
// get the categories and show them. If !isset($cat) then select the one who's empty else select $cat
?>
</select>
<br>
<select name="tit" onChange="form1.submit()">
<?php
// get the titles and show them...
?>
</select>

</html>

yuraupt

<?
	// connect to the database
?>
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
	<form name="form1" action="onChange.php" method="post" >
		<select name="catid" onChange="document.form1.submit()">
			<option value="">Please, select</option>
		<?php
		$query  = "SELECT catid, category FROM category ORDER BY category";
		$result = mysql_query($query);
		while($data=mysql_fetch_array($result)){
			$selected = ($data['catid']==$_POST['catid'])?" selected":""; // select current category
			echo "\t\t\t<option value=\"".$data['catid']."\"$selected>".$data['category']."</option>\n";
        }
		mysql_free_result($result);
		?>
		</select>
	<? if(isset($_POST['catid']) and $_POST['catid']!="") { ?>
		&nbsp;&nbsp;
		<select name="authorid" onChange="form1.submit()">
			<option value="">Please, select</option>
		<?php
		// get the titles and show them...
		$query  = "SELECT authorid, title FROM author WHERE catid=".$_POST['catid']." ORDER BY title";
		$result = mysql_query($query);
		while($data=mysql_fetch_array($result)){
			$selected = ($data['authorid']==$_POST['authorid'])?" selected":""; // select current category
			echo "\t\t\t<option value=\"".$data['authorid']."\"$selected>".$data['title']."</option>\n";
        }
		mysql_free_result($result);
		?>
		</select>
	<? } // end of if ?>

<? if(isset($_POST['authorid']) and $_POST['authorid']!="") { 
	// get the description...
	$query  = "SELECT desc FROM author WHERE authorid=".$_POST['authorid'];
	$result = mysql_query($query);
	if($data=mysql_fetch_array($result)){
		echo $data['desc'];
    }
	mysql_free_result($result);
	?>
	</select>
<? } // end of if ?>

	<input type="button" name="aceptar" value="aceptar">
</form>
</body>
</html>

kav

thanks all. i got the idea. So it is just calling itself again and again until the final is reach.
However, i would like to ask whether there is another way without having to call the page again and again? Just curious.

yuraupt

You may generate JavaScript arrays with list of authors indexed by category and a couple of functions to populate the select boxes and the description area. Using JavaScript you may clear select box and fill it with new list of options.

In this case the page will contain all the authors and descriptions in the Javascript arrays. It could a big ammount of data ...

The way described in previous messages looks better as for me.