chosing problem

pcwizzzz

Hi there,
I'm confused about the way i should build a drop down menu. What's clear is that i dont want the reload version with php but the dynamic version with javascript. My problem is that i dont know if i should transfer the data i have into my database through php to some js arrays or just building those js arrays without php, so simply writing those data item by item without quering my databse. I saw a site with a drop down menu written all in js, meaning those select options were written item by item into a js array, not getting the data from any database, so this made me wonder if wouldn't be better to do with this way. A piece of advice would help me decide how should i do it better. Thanks alot.

Weedpacket

You can have PHP write the Javascript array.

var menuitems = [
<?php
//print out menu items, in whatever
// format the Javascript code expects.
//
// Basically, have PHP write what you'd
// otherwise put in by hand.
?>];

pcwizzzz

Thanks for the reply. So the best way is using js but it php for getting data out of my database. In this case, i have an extra question: should the select code and all the output be written in js ? or i can write the select code in simple html and only the output to be in js?

Weedpacket

Originally posted by pcwizzzz
should the select code and all the output be written in js ? or i can write the select code in simple html and only the output to be in js?

¿Que?

Shrike

If the data is in a database, you will need PHP. If you want to manipulate the data without manually editing files, you will need PHP. All depends on what you want.

If you are building HTML drop-down menus why would you need Javascript anyway?

If you mean DHTML-style generated menus then most examples I have seen have a text file or something similar, edited by hand. Butcher one of those scripts so that the text file gets generated by PHP if you like 🙂