pick list

[derksj]

can someone tell me how i can make a pick list that gets data from a database but when i update my page the data from the database must be highlighted in the picklist
now the picklist always starts with a default data
so when someone wants to update a page (without updating the picklist)
the picklist alway returns the wrong data (the default) to the database

[Pig]

I'm unclear on what exactly you are after. Proper capitlization and punctuation makes it much easier to help you. Also, if you are more specific it is easier to visualize what you are saying.

I think you mean:
You have a drop down list (select box) that users choose from. You want the list to default to whatever was choosen most recently.

If this is correct, this is how I would do it. Let's say your list is of car makers. Your table might look like this:

table: cars
id | maker | hilite
====================
1  | ford  |  

2  | honda | 1
3  | dodge |

//Then you would generate the select box like this:
$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM cars");
if( mysql_num_rows($result) > 0 )
{
     echo("<select name=maker>");
     while( $row = mysql_fetch_array($result) )
     {
          //do a test for the default
          if( $row[hilite] == 1 ) $selected = "selected";
          else unset($selected);

      echo("<option value=$row[id] $selected>$row[maker]</option>");
 }
 echo("</select>");
}
else echo("No makers were found");

That will give a box with the default selected. The only other thing you have to do now is make the process page update the table by deleting all of hilite's and updating the row that was passed by the form.